Appel wins individual 5A cross country crown

Published October 28, 2007 at midnight

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COLORADO SPRINGS - Inspiration can certainly help carry the day. And, it certainly seemed to help Evan Appel of Dakota Ridge as he worked his way toward winning the individual championship in Saturday’s Class 5A state cross country meet.

Appel had watched as the Dakota Ridge girls team zipped to the state team championship led by champion Alexa Rogers and two-time state champion Kaitie Vanatta, who finished second. He then ran the 5-kilometer course over the Vineyard Golf Course at the El Pomar Sports Complex in 15-minutes, 54.5 seconds to beat Cherry Creek’s Charles White (16:10.9) and Grand Junction’s Martin Medina (16:18.1).

Wheat Ridge won the boys 5A title for the first time since 1979 behind a fifth-place finish by Dart Schwarderer (16:24.9) and sixth from Scott Fauble (16:25.5) with 100 points. Arapahoe was second (132) while Cherry Creek finished third (148).

Yet, this one was not in the bag early for Appel. For much of the race he trailed Thornton’s Dey Tauch and White.

Surprisingly, Tauch, who led with ½-mile to go in the race and appeared to be going for the victory, injured his right knee and went down right after Appel made his pass. He was given a DNF and was carried to the finish line in a golf cart.

"Oh, my gosh," said Appel, a junior who finished third last season. "The girls winning was a big inspiration for me. When Alexa won, I said I had to equal that. She set the bar high and I had to reach for it. It was just a great day."

Appel had just passed Tauch and did not see the former Sudanese refugee go down and was thinking hard about Tauch and White coming up on him down the stretch.

"Dey ran a great race, but I didn’t see what happened," Appel said. "It was a long grueling finish. I think I’m a good pressure runner, so the more pressure the better and it makes it more meaningful in the end when you finish the race."

White transferred last season from New York and has been a serious challenger all season.

"My goal was to be in the top three, but Evan is so strong right now," White said. "I tried to stay with him, but his is just so fit. I think he is the best guy in the country when it comes to running right now."

Medina is the brother of former Grand Junction state champion Michael Medina. But, he had no thoughts about following in his brother’s footsteps.

"I was supposed to go out and make it the hardest thing that I have ever done in my life," Medina said. "I’ve done things that I’ve never done before. I took the lead for a short time, which was a big step for me. The last two times that I was here, I walked out on the course with fear. This was a big step for me."

Schwarderer and Fauble were joined by Wheat Ridge teammates Henry Cowhick (19th), Bryan Heiny (23rd) and Micky Nelson (47th) in their championship effort.

"We all wanted to do well individually, but No. 1 was to do this for the team," Schwarderer said. "The team title was our focus. This is great knowing we have another year together, as well.

"We really didn’t see Evan, he was just up there," said Schwarderer, a junior. "It was inspiring to me that Scott pushed me the whole way."

Said Fauble, "Every race has been geared toward being the state champions. It would have been easy to look forward to regional and national races, but we kept focused on state."

CLASS 4A

It was a wire-to-wire victory for D’Evelyn senior Kevin Williams and, for the most part, not even close.

Williams ran the course in 15:43.9, the fastest of the day regardless of classification, and came through with a :40.5-second victory and over runner-up Wes Rickman of Falcon (16:23.4) and Denver North’s defending champion, Joseph Manilafasha (16:40.5).

Williams has been a two-time runner-up, but this season no one has been able to stay with him. Saturday proved to be no different.

"I was so scared thinking those guys would come and get me," Williams said. "I felt those guys on me so I ran a lot harder. It feels nice to win, as I was tired of getting second. I thought about winning, but I just wanted to stick to the splits that I talked about with coach (Micah Porter) and see what happened. It was a good day."

Rickman, a junior, was hoping he would be close to Williams, but knew it was asking a lot.

"I knew Kevin knew what he was doing," Rickman said. "He has the confidence in himself to figure out what the rest of the field is doing and he managed the race well. I knew he was just going to burn the course. He was going to be very difficult to catch. I was really happy for him. This is a well deserved championship."

Battle Mountain has been the team favorite since the beginning of the season and the Huskies proved just that. Behind Jonny Stevens, who placed fourth (16:42.26) and John O’Neil, sixth (16:46.96) they scored 55 points. Tony Crisofulli (14th, 17:14.56), Jamie Fahrmeyer (15th, 17:15.61) and Mario Gonzales (19th, 17:24.66) they tallied 55 points.

Liberty, led by a seventh-place finish from Tim Hamilton, was second with 111 points while Niwot finished third with 154.

"It was just awesome," said Stevens, who finished sixth last season. "We put in a lot of work this season and the team title is great. There was always a chance I might catch up with Kevin, as I stayed with him for 6 ½-laps in the state track meet in the two-mile. He as the guy that everyone was keying off. He put on a big move right after the first hill and was gone from there."

Said O’Neil, "The team finish is great and you can’t ask for better than that. We train at altitude all season and when others feel the pain in the third mile, we go.We had a strong pack and just kept it tight."

CLASS 3A BOYS

Andrew Roberts of Lyons took the lead just prior to the two-mile mark and stretched it out from there to win the 3A title with a time of 15:43.9 and lead the Lions to second place in the team race.

Roberts, a junior, defeated Rocky Ford’s Victor Montoya (16:49.1) and Del Norte’s Edwin Cruz (16:49.2) for the title. Montoya’s effort helped spark the Meloneers to the team title with 68 points.

Although Roberts win appeared easy, he discounted the time.

"There was no way this was an easy win," said Roberts, who took the lead at the two-mile mark. "They were pushing me from the beginning. But this was for the team, too. We’ve got a great group this year and I went out and ran for the guys."

Montoya was joined in the team victory by David Garcia (13th, 17:38), Santino Apodaca (21st, 17:54.78) and Jacob Kienitz (32nd , 18:12.28).

"We ran as a team," Montoya said. "We have been waiting four years to get this as we’ve all ran together since middle school. It is great to be a part of our schools history and to get the banner up in the gym."

Garcia said the win put an end to frustrations of close losses in big meets this season.

"We finally put it together," Garcia said. "We said the other meets didn’t count, this is state, the only week that really counts. So, we made it happen. We built off each other using our strengths and weakness to win."

Class 5A boys

Team results: Wheat Ridge 100, Arapahoe 132, Cherry Creek 148, Fairview 185, Regis 201, Loveland 233, Pomona 245, Rampart 261, Dakota Ridge 264, Fort Collins 293, Smoky Hill 322, Palmer 397, Rocky Mountain, 411, Monarch 424, Boulder 425, Coronado 469, Highlands Ranch 478, Heritage 482, Chaparral 497, Littleton 511, Durango 516, Douglas County 535, Chatfield 543, Eaglecrest 550.

Individual results: 1, Evan Appel, Dakota Ridge, 15:54.5. 2, Charles White, Cherry Creek, 16:10.9. 3, Martin Medina, Grand Junction, 16:18.1. 4, Bobby Nicolls, Regis, 16:24.3. 5, Dart Schwarderer, Wheat Ridge, 16:24.9. 6, Scott Fauble, Wheat Ridge, 16:25.5. 7, Clif Campbell, Fort Collins, 16:41.0. 8, Walter Schafer, Cherry Creek, 16:45.8. 9, Trevor Blackman, Fairview, 16:48.5. 10, Andrew McGee, Rocky Mountain, 16:51.2. 11, Alex Balsiger, Chaparral, 16:53.2. 12, Kyle Lyons, Arapahoe, 16:53.8. 13, Collin Munoz, Poudre, 16:54.9. 14, Mason Mitchell, Loveland, 16:55.8. 15, Garrett Wilson, Highlands Ranch, 16:56.1. 16, Darian Sanchez, Pomona, 17:00.6. 17, Danny Nicolls, Regis, 17:01.4. 18, Jed Morgan, Loveland, 17:01.5. 19, Henry Cowhick, Wheat Ridge, 17:02.4. 20, Jeff Cook, Rampart, 17:02.7.

Class 4A boys

Team results: Battle Mountain 55, Liberty 111, Niwot 154, D’Evelyn 172, Rock Canyon 226, Cherokee Trail 231, Woodland Park 259, Denver North 273, Greeley Central 316, Alamosa 322, Broomfield 335, Sierra 335, Greeley West 338, Longmont 342, Fountain-Ft. Carson 349, Evergreen 378, Montrose 400, Thompson Valley 407, Ralston Valley 422, Windsor 429, Pueblo South 440, Moffat County 498, Pueblo Central 501, Steamboat Springs 535.

Individual results: 1, Kevin Williams, D’Evelyn, 15:43.9. 2, Wes Rickman, Falcon, 16:23.4. 3, Joseph Manilafasha, Denver North, 16:40.5. 4, Jonny Stevens, Battle Mountain, 16:42.3. 5, Andrew Berbrick, Mullen, 16:43.3. 6, John O’Neil, Battle Mountain, 16:47.0. 7, Eric Ndikumana, Denver North, 16:50.9. 8, Scott Ingram, Cherokee Trail, 16:54.1. 9, Tim Hamilton, Liberty, 16:55.0. 10, Tom Owens, Alamosa, 17:00.2. 11, Kevin Johnson, Falcon, 17:03.6. 12, Chris Blackburn, Woodland Park, 17:04.8. 13, Joe Kappes, Rock Canyon, 17:08.5. 14, Shawn Dubbs, Woodland Park, 17:09.6. 15, Ryan Haebe, Evergreen, 17:14.1. 16, Neil Bishop, Liberty, 17:14.6. 17, Tony Crisofulli, Battle Mountain, 17:14.6. 18, Jamie Fahrmeyer, Battle Mountain, 17:15.7. 19, Eric Gembarowski, Mountain View, 17:16.0. 20, Kirk Harvey, Centaurus, 17:16.6.

Class 3A boys:

Team results: Rocky Ford 68, Lyons 77, Classical Academy 77, Bayfield 88, Basalt 152, Erie 153, La Junta 153, Roosevelt 167, Pagosa Springs 181, University 193, Brush 210, Peak to Peak 230, Faith Christian 243, Hotchkiss 264, Colorado Academy 270, Alexander Dawson 277, Ouray 286, Custer County 294, Holy Family 320, Brighton Collegiate 322, Lamar 330, Buena Vista 351, Salida 351, Gunnison 380, St. Mary’s 389, Nederland 403, Denver Christian 408, Peyton 425, Machebeuf 457, Clear Creek 457.

Individual results: 1, Andrew Roberts, Lyons, 16:37.4. 2, Victor Montoya, Rocky Ford, 16:49.1. 3, Edwin Cruz, Del Norte, 16:49.2. 4, Trevor Waliszewski, Classical Academy, 16:50.4. 5, Sam Feldotto, Classical Academy, 17:04.9. 6, Joseph Demoor, Buena Vista, 17:12.2. 7, Jackson Walsh, Pagosa Springs, 17:12.4. 8, Brennan Roper, Basalt, 17:12.8. 9, Kaleb Greenwood, University, 17:17.0. 10, Adam Bodnar, Brighton Collegiate, 17:21.1. 11, Aaron Alarcon, Roosevelt, 17:21.7. 12, Stephen Van Gampleare, St. Mary’s, 17:23.2. 13, James Sundblom, Bayfield, 17:27.6. 14, David Garcia, Rocky Ford, 17:30.4. 15, Casey Weaver, Basalt, 17:35.0. 16, Tanner Christensen, Brush, 17:40.0. 17, Steven Stoot, Fountain Valley, 17:42.4. 18, Michael Stears, Alexander Dawson, 17:49.2. 19, Tanner Phelps, Bayfield, 17:50.2. 20, Colin Anderson, Lyons, 17:50.4.

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