Eagle Valley boys cross-country team says farewell to 8 seniors at Colorado state meet

The night before the 4A state boys cross-country championships on Saturday in Colorado Springs, Dylan Blair was multi-tasking.

“I was just thinking, ‘man, I really want to be a state champion,'” he said. “And I thought I had a really good chance of doing it because I’ve been sick for most of the season and this was kind of the first race I’ve been back and feeling good.”

But the Eagle Valley program record holder wasn’t making a simple business trip to Norris Penrose Event Center. This was his last high school cross-country trip with the eight seniors he’s grown up with.

Plus, it was Halloween.

Blair and fellow senior Eric Asselin dressed up in the orange and baby blue tuxedos made famous by Harry and Lloyd in “Dumb and Dumber,” before enjoying some typical but harmless teenage boys antics in a nearby parking lot.

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“It was a good memory, last night,” Blair said after placing second overall to new state meet course record holder Oliver Horton. “I think the memories we built this year — just bonding — this is the greatest team culture in Colorado in my mind. We all hang out every day after school, we’ll hang out after this race.” 

The full spectrum of seriousness to silliness tells you everything you need to know about this Eagle Valley team.

“Sometimes you can have elite athletes that are not engaging or so focused on themselves. We have elite athletes that don’t want to be anywhere except the team,” said head coach Melinda Brandt, who had her seniors write thank-you notes to their supporters before leaving Gypsum for Colorado Springs. The night before the 4A state meet, she told her seven seniors toeing the line to enjoy racing together.

“The legacy they leave is continued dedication over time and enjoyment of the team,” she added, noting that four freshmen girls and a couple sophomores drove themselves to Colorado Springs to watch the senior-heavy squad. “Those boys made everyone feel included and valuable on the team. They’ve cultivated a group that just wants to be together.” 

For the first time in program history, Eagle Valley’s entire post-season roster was composed of seniors.

“I mean, these are my best friends that I’ve grown up with since elementary school,” Asselin said. “I’ve been competing with them my whole life and it’s kind of crazy it’s ending but it’s been a super special year and definitely the best one so far.”

“We’re all really close this year; I think the closest we’ve ever been,” said Logan Drever, who’s forged his own relationship with running in the wake of his older brother’s record-setting career.

“It was a lot of pressure and I was just kind of put in the sport since he was good at it but not really knowing what it was going to be like,” Drever continued. “But it’s like, my favorite thing ever.”

“We’re happy to have all the seniors out. Just to have a full senior crew and to see all the boys make it is awesome,” added Tyler Blair. While the Halloween tomfoolery took place, Eagle Valley’s school-record holder in the mile assumed his role as the level-headed captain.

“I feel like I have to kind of guide them,” he said, laughing. “Like ‘hey it’s state, somebody is going to get hurt.'”

The seniors guided Eagle Valley to program-best fourth-place finishes at the state cross-country meet in 2022 and 2024 and a fifth-place result in 2023. On Saturday, the squad placed eighth, one point out of seventh and just 34 points from fourth. The Blair twins will continue their careers at Northern Arizona and Montana State University and Asselin plans to focus on mountain biking in college. Drever said he’d like to study applied mathematics, but doesn’t plan on running in the NCAA system.

“I’m super happy to have this team,” Drever said. “I love my coaches. I’m glad I was able to do this for four years.”