Eagle Valley boys cross-country team ties best finish in program history at state meet

Summit has had the Eagle Valley boys cross-country team’s number all year. The Tigers defeated their rivals in Gypsum and at the Liberty Bell during the regular season and in Arvada at the regional championship last week.

On Saturday, the Devils flipped the script at state.

“It was so close at regionals and this was really our redemption race,” Eagle Valley junior Dylan Blair said after the Devils snuck past Summit to tie their program-best fourth-place team finish from 2022.

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As a freshman at that race, Blair covered the Norris Penrose Event Center 5-kilometer course in 17 minutes, 10 seconds to place 50th while Jake Drever led Eagle Valley with his 15:54, fifth-place mark. On Saturday, Drever — who was in Colorado Springs competing at Friday’s Mountain West Conference meet for Boise State — watched Tyler (15:40.4) and Dylan Blair (15:44.0) cruise to fourth and fifth-place finishes, respectively.

“I knew they were ready to run this and they’ve been training well, competing well and it was a good showing,” Drever said. “And the rest of the Devils — it seemed like they were working their way up and running well.”

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Thompson Valley captured the title with 64 points, narrowly defeating Coronado (69) and Cheyenne Mountain School (83). Eagle Valley tallied 146 points, just 14 in front of Summit, which placed fifth in the 20-team field. Individually, Aiden Le Roux set the tone early, scorching the first mile in 4:31.1 en route to an all-classes course record of 15:02.1.

“That’s just kind of how I usually race: go out fast, set a solid pace, make sure to keep it honest,” the Cheyenne Mountain junior said of his mindset going in. “This is the backyard for my high school, I do run here a lot and I love this course, so it means a lot to be able to hold the record.”

The Blair twins ran side-by-side — as they have all year — coming through the first interval just inside the top-10, 16 seconds back from Le Roux’s pace. By the 2-mile mark, they’d hopped into the top five.

“The plan was definitely not to go out too fast,” Tyler Blair said. “I’ve seen so many people die after running the first mile so fast. Second mile, we started passing people on the hill and then just rode the downhill.”

The Blairs were able to slide past Summit star Josh Shriver shortly after the second time check and came sprinting into the stadium together.

“I was just thinking ‘fight me! Like, let’s go,'” Tyler Blair said with a smile. Even though he took the top twin time Saturday (15:40), he said it wouldn’t be possible without help from his sibling.

“We definitely really work for each other, for everything really — school, life. When it comes to racing, it’s no different,” he said.

“In practice, we’re always trying to push each other the furthest so that in the races like this, we can stay right next to each other and push each other throughout the race,” added Dylan Blair, who said he was a little ticked he couldn’t close harder, but simultaneously happy for his brother. “We were both right there.”

The program 5-kilometer record-holder (15:04.1), Dylan Blair had top-3 aspirations, but left pleased with the race nonetheless. After struggling with an injury at the end of last season, his joy for putting it all together at the biggest meet of the year was evident on the awards stand.

“It feels amazing. Just to get this medal feels like the best thing ever,” he said.

Eagle Valley was depending on its top sticks to show up, but the real battle came down to the performances from the rest of the top-5, starting with Jackson Filmore, who was running in his fourth state meet.

“You gotta go more conservative than you think in that first mile because that hill kills you,” Filmore answered when asked what he’s learned over a career of racing at Norris Penrose.

“I think our team really did well,” he continued. “We were racing smart, passing where we could.”

Filmore moved up from 59th to 31st from the first mile to the end, closing in 16:43.3, a 20-second personal best at the Colorado Springs venue. Eric Asselin tracked Filmore down, rising from 69th after a 5:17.3 opening mile to finish in 38th, just four seconds behind his teammate.

“The boys came through just right,” head coach Melinda Brandt said. “Jackson knows how to run this course. Eric hung out right behind him. He made the huge move from regionals to state that took us over the top against Summit.”

The Devils had a few state meet rookies who came through, too, including their fifth guy, Blake Anderson. The 400-meter sprint specialist hung on for 82nd place after coming through the mile just outside the top-100.

“When I started faltering in my races, the first thing I think is, ‘I’m the No. 5 guy, I’m the last scorer, I can’t sell. I got to be there,'” Anderson said. “I need to be good for this team or it’s going to be me that holds the team back.”

“The state meet can overwhelming and he handled that really well,” Brandt added. “All the guys were really locked in.”

Eagle Valley now has finished fourth, fifth and fourth at the last three state meets. The season isn’t over either. The Devils will head to the Nike Cross Regionals in Mesa, Arizona in three weeks.

“I mean that’s been my goal this entire season,” Dylan Blair said. “If I put together a last good three weeks of training, I think I can be All-American.”