Eagle Valley twins go 1-2 again to lead Devils to team win at Rifle Invitational

Readers have seen this headline before.

Dylan and Tyler Blair — who were 1-2 at their home invite last month — created a Devils déjà vu at the Rifle Invitational on Oct. 8. The twins intentionally broke the tape together, but officially Dylan Blair topped the 119-member field, covering the 5-kilometer Rifle Creek Golf Course in 16 minutes, 2.9 seconds — one-tenth of a second in front of his twin brother.

“They are like magnets that push away and pull together. It’s quite remarkable,” commented assistant coach Myriah Blair, who is also the brothers’ mother. “You never know whose day it is until you see the finish.”

Bolstered by the Blairs’ 26-second victory, Eagle Valley put four runners in the top seven to claim the team title as well. Head coach Melinda Brandt said her top-7 logged 10 miles Monday, approaching Tuesday’s race like a designated speed workout as the team puts on the finishing physiological touches before defending its regional title on Oct. 25. The plan was to get everyone through the first mile at 5:30.

“We were just really trying to work as a team on Tuesday,” she explained. “After the first mile, we let them go.”

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After coming through roughly 10-seconds ahead of schedule, the Blairs split 5:04 and 5:06 over the final two miles to pull away. Jackson Filmore (16:37.7) and Eric Asselin (16:53.6) finished fourth and seventh, respectively, and Blake Anderson (17:42.4) rounded out the scoring in 15th.

Nate Beuche (17:30.0) and Adam Labenski (17:36.8) finished 10th and 12th, respectively, to guide Battle Mountain to a third-place team finish. Coach Rob Parish said Beuche has been training hard, inspired by recent graduates Will Brunner and Porter Middaugh.

“He’s really intrinsically motivated and I think he understands the long game as well,” he said of the sophomore. “He’s got a great future ahead of him and is stacking meets and stacking seasons.”

If the Devils dominated the boys competition, it was the Husky harriers who owned the girls. Battle Mountain put all five scorers in the top-12, with freshman Eden Demino leading the way in fourth. Throughout each of the Huskies’ nine meets, the top-3 has involved a similar cast — playing different roles.

“I like that. We don’t have a defined number one,” Parish said. Demino and Caroline Provencher, the team’s second runner on Tuesday, are both flourishing in their first high school seasons — as are several other top-7 athletes.

“They’re just starting to scratch the surface (and) figure out their superpowers,” said Parish, who watched eight girls break 21 minutes at the Delta Invitational on Oct. 5.

“It’s not quite 2017,” he continued, referring to his team that sent 15 girls under the 21-minute barrier en route to a third-place finish at Nike Cross Nationals. “It’s unpredictable what order they’re going to finish in, which is just fine with us.” 

Eagle Valley was without top runner Ginger Reilly, who continues to come back from injury. Lucita Stowell (21:33.3) ran a season-best time to place 20th, leading the Devils to a sixth-place finish.

“She’s coming on so strong,” Brandt said of Stowell. “It’s always fun to see kids who have more in the tank and you can keep pushing them — but they haven’t really discovered how fast they can be. Lucy has more in the tank and we’re going to keep seeing that.”

Refining for regionals

Parish said almost the entire team was faster in Delta than at the Liberty Bell Invitational, notoriously one of the state’s fastest courses. They’ve also improved in their second attempts at keystone workouts.

“They’ve just crushed their times,” he said. “It’s fun to see how much they’ve improved in a short amount of time.”

The girls — who weren’t ranked at the beginning of the year — have moved up to ninth in the most recent Colorado Milesplit 4A state rankings. Parish said while his young squads were slightly shocked in August by how hard the sport can be, “they’re definitely coming around.”

“The last couple weeks for both teams have been great,” he stated. 

The current priority? Speed.

“We believe you have to get fit and be strong first,” Parish said. “The speed is starting to come, but the next two weeks will be about developing it.”

The Eagle Valley boys sit fifth in the polls, one place behind league-rival Summit. The Tigers — who claimed the team crown at Eagle Valley’s home invitational, even without top runner Josh Shriver — are expected to provide a stiff challenge to the Devils’ regional-repeat ambitions in Arvada.

“Our boys are definitely hungry for it,” Brandt said. “They want to defend their title.”

Tuesday’s performances encouraged Brandt, who said the team’s postseason hopes hinge on their 3-4-5 runners.

“And just how hard those guys are willing to hurt,” she added. “They’ve been running really great this season and really improving a lot.”

Of course, the top-2 sticks will set the tone. Contrasting the dynamic duo, Brandt said Tyler Blair tends to be “more calculated” while Dylan Blair runs “from the heart.”

“It’s crazy how they balance each other out when they’re racing because they can kind of keep each other in-check when there’s a goal on the line,” she said. “They’re such fun kids.”

While Tyler perhaps possesses more track-friendly foot speed, cross-country’s distance and terrain suits Dylan’s bold and brash style. Mom said their differences have a way of overlapping.

“They are different like yin and yang but seem to converge on most instances,” she continued. “One is the quiet dark horse and the other is the vocal dark horse, if that makes sense. The twin bond is tighter than they realize.”