Stewart Leads Cherry Creek To Title At XC Town USA Meet

It was a banner day for Colorado at the XC Town USA Meet of Champions in Terre Haute, Indiana!

Colorado's Cherry Creek (Colorado Bruins) and Valor Christian (Valor XC & Distance) went 1-2 in a stellar girl's field. 

Cherry Creek solidified their spot on top of Colorado, as the 5A state champions tallied 90 points. Valor was a solid runner-up, tallying 109 - 20 points ahead of third-place finisher, North Naperville. 

Leading Cherry Creek was 5A state champion, Riley Stewart, who finished second overall in 17:18. Stewart raced like clockwork, running splits of 5:32-5:34, and 6:11 for the final 1.1 miles. 

Liberty Bell course record holder Sydney Thorvaldson took the individual title, running 16:38.

Eagle Valley's Samantha Blair was Colorado's second runner across the finish line, crossing 11th in 17:59, while Taylor Whitfield led Valor, and was Colorado's third runner, finishing 15th in 18:08.

Cherry Creek's Shelby Balding also cracked the top-20, finishing 18th, two-seconds behind Whitfield, in 18:10. 

Rounding out Cherry Creek's tally was Addison Price, who finished 37th, Addison Laughlin, who finished 45th, and Claire Semerod, who finished 91st. 

In addition to Whitfield's finish, scoring for Valor's runner-up squad was Brooke Wilson, who finished 30th, Jocelyn Millican, who finished 61st, Jordan Blankenship, who finished 66th, and Isabella Prosceno, who finished 79th.

On the boy's side of the competition Boulder's Lukas Haug led the way. Haug finished 46th in 16:04. Valor's Ty Garrett was Colorado's second runner across the line, finishing 61st in 16:14. 

RESULTS