Macy Kruetz, Highlands Ranch senior, competed in the Colorado State Cross Country Championship last October 26th.

  Before entering the State meet, Kruetz had to run the Regionals, which is a qualifier for the state meet. The top 15 runners are able to run in state. She reached 11th place with a time of 19 minutes and 13 seconds at the Regional meet and was qualified to attend the State meet. Kruetz was the only student from HR that could enter State.

  As for the State meet, Kruetz reached 47th place with a time of 20 minutes and 30.1 seconds. To train for this race, Kruetz had to practice for an extra week.  Along with the help of a few friends, Nick Meis and Francis Commercon, Kruetz spent the week training and eating healthy. “I pushed myself  hard the last week” Kruetz said.

  The Colorado State Cross Country Championship is a yearly competition. This year over 186 students participated. Coming from various cities like Loveland and Pine Creek, the students all gathered at the Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs.  Kruetz participated in the 5k race.

  Coach Katie Clifford is one the head coaches and can describe Kruetz as “an amazing runner who is incredibly talented.” As for college Clifford believes Kruetz “will do great in college.”

  The cross country season just ended, but while the season was still around Kruetz was apart of the HRHS Cross Country team. Clifford says that the runners train “with the ultimate goal for the state cross country meet.”

  In the future Kruetz plans to continue to run track and cross country in college, and is “looking at running for either Colorado State University, University of Tulsa, or Boise State” Kruetz said.

Jade Zimmerman, Staff Reporter