The heat? It was relentless. Under the best of conditions, Air Academy is a tough course. And the best of conditions do not include temperates in the high 80s.

But, while the Colorado Springs schools were doing their best to cope with the conditions, the Pueblo schools felt just a little more at ease. Call in a geographical advantage (if you consider it an advantage to practice cross country with temperatues in the high 90s in mid September).

The Division I boys race was dominated by Pueblo. Jordan Montera of Pueblo West patiently bided his time, waiting for the heat to wilt those who had gone out too hard in front of him. Slowly but surely, they all fell off their early paces, leaving a golden opportunity for Montera to pick off the early leaders in route to a ten-second victory. That ten-second victory came over another patient Pueblo harrier--Brandon Lange of Pueblo South.

Meanwhile, Lange's teammates were doing to dirty work behind him, finishing 10-12-18-28 to close out the team scoring with 70. Coronado came closest at 87.

In the girls' race, Air Academy notched a nice 1-2 finish by Amelia Evans (20:51) and Kellyn Roiko (21:03), but couldn't hold off the charge of Coronado for the team title.