There were multiple keys to Salida's regional crown, but Bean Minor's fourth-place finish was high on that list.
As closely contested as the girls team title wasn't, the boys team title was.
Salida came in as favorites, and they would eventually wear that status well, but they had to fend off serious challenges from Alamosa and The Classical Academy along the way.
Ultimately, the slogan of "Lace 'em up and burn it down" on the back of the Salida team t-shirts fits this team, well, to a tee. They certainly burned it down here and, if the wind had been much stronger, that might have led to a serious conflagration.
Mason Norman led the individuals--by a lot. Norman ran a fairly conservation first mile at 5:00, but nobody was biting on the opportunity to go with him. So, Norman had to go it alone and finished in 15:54, one second off his season best to date.
A much more intriguing battle was shaping up for second. That would eventually fall in the direction of Salida's Camden Gillis, mostly on the basis of sheer grit. Gillis, who has a state mountain bike championship looming on Sunday, and some considerable responsibilities with the 8-4-2 Salida soccer team as well, simply wore down the pursuit of Alamosa's Elijah de la Cerda to finish in second. de la Cerda had concerns of his own holding off Salida's Bean Minor and TCA's Nathan Bone at the end, but he was able to hang onto his #3 position at the finish.
But Minor's #4 finish added considerable wind to the Salida sails.
Branden Davis of Lamar interrupted the TCA-Alamosa-Salida show long enough to throw an odd singlet into the order of finish. Then, Salida's Frank DeCew set things back to usual. The next five places went two Alamosa, one to Salida, and two TCA, in that order. Nothing finished yet.
It would fall to Jason Joslin (13th) to finish the Salida scoring and claim the regional title. TCA would edge Alamosa, 46 to 48, for second. Woodland Park would have the happy ending of becoming the fourth and final team to qualify for state out of the region.
Doubtless all four teams have designs on what they'd like to accomplish at state next week. Stay tuned.