Air Academy senior Allie McLaughlin admitted that she actually worked at the Colorado Springs Metro League cross country championships meet Thursday.

McLaughlin won the girls 5A individual title with a time of 17:27, 6 seconds off her personal record. She set a new course record at Fountain-Fort Carson High School and finished almost 2 minutes ahead of Doherty’s Lynnea Sjoerdsma (19:15), who placed second.

“This is a meet where a lot of people haven’t really been tapering that much because they’re waiting for regionals and state,” McLaughlin said. “I just really wanted to have a fast race, so I tried pretty hard. But I think I can be faster.”

Aided by ninth-place finisher Kellyn Roiko, McLaughlin led the Air Academy girls team to third place. The Doherty girls, paced by senior captain Sjoerdsma, won the team title.

Top-10 finishes from Annie Whitford, Meg Rudy and Kylee Firlit gave Palmer second place.

The Pine Creek girls finished fourth, even with top runner Bridget Tiernan slowed by a recent bout with mononucleosis. Tiernan finished eighth in 20:12.

“This was just a really strong showing of area runners, especially the girls,” Eagles coach Max Oliver said. “We’ve been dealing with a lot of injuries and illness, and I know we’re not alone. So it was just good to see a lot of the top runners out here and in good condition.”

Coronado’s Dusty Solis won the 5A boys race in 16:16 and led the Cougars to a second-place finish.

Paced by Brennan Jarvis (third) and Simon McIntire (fifth), the Rampart boys won the team title.

In 4A girls, Dani Grossman won in 18:44 and teammate Casey Powell finished second in 19:38 to propel Cheyenne Mountain to the crown. Sierra’s Samantha Thompson ran third (19:49).

Falcon’s Kevin Johnson edged teammate Wes Rickman at the finish line to win the 4A individual title in 15:48. Rickman, just coming off an injury, finished 1 second behind to give Falcon the win over second-place Castle View.

“We didn’t want to use up everything we had today, but it was still important to come out strong,” Falcon coach Cameron Magnall said. “Kevin and Wes both had a great race, but we’ll really be looking to bring our three, four and five runners up to pace before regionals and state.”

Regionals are Oct. 16.

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Clockwise from top: Chad Hall, Air Force 2004-07; Alex Smith, Utah 2002-04; Brian Urlacher, 1996-99 Photo by