FOUNTAIN • By the time Kaitlin Hanenburg reached the 2-mile mark Saturday morning, she knew she had won the TCA Titan Thunder Invitational.

Hanenburg, the two-time defending Class 3A state champion in cross country, finished the 3.1-mile race at Fountain Creek Regional Park in 18 minutes, 5.8 seconds — 30.5 seconds clear of her teammate and runner-up Emily LaValley — to help The Classical Academy win by a point.

“I was alone for most of the race,” Hanenburg said. “I didn’t hear any footsteps by the second mile.”

Keegan Vargo (16:17.7) won the boys’ race to help lead Chaparral to the title. Falcon’s Chris Stearns (17:00.8) was the top area finisher in 11th. TCA, led by Josh Simkins (17:08), was fifth followed by Fountain-Fort Carson, Widefield, Falcon and Doherty.

Saturday’s course is the same one that TCA will run later this month in the 3A South Regional — the first step in Hanenburg’s title defense.

“(Hanenburg) had a good, solid run,” TCA coach Alan Versaw said. “I kind of wish she’d been pushed more the last mile or so, but part of the game is putting the competition away.”

The Titans’ top finishers were assisted by teammates Shelby Stableford (19:26.8), Meredith Sloan (19:29) and Elaina Turley (19:36.3).

“We had a couple girls who maybe didn’t have their best races and we had a couple others who came up and really came up big,” Versaw said. “Cross country is a team sport, and this is an illustration of it.”

TCA scored 39 points to claim its narrow victory over Fort Collins.

“When you lose to great teams by one point, it’s not as bittersweet as it would be in a football game,” Fort Collins coach Chris Suppes said. “The fact that Classical Academy is as good as they are, it’s almost like a win when we lose by one point. We’re not disappointed at all.”

Allie Morgan of Discovery Canyon (19:16.8) finished seventh and Doherty’s Aubrey Hilte (19:36.7) was 15th to the lead Spartans to fifth.

Kaitlin Hanenburg of The Classical Academy Photo by THE GAZETTE FILE