The Classical Academy swept the 3A Region 2 cross country meet Friday afternoon at Fountain Creek Regional Park. The Titan girls claimed the top three finishes, and defeated runner-up Salida by more than 30 points.

“We’ve raced this course a lot,” winner Kaitlin Hanenburg said. “It’s a slower course that doesn’t give you your best time, but this was a great tune-up for state.”

Senior Emily LaValley and junior Shelby Stableford finished second and third, respectively, and were less than a minute off Hanenburg’s winning time of 18 minutes, 29.6 seconds.

The boys race was much closer as TCA tied Salida, and had to depend on the team’s fifth-place runner to give it the win. Salida’s Josh Noriega won the race in 16:31.0, while TCA’s Josh Simkins was second in 16:48.9.

“TCA brings us to a new level of competition, which is why it’s great to race here,” Salida coach Kenny Wilcox said. “We’re just going to focus on what we can control this week and get ready for another tight race.”

Many runners will start to taper their training this week, shortening their practice distances in order to reduce fatigue next weekend’s state meet.

“None of the varsity runners have started to taper yet since there’s still so much to do,” Titans coach Alan Versaw said. “We will be shaving some distance, but we don’t want to start thinking about state too much until Friday. There’s no sense worrying about it on Wednesday.”

In addition to the top four boys’ and girls’ teams, the first 15 individual finishers will also advance to state. The Titans will be joined by Salida, Colorado Springs Christian School, and Discovery Canyon when they travel to Fort Collins for the state meet at Fossil Ridge High School.

Florence’s Ally Camerlo was tagged out at second base by Valley’s Lindsey Mockeman during Friday’s 3A tournament game. Photo by MARIAH TAUGER, THE GAZETTE