Palmer Ridge junior Jeremy Meadows says he wants to take fifth at the upcoming state cross country meet.

Not top five. “Fifth,” he said.

He’s, of course, referring to the legacy of former Bears standout Eric Hamer, who finished sixth as a junior before he won the state meet in runaway fashion as a senior last year.

“I think a lot about what he did,” Meadows said. “I think what he did gave me a lot of confidence.”

His team has had plenty of it in 2015.

With Hamer now gone – running as a freshman at Colorado State – the Palmer Ridge cross country program has continued to flourish, boasting five runners with top-30 times in Class 4A this season.

And on Saturday the Bears hope that’ll translate into their second consecutive 4A team title at Norris-Penrose Event Center.

“We are much improved as a team from last season,” Palmer Ridge coach Kelly Christensen said.

“Sure, you would always love to have a Hamer or a (Katie) Rainsberger,” he added. “But these guys are confident in what they can do with each other.”

It’s called pack running, and theirs is fast. The Bears’ first and fifth runners both run consistently in the 16 minutes and are only separated by about 20 seconds.

Because of it the Bears handily won the Pikes Peak Athletic Conference. And a week later, they took four of the top six spots and won 4A Region 2 despite not running Meadows, who was ill.

“We change positions all the time. We push each other and try to beat each other every day,” said Andrew Rudnicki, who led the Bears with a third-place finish in regionals. “I’d say we’re all an Eric Hamer, we’re all front-runners.”

On Saturday the best bet to dethrone Palmer Ridge will be Durango, which currently has five runners in the top 25 in 4A. And if not the Demons, The Classical Academy, Air Academy and Battle Mountain also should be players in the top five.

“These guys know what it takes to win,” Christensen said of his team. “They have the belief.”

Hamer, meanwhile, the face of Bears distance running, will be in attendance watching his former team Saturday.

Although his old teammates still relish in his accolades from a year ago, the CSU freshman believes it’s time to move on.

“I would say these guys need each other to win on Saturday,” said Hamer, who will be returning from the Mountain West championships the night before.

“They don’t have someone who is going to win it, so they need to run for each other and be selfless.

“If they do, it’s not because of anything I did for the program. It’s all because of those guys. All I’ll be is a happy spectator rooting for my former teammates.”