Sophia Mena, Maddy Rodrigues, Alyssa McLean help Widefield girls’ cross county close the gap
Widefield’s girls’ cross country team returning three of the program’s four fastest times this fall is no coincidence.
About six years ago, coach Erik Nelson thought about how he could get the Gladiators closer to competing with the area’s best despite his program not having the distance running tradition of Air Academy, Palmer Ridge or Cheyenne Mountain.
“I just kind of had this flash where I was like ‘You know, I’m going to run every day. Some of them are going to run every day. Let’s just say rather than you having to figure out, are we running today, the answer is just yes,’” he said. “We’ll run every day.”
The Gladiators started to gather for morning runs five days a week with each individual racking up 300 to 500 miles by time practice started. It helped the girls qualify the team for the state meet each of the past three years with hopes of making it four in a row.
“We got to spend a lot of time with our team, so we can make ourselves better but also our team better,” junior Alyssa McLean said. “We’ve got a lot of freshmen, and we started training with them so they can add on to our girls’ team. We did a lot of workouts.”
Junior Sophia Mena leads the Gladiator girls after finishing the 4A meet in 20 minutes, 31 seconds as a sophomore. She owns the program’s fastest 5K time in addition to top marks in distance events on the track.
“I feel pretty confident saying she’s the best distance runner in school history,” Nelson said.
Maddy Rodrigues, now a senior, finished a minute behind Mena at state with McLean, another junior, another minute back in 22:48.6. The trio, which returns this summer with three of the top four spots on Widefield’s career charts, ran faster times at league and regional.
This preseason they had another talk about taking the next step.
“We talked actually with these girls the other day about Roger Bannister and the four-minute mile and how no one could do it until one person did it and then a bunch of people did it,” the coach recalled. “It’s kinda similar, I think, when six years ago, 23-minutes for a 5K was fast on our team. That’s what kids thought was fast. Now that we’ve got girls running under 20, they’ve just redefined what’s possible.”
In the last three years, Widefield was at or near the bottom of the state meet standings. Rodrigues wants to finish her prep career at Norris Penrose Event Center with an even better finish.
“I’m really hoping to go to state all four years, so I’m going to push for that,” she said. “And then try to place better than we did the other previous years.”
If Mena, Rodrigues and McLean can all run sub-20 and get help from the No. 4 and 5 runners, a top-15 finish seems possible for the Gladiators. The problem in years past has been getting enough girls out to give the team a little more depth and internal competition.
“It’s definitely hard, but we’re kinda like a close-knit team,” Mena said.
“The numbers that we do have make us want to push each other harder so we can compete.”
The Gladiators head into their first meet of the season Friday at the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede with four individuals who’ve met Nelson’s standard for a varsity runner.
The program hasn’t yet reached its potential, according to the coach, but three upperclassmen have started to narrow the gap.
“It started a couple of years before this group that we just started raising the bar,” Nelson said.
“We’ve had other groups of girls who are capable of doing this, they just didn’t know they were because no one else had.”
From left to right, Alyssa McLean, Sophia Mena, and Maddy Rodrigues run to warm up at the beginning of cross country practice on Tuesday, August 20, 2019 at Widefield High School in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Photo by Katie Klann, The Gazette)
From left to right, Sophia Mena, Maddy Rodrigues, and Allysa McLean pose for portraits on Tuesday, August 20, 2019 at Widefield High School in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Photo by Katie Klann, The Gazette)
From left, Sophia Mena, Alyssa McLean and Maddy Rodrigues join their team for cross country practice Tuesday at Widefield High School in Colorado Springs.
From left to right, Alyssa McLean, Maddy Rodrigues, and Sophia Mena pose for a portrait on Tuesday, August 20, 2019 at Widefield High School in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Photo by Katie Klann, The Gazette)
From left to right, Alyssa McLean, Sophia Mena, and Maddy Rodrigues run to warm up at the beginning of cross country practice on Tuesday, August 20, 2019 at Widefield High School in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Photo by Katie Klann, The Gazette)
From left to right, Alyssa McLean, Maddy Rodrigues, and Sophia Mena pose for a portrait on Tuesday, August 20, 2019 at Widefield High School in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Photo by Katie Klann, The Gazette)
From left, Sophia Mena, Alyssa McLean and Maddy Rodrigues join their team for cross country practice Tuesday at Widefield High School in Colorado Springs.
From left to right, Sophia Mena, Maddy Rodrigues, and Allysa McLean pose for portraits on Tuesday, August 20, 2019 at Widefield High School in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Photo by Katie Klann, The Gazette)
