Peak Performer of the week: The Classical Academy’s Matthew Edwards maintains hunger for more in cross-country
Matthew Edwards ran his best-ever 5K time in Colorado on Sept. 9.
The Classical Academy senior’s time of 14 minutes, 54.80 seconds marked a season best and fell just shy of his career-best time of 14:48.98, which Edwards ran at the Garmin RunningLane Cross Country Championships in Huntsville, Ala., on Dec. 4, 2021.
The Titans’ cross-country team haven’t eclipsed the halfway point of their season.
Edwards’ performance earned him this week’s Peak Performer honors.
“It’s encouraging because the race this weekend didn’t play to my strengths as much,” Edwards said. “I like a hilly course and that one was pretty flat to my standards and to Colorado’s standards.”
Edwards’ time scorched most of the field at the Liberty Bell. “Most,” however, is the operative word.
Matthew Edwards poses for a portrait at The Classical Academy track before cross-country practice on Sept. 12. Edwards has his sights set on the 3A state title after coming in third last season.
The senior’s time placed him second behind Monte Vista’s Benjamin Anderson, who finished first at 14:48.90 — nearly identical to Edwards’ top mark.
“To say I was dissatisfied is a fair statement,” Edwards said. “Me and (Benjamin) we go back and forth and we’re good buddies. I was hoping to come away with a win. I think we both wanted faster times, but for now, early in the season, it’s promising for both of us.”
Edwards’ hunger-for-more style consistently impresses Titans cross-country coach Matthew Norton.
Norton has watched Edwards overcome significant injuries including a stress fracture on his left femur, which sidelined the senior for multiple meets during the 2022 cross-country season.
Norton noted Edwards’ work ethic throughout his cross-country and track and field careers. Norton also highlighted the methodical approach Edwards exhibited before the Liberty Bell meet.
Edwards scoped the course in Littleton and Norton said the senior “gave a graduate-level analysis of the course” to his teammates the night before.
Edwards’ dissection of the trail and description to his teammates sounded as though he pieced together the course himself.
Matthew Edwards runs on a path at Mary Kyer Park during cross-country practice on Sept. 12
“I took the temperature of the room and I saw a lot of kids like, ‘Wow! He knows a lot,’” Norton said. “He told them precisely where the 1.55 mark was — the halfway point of the race — and said ‘You’ll see a little bench and a tree on the left-hand side. And there’s a hill right before 2 miles and the trail is kind of eroded on the right-hand side.’ There were multiple instances of that where he took them from the start line to the finish.”
As Edwards nears the midway point of his final season, he expects the attention to detail to pave the way for a first-place finish for himself and teammates at the state meet.
Norton knows Edwards “has aspirations to run with the top boys in the country,” and believes those ambitions to be valid.
Edwards will need to continue to push himself during training and throughout the year to one-up his own performance.
“I just have to keep consistent and keep training with the guys,” Edwards said. “This has been an unreal group of guys this year; this is probably our best team in school history. Having them push me is super nice.
“Even the days I’m by myself in training, I can push myself, because I have those goals of winning state and breaking the 3A course record at state. I just have to keep doing what I’ve been doing.”
The Classical Academy senior cross-country runner Mathew Edwards runs across a bridge at Mary Kyer Park during practice on Sept. 12.