LAKEWOOD — The Classical Academy trailed in the girls 4×800 meter relay for two seconds. That’s not hyperbole; that’s dominance.

TCA’s quartet of Jana Yuschalk, Stella Briggeman, Joy Ahnfeldt and Vivian Jack cruised past the 18-team field and ran a 9-minute, 31.76-second relay to earn the Titans’ second consecutive title in the 3A race Thursday at Jeffco Stadium.

“This is because we’re such a close team,” Jack said. “Sisters run faster together. We have such amazing coaching and such great team depth, and we’re all like family.”

The Titans built a sizable advantage with their first two legs, but Berthoud, which finished third, closed that gap on the third leg. Berthoud had a time of 7:11.21 on its final exchange, while TCA had a time of 7:13.46.

Jack, The Classical Academy’s anchor, said TCA coaches prepared Titan runners for this moment, and the mid-distance competitor, albeit briefly, demonstrated her speed to close the gap and reclaim the lead on the first corner of her leg.

“When I saw Joy fighting down the homestretch, I knew it was time to leave it all out here,” Jack said. “I’m running for my team and not just myself. I need to do this for all of them and not just myself. My coach always tells me in the first 100 meters, if someone is in front of you, sprint as hard as you can because it’s worth the energy to get the person rather than spend the entire race stressing over that.”

Jack bolted for 40 meters, moved to Lane 2 to pass Berthoud’s anchor leg on the last 20 meters of that sprint and returned to Lane 1 and first place for the remainder of the race.

When she crossed the finish line, Jack’s leg of the race was 2:18.30, which was the swiftest split of the relay.

“This is sweet every single time,” Jack said of the win.