According to Cottonwood head cross country coach Jiree Riding, one of his Colts lost a shoe at around the 2-mile mark at the 4A state championships at BYU. 

“Still finished the race tough,” said Riding of his runner. 

That sort of attitude epitomized this Colts team, added Riding, who was also in his first season as a high school head coach. His Cottonwood team crossed the finish line in 20th place, on Oct. 29.

Due to all the changes in the athletic department and within the Cottonwood administration over the summer, Riding wasn’t actually hired with much time to spare. 

But over the season, and as the team competed in more meets, times were shaved considerably, and Cottonwood was moving up the leaderboards in Region 10. 

By the time it was Divisionals, the Colts were ready and even had runners finishing in the top 50. 

“We placed 11th at Divisionals qualifying the Colts for state, first time in over four years,” Riding said. 

Individually, senior Grant Adams crossed in 40th place, in a time of 18:01. His teammate, junior Turner Hamel was three seconds behind in 18:04, 42nd place, respectively. Junior Damien Fernandez was 61st and Samuel Frew, 67th while sophomore Logan Fogg was 82nd and Elijah Leek 89th. 

For the girls at Divisionals, senior Sunny Evans finished in 81st place in a time of 25:34, while Rylie Seydel crossed in 25:55 in 86th. To round out the Colts girls top 100, senior Paulina Garrido was in 90th position. 

As a team, the Colts girls did not qualify for the state championships teamwise, but had several good individual performances at Divisionals, held at Lakeside Park in Orem, and will have plenty to build on, according to what Riding told City Journals back in October. 

At state, Cottonwood continued its assault of the top 100 on BYU’s campus. 

On the boys’ side, senior Grant Adams finished in 66th place in a time of 17:16, 45 seconds better than his effort at Divisionals. Other Colts that competed and finished the course were Samuel Frew, who was 106th, Elijah Leek in 112th, Turner Hamel 118th, Caleb Hill in 124th, Logan Fogg 141st and Damien Fernandez in 153rd. 

“Going into state we were ranked 23rd out of 23 teams in Class 4A, but the boys stepped up and finished 20th,” Riding said. “We're excited for next year as we return our top six and graduate just one senior.”

Teamwise and individually, the Colts boys and girls showed they had plenty of promise heading into the track and field portion of the season—Riding is also that team’s new coach, as a matter of fact. 

To have to go from a new coach in cross country and have that much success initially, is usually unheard of. In the view of Riding, the Colts weren’t supposed to be in this position yet. 

“Overall, it was a great season. Honestly, we were shocked to make it to state in what was supposed to be a rebuild year,” Riding said. “But at the same time I'm not too surprised — this group was hungry and determined to show that Cottonwood cross country is back.”