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Steamboat learned from its cross country performances Oct. 14 at the Battle Mountain Invitational.

Practicing outside all week in similar weather conditions and learning to pace correctly for the course's one hill, the Sailors boys and girls teams both made significant improvements Saturday in their return to the Minturn course.

The boys captured the final, fourth-place qualifying team spot for the 4A state cross-country championships Oct. 28 in Colorado Springs.

Matt Hill boosted the Sailors' score with an impressive second-place finish in 17 minutes, 45 seconds. Shaving 19 seconds off his Oct. 14 time, Hill almost caught Moffat County's Jake Miller, who beat him by a mere five seconds.

"It's probably the best I've ever run," Hill said, noting the degree of effort necessary for a tough course on a cold and muddy day. "I actually ran a smart race. Knowing the course, I could gauge it right and stick to my game plan."

Battle Mountain won the boys meet, followed by Moffat County in second and Montrose in third.

Lee Wren had one of his best races of the season, finishing second for Steamboat (17th overall), cutting nearly a minute off his time from the previous race. Sailors coach Glen Light cited Wren's drastic improvement from the previous race as one of the keys to the team's qualification.

"He ran with pure guts," Light said of Wren's finish. "It's his senior year; he knew it could've been his last race and he just let it all out."

Charlie Stoddard followed closely behind Wren at 20th. Sam Chovan (26th) and Bryce Gordon (33rd) rounded out the Sailors' scoring runners out of the field of 60.

Light noted that his girls had some of their best personal performances of the season.

"Two of our seniors (Anna Anderson and Annie McLean) ran well over a minute faster than last week," Light said. "It was the race of their seasons, ending their high school careers on a positive, gratifying note."

Two of the improved Steamboat's girls, Brittany Long (12th) and Rachael Caires (18th), finished in the top 20. Katherine Lynch finished 28th, Anderson was 33rd and McLean was 37th.

With only the top three girls teams qualifying for state - Glenwood Springs in first, Summit second and Battle Mountain in third - the Steamboat girls missed the cut at fifth in the field of eight teams. But with her 12th-place finish, Long qualified as an individual.

Noting the pressure of it "all coming down to one race," Long said she was glad to have raced on the course the week before. She is excited for next week.

Light hopes that Long and the Steamboat boys team will be able to head into the state meet with the same loose, "nothing-to-lose" attitude.