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For the third straight year, the Steamboat Springs boys cross country team qualified for state by earning the fourth and final spot at regionals. With that experience, they knew what to expect going into this year's Colorado State Cross Country Championships.

"Our region isn't the most competitive, so we know that we are going to have a lot more competition at the state meet," coach Glen Light said. "I never really know how to approach it as a team but we look at it as a chance to come and run some fast times."

Muddy and snowy conditions kept some of the goal times out of reach, but the Sailors had two finishers in the top 100 on the way to a 21st-place finish out of 24 teams.

"We had a couple of guys bounce back from rough performances at the regional," Light said. "We ran some of the best times we had all year."

Four-year state qualifier Matt Hill had an individual approach that was similar to the team's approach.

"I came in and wanted to run my own race and break 17 minutes," he said. "It was tough because I was sliding all over. The course was a little redundant for me after four years."

Hill led the Sailors with a 25th-place finish. He was 23 seconds from his goal with a time of 17 minutes, 23.65 seconds.

"I'm ready to start training for track," he said. "The mile and 800 are my events."

Light was impressed with the way Hill trained for cross country this summer.

"Matt really put the work in to get better this summer," he said. "I hope the younger guys on our team can look at him as an example for the future."

The Sailors drew the first chute at the starting line, which meant they had to start on part of the course that hadn't had the snow cleared. It made for some rough footing at the gun.

"That was a tough start, especially considering how key a fast start is at state," Light said. "We didn't have the luck of the draw."

Sophomore Charlie Stoddard said he had a hard time with his footing and it set an early tone.

"It was so crowded, and we were slipping," he said. "It's such different experience than any other race because fans are yelling the whole time. You can barely hear yourself think."

Despite the start, Stoddard managed to run a seasonal best of 18:22.80. It was an improvement by almost 20 seconds.

"I was happy with my individual performance," he said.

The other five finishers for the Sailors were: Sam Chovan, 144th, 19:18,10; Lee Wren, 158th, 19:35.10; Bryce Gordon, 174th, 20:06.90; T.J. Anderson, 183rd, 20:41.60; Cameron Niswander, 189th, 21:29.60.

"We have five returning next year and our two alternates were underclassmen," Light said. "They just have to know that it will take some good work coming up for us to be better next year."

Sophomore Brittany Long joined the cross-country team with more than half of the season already gone. In her third meet of the season she ran to 12th-place in the region.

"At pre-regionals (her second race of the season) I finished 17th and my dad and coach told me I had a good chance to get to state," she said. "It was a fun experience for the short time that it lasted."

Long, who played volleyball the first half of the fall, decided that cross country would help her pursue her goals to break the school record in the two mile and mile.

She came into the state tournament with two goals: to break into the top 100 and to run a time faster than 22 minutes. She reached one of two goals with a 99th-place finish in 22:22.10 minutes.

"It shows her ability to come and do what she did in just four races," Light said. "I think she'll do some great things for us in the future."