Summit High Claims First Ever State Cross Country Title

Aspen —Did Summit High School just steal the show in Colorado Springs?

Yes. And they didn’t just win. They made history.

Summit captured its first-ever boys’ state cross-country team title last Saturday. The score was decisive: 75 points for the Huskies against 99 for runner-up Durango. It wasn’t a close race. It was a statement.

The engine driving that victory was Lukas Remeikis. He finished third. One spot behind him was Jay McDonald, the 800-meter state champion from last year. These aren’t walk-ons. This is a senior-heavy squad that knows how to race.

Remeikis told CHSAA he wanted to stay with McDonald as long as possible. They went out slower than planned. That paid off on the final hill.

“I’m ecstatic,” Remeikis said. “We had a lot left on the last hill.”

But the individual story belongs to someone else.

Oliver Horton of Coronado won his second straight individual crown. He also set a new all-classification record.

His time: 14:40.5.

That shaved eight seconds off his previous best. Aiden Le Roux held the mark from 2024 at 15:02.1. Horton broke it.

Golden’s Jackson Ferguson took silver in 14:58.0. He became the second 4A runner ever to break 15 minutes at the state meet.

Horton told CHSAA his goal was to “squeeze that second mile.” Last year, his second mile was slow. This time, he pressed hard up the hill after mile one.

“I knew I was in pretty good shape,” he said.

The weather was perfect. Cloudy. A Halloween morning that felt like early autumn.

Battle Mountain and Eagle Valley sent individual qualifiers to the 4A meet for the first time. That’s a small shift, but it matters. More schools are sending runners who didn’t qualify as teams.

Nate Beuche of Battle Mountain ran 16:23.5 to finish 33rd. He was a freshman on the qualifying team two years ago but missed the last two meets due to injury.

“I wish I’d placed a little better, but overall I feel good about my season and how I ran today,” Beuche said.

He added that he raced the competition he had.

The course at Norris Penrose Event Center is tough. The final hill is notorious. Horton flew up it. Remeikis and McDonald had fuel left for it.

This wasn’t just a win. It was a reset.

Summit enters next season as the defending champions. They’ll have to defend that title.

Horton will be back. He’s a senior now. His career is winding down, but his legacy is cemented.

Ferguson is still running. He’s proving he belongs in the top tier.

Beuche is rebuilding. He’s showing signs of life.

The Western Slope isn’t just watching anymore. It’s competing.

Make no mistake: this is a new era for Summit.

And for the rest of us? We’re just happy to see someone from the valley get a piece of the pie.

The short version: Summit won. Horton set a record. Everyone else learned something.

Read that again.

Summit won.

Horton set a record.

Everyone else learned something.

That’s all there is to it.