COLORADO SPRINGS — You could hear the Norris Penrose Events Center crowd buzz Saturday when Pine Creek’s Heather Bates entered the arena for the final 100 yards of the Class 5A girls cross country championships.
Bates, like most in the 5A field, was thought to be competing for second place behind defending champion Jordyn Colter of Cherry Creek.
But Colter never crossed the finish line and Bates, who finished sixth as a freshman in 2009, became the first state champion at Pine Creek.
“I was finishing and I was like, ‘Is this seriously happening?’ ” said Bates, a senior. “I was worried that I wouldn’t even place in the top five.”
The question soon after Bates crossed the finish line in 18 minutes, 16.5 seconds (43 seconds ahead of Legacy’s Emma Gee) became: Where is Colter?
The 80-pound sophomore, who had a sizable lead at the 2-mile mark, couldn’t go anymore and collapsed in the grass on the side of the course.
Colter was attended to by Fairview assistant coach Candace Garbow and three students from Heritage until medical personnel could get to her.
Colter was taken to a nearby hospital for precautionary reasons.
“She seemed fine when I passed her,” said Bates, who had no idea what happened. “I don’t know why she didn’t finish.”
Monarch didn’t place a runner in the top 10 but was still strong enough to capture its second consecutive 5A team title with 91 points.
Fort Collins placed second with 98 points and Pine Creek finished third with 100.
“(Winning) back to back feels really good, especially since those are two really good teams at Pine Creek and Fort Collins,” said Coyotes coach Kent Rieder, whose top finisher was Elissa Mann in 13th place.
In the Class 4A race, Elise Cranny provided the finish of the day.
The Niwot junior caught out-of-gas Air Academy freshman Katie Rainsberger with a dead sprint in the final 100 yards to win by 0.1 of a second in 18:41.3.
“There was really no other choice. You’ve got to go,” said Cranny, who was feeding off a crowd that was sensing something big. “I came to the stadium and it was flat, and she was closer than I thought, so I just had to go for it.”
The move from 3A to 4A didn’t slow The Classical Academy, which won its 10th straight team title.
In Class 3A, Bayfield junior Eva Lou Edwards became the Wolverines’ first girls runner to win a state championship. She was 1 minute, 3 seconds faster than defending champion Tabor Scholl of Middle Park, breaking the tape in 19:04.8.
“I was thinking, ‘Should I be going this fast?’ ” said Edwards, who twice has qualified for the 5A state tennis tournament at No. 1 singles for nearby Durango. “It goes by pretty fast once you get up the hill though.”
Holy Family edged Frontier Academy by a point (84-85) and won its first team state title.
In Class 2A, the first race of the day went to Telluride’s Rachel Hampton. The Miners senior, who broke her foot in the spring, was the only 2A girl in the field to break the 20- minutes barrier, finishing in 19:48.21.
“It’s been a tough road back,” she said, “but I’ve got a great team around me.”
Hotchkiss captured its first team title by placing all three scoring runners in the top 10.
Jon E. Yunt: 303-954-1354, jyunt@denverpost.com or twitter.com/joneyunt
