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Oliver Horton, a junior at Coronado High School, shattered the Colorado 5K state record while leading the Cougars to their first state championship since 2012.
Horton clocked a time of 14 minutes, 48.4 seconds, becoming the first runner to post a sub-15 time on the course. The previous record of 15 minutes, 2.1 seconds was set in 2024 by a runner from Cheyenne Mountain.
"It was really exciting. I definitely had that in the back of my mind. The whole year I wanted to be the first person to break 15 on that course and I think I smiled a bit when I came into the stadium because I knew I had it. I knew I was going to break 15 and it was really rewarding for all this hard work I put in all year to finally pay off," said Horton.
During the championship race, Horton said his primary motivation was his team's success rather than individual accolades.
"I was just thinking about my team most of the time. I knew that if we wanted to win, I'd probably have to get the individual title just to put my team in the best position to beat Summit and Thompson Valley. So, I was just thinking about my team whenever I got tired and whenever I had negative thoughts I just put my team before that and just made sure I'm running for the right purposes," said Horton.
Horton's performances throughout the season has earned him national recognition, with one of the top five times in the 5K. However, the junior runner isn't satisfied with his current ranking.
"It definitely just solidifies all the hard work I've put in with my coach the past couple of years. I think being top five is really cool to look at all that stuff, but it makes me more hungry because I would like to be a little higher in the rankings. It helps me push day in and day out to try to get higher in the rankings," said Horton.
The cross country state championship marks Coronado's second title in program history, with their previous victory coming in 2012. It's also the school's first state championship in any sport since 2014.
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