Jefferson Academy Secondary

Over the weekend, the cross country teams competed against the state's best runners at the 3A CHSAA State Championships in Colorado Springs. The boys finished in 6th and the girls took 12th out of 20 teams.

Junior Judah Wilson led the Jags during the boys' race. Wilson's time of 17:08 was one of his fastest times of the year and landed him a 27th-place finish overall. This finish caps off a fantastic year for the junior.

Tony Thoutt (So.) has been climbing up the rankings all season, and Saturday's race was a culmination of his hard work. Thoutt's last mile push was good enough to get him past the 53rd and 54th place finishers, outpacing them by a mere few tenths of a second to place 52nd.

Senior Chase Wittman capped off his season with a 60th-place finish. Wittman battled through injury in the first part of the season and powered back to be one of the Jags' most consistent runners. Finishing in 71st was Grahm German (So.). German's late push propelled him past four runners to lock in his finish. Freshman Mathew Chichirico finished in 76th and got his best time of the season. Rounding out the Jags boys team were Hunter Elliott (Jr.) and Henry Vidmar (So.), finishing in 82nd and 83rd, respectively.



For the girls, Leyna Gibson wrapped up her high school career with a 15th-place finish in the field of 148 finishers. Gibson's dedication throughout her high school years paid off with a fantastic finish in her last race.

The freshman class for the Lady Jags may be one of the school's best ever. Led by Kennedy Candelaria, this trio of runners is becoming feared by other schools. Candelaria finished in 68th and was followed by Reiss Heilman (81st) and Kayla Hughes (84th). We're already looking forward to seeing this trio take over 3A next year.

Rounding out the Lady Jags were seniors Sydney Murphy, Audra Shields and sophomore Nyla Delalio. The two seniors runners finished in 85th and 90th, respectively, and were two of the hardest workers throughout the season. While Delalio was unable to cross the finish line due to an injury, her season was filled with success and we're very much looking forward to her being a leader for the 2026 Lady Jags.