NEDERLAND — It was an exceptional Halloween weekend in Colorado Springs to end an excellent season for the Nederland Girls’ Cross Country Team. 

All six girls on the team raced hard under the hot mid-afternoon sunshine among some of the best in the state. It was a good race. The Nederland Panthers surrounded themselves with ambitious, fast runners from across Colorado and were able to channel this beneficially and use the energy to run hard and place high.

The atmosphere of a state meet is like nothing else. All of the athletes have put in a great deal of work to be there, training since August—and some even before that. All of the hard work they have put in has led up to this moment. All that is left is to trust the training and have fun.

When the race gun goes off, everything gets real. The race began with a fast stampede, with runners rushing and pushing to the front of the pack. The girls spent this time trying to navigate the best positioning to stay and attack. 

It is hard to get to the front of the pack in a cross country race because everyone around you wants it just as much as you do. At some point it becomes more of a mind battle than anything else.

Senior and four year high school cross country runner Amika Begin crushing the course, and her competitors, to push through the race and make Nederland proud at the State Championship.

Photo Courtesy of Kathy Butler

Senior Amika Begin found herself surrounded at the start of the race. Begin spent the race fighting hard, and passing as many people as she could, until it all would pay off. It was a sight to see, witnessing Begin move from the middle of the pack to the lead group throughout the race, until eventually finishing in a remarkable 12th place out of 141 runners. 

This race unfortunately marks the bittersweet end of Begin’s Nederland cross country reign. Never missing a year of running all of high school, Begin is not only the team captain, but a true leader, hard worker, and advocate for all of the runners on the team.

It has been an honor to see what Begin has been able to accomplish the past four years in the sport. She works hard, trains hard, and it has shown every year. Her top-15 finish at the State Championship this year was the cherry on top to end a terrific high school career. 

Junior Libby Chandler pushing through the middle mile while running in the 2026 Cross Country State Championship.

Photo Courtesy of Kathy Butler

Behind Begin was Nederland’s only junior on the team, Libby Chandler. It has been a year of improvement for Chandler, who, although she did not run a personal best during this race, improved her state meet time from last year by two minutes.

She is sad this season is over. With one more season of high school cross country left. Chandler hopes to improve much more and finish high school satisfied with the work she has put in over the years.

Panther sophomore Isla Harmon speeds past the second mile marker during the State Championship in Colorado Springs.

Photo Courtesy of Kathy Butler

Following swiftly behind Chandler was sophomore Isla Harmon. Harmon has truly shown herself to be a dedicated and speedy runner this season. Only a sophomore, she has two more great seasons of victory and improvement to look forward to. Harmon is tough, smart, and ready to take on any course that gets thrown in her direction.

She raced the state meet with a special kind of grit, determination, and passion that is hard to find elsewhere. Harmon crossed the finish line leaving nothing out on the course, showing everyone what hard work can do.

A bright spotlight must be shone onto Nederland’s one and only freshman, Emmeline Rosenblum. It is incredibly rare that a freshman can walk onto a team with very little experience and run as fast as Rosenblum has this past season. Her speed can be credited to passion, hard work, and determination, but also a general talent for the sport.

Rosenblum raced hard at her very first state meet of what could be a great high school career, learning about all of the unexpected twists and turns the state meet has to offer, such as unexpected hills and river crossings.

It will be enthralling to see what Rosenblum can prove herself capable of in the coming years if she decides to keep up the sport. The state meet marked the end of a truly extraordinary freshman season.

Sophomore Lily Troy paces herself alongside other fast girls as they race towards the finish line at the State Championship in Colorado Springs.

Photo Courtesy of Kathy Butler

Next to cross the finish line was Lily Troy. Just a sophomore, Troy has shown some of the most improvement this season. Like her team mates, Troy has shown that the work put in is the reward you get out. The state meet was her time to show this, to let all of the hard work and training pull through.

Troy is determined to improve. She sets goals like no one else’s business; with a mindset like hers, it is no wonder she runs so well.

Keep an eye out for Troy in the upcoming years as she pushes herself to improve more and more, determined to keep making Nederland proud.

Nederland senior Eva Wrobel kicking past the competition as she runs in her last high school cross country state championship.

Photo Courtesy of Kathy Butler

Shortly after Troy had crossed the finish line at Norris Penrose Stadium, Eva Wrobel came flying in. Although a senior, it was only Wrobel’s second state championship, and second year running cross country. However, the way Wrobel runs and the way she has dedicated herself to being a part of the team makes it seem like she has been a part of the team throughout high school. Joining the team as a junior, Wrobel has brought so much talent to the team that no one knew they needed. 

Wrobel takes risks and gets out of her own comfort zone more often than your average person can even attempt. She ran the state course like she was a pro, passing girls and kicking till the end. It has been great to see just how much Wrobel has been able to improve the past two seasons, and she will be greatly missed next year.

The Nederland Panthers are pulled together by two wonderful, passionate, and supportive coaches: Kathy Butler and Gavin Coombs. Without them, what the team has accomplished this year would have been very difficult. The coaches are very proud of the team and all they have accomplished this year.

The coaches not only support the team through hard workouts, unbearable tempo runs and heavy lifts, but also provide what it takes to have a good team environment, respect, and dignity.

Coombs said the thing he was the most proud of was the work the team put in and how clearly it showed. 

Coombs stated that last year at the state meet, the team finished in 11th place, and to see them finish 6th this year was something very special. He stated that, as a coach, “there is little more to ask for” than to see a team succeed like this.

Butler stated that the team was “ready to run hard for each other. They went in with high goals and pushed hard for them. The race was very competitive and they competed so well together.”

The coaches are excited for what the 2027 track season will hold for these same distance-loving girls. Coombs optimistically stated, “Success builds on success, and we had a successful cross country season, I know we will have a successful track season as well.” 

The best part of the race for these coaches? you may ask. For Butler it was watching them approach the start line “united as a team.”

For Coombs, it was watching the whole team fight hard and truly compete, although it was a tough call because the whole race went well.

Although cross country is classified as a team sport, we know deep down that it just will never be. Who would Nederland team members be if they didn’t work with each other, train with each other and push each other? It's not even just the training aspect that makes a team, but of course the competition. For a team to do well, everyone has to run well. It doesn't matter if one specific person happens to be the fastest. In the end, it's about how everyone together does.

It was a great season for Nederland because the girls know exactly how to support each other, push each other, and win together, as a team.