Battle Mountain runner wins program’s first boys individual state cross-country title

Will Brunner crossed the line in 15:19.9, just nine seconds off the course record

News | Oct 29, 2023

Ryan Sederquist

“When I was a freshmen and sophomore, I looked up to Sully (Middaugh) and those older guys on the team," said Will Brunner, left, who won the 4A state cross-country meet last October. "They taught me how to be good at running. I never could have gotten near to where I am without Sully — showing me the path, showing me how to do it."
*Ryan Sederquist/Vail Daily*

When you’re one of the fittest runners on the start line, the most common approach to ensure being in contention at the end is to employ a conservative, tactical race strategy.

When you’re the fittest …

“You can kind of do what you want,” Battle Mountain head coach Rob Parish aptly stated after watching his pupil, Will Brunner, claim the program’s first individual boys state cross-country title on Saturday in Colorado Springs.

As temperatures played tag with 30 degrees, the senior ran the legs off of one of the most talented 4A fields in recent memory, blitzing the Penrose Norris Event Center course in 15 minutes, 19.9 seconds, just 9 seconds shy of current Tar Heel All-American Parker Wolfe’s 2020 course record.

Brunner and his teammate, Porter Middaugh — who came into the event with the No. 1 time (14:38) in the entire state — made it a three-person affair immediately, daring any challenger to stay with them through their blistering 4:48 opening mile. Only Region 1 foe Jacob Sushinsky really committed to the chase.

“We wanted to break as many guys as we could right away,” Brunner said with a quote that would have made the late Steve Prefontaine smile. “With how competitive the 4A field was this year, if we left it up to that last mile deciding everything, I think that would be a little bit scarier.”

The future Harvard runner trusted his fitness and twice-a-week summer trail runs on the often slower, hillier second mile.

Brunner and Middaugh work to get to the front of the pack at the start of the 4A boys race on Saturday in Colorado Springs.

“If any two teammates were going to go out as hard as we did and then not struggle on the hills, I think it was Porter and I. That’s where our training came in handy,” he said. “We know how to run the hills, we know that it’s going to hurt. But everyone else is probably going to hurt a bit more.”

The Region 1 trio came through two miles in 10:11.5. Aiden Le Roux and Lucas Bossinger were five seconds back and Niwot sophomore Rocco Culpepper, the son of Olympian and former CU star Alan Culpepper, remained in reach at 10:20.7. As the group disappeared into no-man’s land on the quiet third mile, Brunner said he “made moves, trying to attack, but not gunning it completely.” When they passed Parish at the edge of the forest, there was a new sheriff in town: Sushinksy.

“I have learned to never doubt,” Parish said when asked what went through his mind seeing the Mullen senior in the lead with a quarter-mile remaining.

“If Will is still on the course, he’s got a chance.”

Brunner, Middaugh and Sushinsky lengthen their lead on the rest of the 4A field at the two-mile mark.

Sushinksy pulled 10 yards clear of Brunner and a fading Middaugh — the same strategy he employed at the regional meet in Grand Junction a week prior.

“I was like, ‘OK … you can’t lose now. You’ve fought for three miles to be in this position,” Brunner said. A deeper reality also set in: This was his last cross-country race in a Huskies uniform.

“Porter and I were talking about this during Monday’s workout: there’s always been this, ‘oh next year we’ll do this.’ Like, there isn’t a next year with Battle Mountain,” he said. “This is it.”

Sushinsky bolts into the lead with 300 meters remaining in the 4A state cross-country race. Will Brunner (second) made up the gap in the final two hills going into the Norris Penrose Event Center stadium to claim the victory.

Brunner launched himself back into the lead and put two seconds on Sushinsky in a devastating final 200-meter kick, joining Elizabeth Constien as Battle Mountain’s only other individual state champion.

“I didn’t know what to think,” an overjoyed Brunner said regarding his emotional state after crossing the line. He teared up as various media outlets pulled him aside for interviews he’d been dreaming about giving for a while.

“This is four years of thinking about this every single day,” he continued.

“Every single day I wake up, and I’m excited to run and I think about state and being the best runner I can be.”

Middaugh, last year’s runner-up, finished fourth in 15:28.8, as Culpepper (15:27.8) snuck by at the end. The future Project Podium athlete’s time would have won the 4A race 12 of the last 13 years. On a day when other heralded potential record-breakers fell short of even season bests, Brunner’s cold-weather morning run — the seventh-fastest all-time mark on the course for all classifications — stood out as perhaps the day’s best performance for boys or girls.

Will Brunner goes to the lead shortly after the first mile. Brunner, Porter Middaugh and Mullen’s Jacob Sushinksy came through the opening split in 4:48.

“They’ve had such amazing careers,” Parish said of Middaugh and Brunner, who together have rewritten the Husky record book in track and cross-country.

“In a field like this, probably the top-10 guys could have won on any given day. It’s awesome that Will got it; he didn’t need it to validate his time here, and the same with Porter — these guys have so many points.”

Brunner, a student at Vail Mountain School, said he was filled with gratitude for the texts and well-wishes from his teachers and classmates this week.

“I don’t even run for our school and they’re still so proud of me. That’s just such an incredible feeling,” he said. “I couldn’t have done it with all these incredible people to get me here.”