Boys' cross country athlete of the year: Dusty Solis, Coronado

Dusty Solis hoped to cap a superb season with a state title, but an injury derailed his dream as the Coronado senior struggled even to finish the 3.1-mile race at the Class 5A championships.

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After finishing seventh at state as a junior, Solis lost only one race — by 1 second to two-time 4A champion Scott Fauble of Wheat Ridge — in his final high school season before injuring his right foot while winning a regional meet.

“If Dusty hadn’t gotten hurt, I think he would’ve won state,” coach Doug Hugill said. “It was a fluke injury caused by his shoe coming untied at regional.”

Solis didn’t stop to tie his shoe and paid the price later.

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“After regional, it was hurting,” he said. “It was a sharp pain all through the race at state.”

Solis, who plans to resume running this month, is an excellent student. He’s targeted a degree in civil engineering and has applied to an impressive group of colleges — Notre Dame, Villanova, Duke, Stanford, Purdue, Rice, Portland and the College of Charleston.

“Whoever gets him is going to be very lucky,” Hugill said. “He’s got a wide range of ability. He’s very talented, but he’s worked very hard too. He has great speed, and he’s tenacious in wanting to win.”

Solis expressed disappointment in not being able to help the Cougars pursue a title.

“We had a good year, and this is may be the best team we ever had at Coronado,” he said. “So it was a lot of fun.”

Solis, who also runs track, is hooked on the sport and credits Hugill for that.

“It’s been a lot of fun running for him,” Solis said. “I like track, but he taught me to love running. Before, I’d do the work to get better, but he addicted me to running. Now if I don’t run, I really miss it and don’t feel right.”