GIRLS' CROSS COUNTRY COACH OF THE YEAR: Alan Versaw, The Classical Academy

Following a run of nine consecutive 3A girls’ state titles, The Classical Academy decided jumping into 4A would be the ultimate challenge.

Longtime coach Alan Versaw vowed to keep it simple. After all, it’s still running, right?

“I never really dwelled a long time on our competition,” said Versaw, who just finished his 13th season as boys’ and girls’ coach at the charter school. “It’s all about what we are accomplishing. I felt like I was taking a large handful of people who were dreaming dreams, and I was going on the journey with them.”

In the end, TCA stood on top of the cross country world at the state meet at the Norris-Penrose Event Center.

This time, in a new class.

“I suppose if you went to a climbing place and climbed the same wall, after a while, people might look at you strange,” Versaw said. “We took a different challenge. The girls might have been apprehensive at first, but if there were any lingering doubts, that erased them.”