Coronado HS (CO) junior Oliver Horton has strung together a season that puts one word at the front of cross country fans’ minds: contender. Bouncing back from a track season he described as “underwhelming,” he recorded an undefeated regular season before claiming the coveted Colorado 4A state title. After leading Coronado to NXN thanks to an at-large berth, Horton now sets his sights on the same grass he finished 32nd on last December.

Horton sat down with CITIUS MAG to talk about how he learns from down seasons or races, what a stellar 14:23 win at Desert Twilight told him about this campaign, and what one of the Class of 2027’s top recruits is looking for in a college destination.

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Paul Hof-Mahoney: We’re three days out now from NXN, how’re you feeling?

Oliver Horton: I’m feeling really excited, just ready to get after it. My whole team is super psyched to get out there, so I think we’ll be ready as soon as Saturday comes.

You mentioned your team, and the Coronado boys were one of the four teams to get an at-large spot to NXN. What was it like when you guys finally heard the news?

It was just a huge relief, the group chat blew up as soon as it was announced. I don’t think I’ve seen some of the guys as happy as they were. We’ve been working so hard for it all season, especially last year too. It’s super nice to have all this hard work pay off that we’ve been putting in for years and years.

You finished 5th at NXR Southwest, what did you learn from that race and that finish?

I think the biggest takeaways are that one race doesn’t really define me. I don’t think I had too good of a race there, but I’m not really gonna let it affect me mentally at all because I know that my fitness won’t disappear at all even though it was a down race. It’s just gonna make the comeback a little bit better when I go to NXN, so it gives me a little extra motivation, little extra grit to really go after it as soon as the fun goes off.

Was there a move you missed at NXR, or what do you think went wrong for you in that race?

I think it was a little of both. One, my legs didn’t feel as good as I thought they would, but that’s just how it goes some day. Obviously it’s frustrating that it happens on an important day like NXR, but I think I didn’t have the turnover in my legs to cover a move that was made with a kilometer to go, and it was a really hard move. I came back more towards the end, but now I have that mental note that even at NXN if my legs don’t feel good, I have to go with that move and ignore all those feelings, put my team first and my goals first.

Are there things in practice that you’ve been dialing in on the last two weeks to make sure something like that doesn’t happen again? What’s the build from NXR into NXN looked like for you?

Honestly, it’s a lot of what I’ve been doing all season, it’s worked and I don’t wanna change anything up. Now we’re starting to taper a bit. Our easy runs are getting a little bit shorter, they’re getting a little bit faster as well, everything’s kinda just going up and getting faster. I don’t wanna do too many things that are new so that my body isn’t shocked. It’s just doing all the things like eating right, sleeping enough, Normatech-ing as much as I can. Putting all these little things together because they can really make a difference on race day.

I want to go back a bit to your track season. On your Instagram, you called your track season underwhelming but said you were taking away positives from it. When you had time to reflect on your track season, what are those takeaways?

I think it was not taking anything for granted, that was the biggest thing. Last cross country season, I took the fitness I was in for granted and I wasn’t really enjoying things how I should have. I struggled during track season, I think we pinpointed why I didn’t have that good of a track season. It’s kind of taking all these lessons I learned, these little things—I probably wasn’t sleeping as much as I should have been during track season—and implementing them day to day. No matter how hard the workout is, I’ve gotta be getting as much sleep as possible. It’s doing all the little things inside and out so you can perform at 100% when the day matters.

This fall, one of the big statement races for you was that epic Desert Twilight clash with Yohanes Van Meerten, you taking the win in 14:23 and Yohanes in 14:25. What did that race tell you about what this fall could be?

It just eliminated all the doubts in my head that maybe I’m not super fit right now, but it was so cool battling with Yohanes in the night time, the crowd was so fun, and man that race hurt a lot. I really wouldn’t have it any other way, battling a guy down to the line, it was fun. Me and Yohanes talked a lot after and we were both super happy that we could put together such a great performance that early in the season. It helped my confidence a lot and set the trajectory of the season to go up and up.

Obviously you and Yohanes are two of the top, if not the top, guys in the class of 2027. How much fun is it to have a guy like him that you have a pretty good relationship with off the cross country course, but then in races you guys can push each other to the next level?

I think it’s awesome. We’re pretty close outside of running so it kind of takes some of the pressure off of “Oh I really want to beat this guy” or “I need to beat this guy.” It really makes the competitive friendly rivalry so much better. Right after we finished Twilight, he told me he was gonna get me at NXR, and sure enough he did. It keeps that fun rivalry going and I’m sure it’s helping him work harder and harder every day in practice, because it’s helping me. It’s really enjoyable, and these relationships can really go a long way, especially in college. I’m really excited for what’s to come with him.

Have you guys talked at all the last couple weeks? What’s the banter or maybe trash talk look like heading into NXN?

There’s not much trash talk, I think it’s just talking about how excited we are to get out to NXN. We’ve talked a little bit, not as much as we did before Desert Twilight. He’s excited to get out there to Portland this year and really race hard. I’m sure he’s kind of a little nervous because it’s his first time and Glendoveer is a pretty brutal course, but we’re both super excited to get out there, run hard, and race against all these top guys in the nation.

Can you talk a little bit about what it meant to win your Colorado state title earlier this season?

It meant a lot. Last year, I had a bad race at State and was really upset afterwards, I didn’t perform how I wanted to. This year, I had a little bit of a weight on my back because I really wanted to get that state title, that’s been something that I’ve been looking at for such a long time. As soon as I passed through mile two, I knew that this was my race to win. I was really excited and tried to soak up all the crowd and all the experience because you can only race the State meet four times. As soon as I made that last turn into the stadium I was trying to enjoy it all. Obviously run really hard, but take it all in because these experiences don’t come around too often.

You were 32nd at NXN last year as a sophomore, how excited are you to get back to that course with another year of fitness and lessons learned? What are you remembering most about that experience that’s gonna help you this time?

I’m super excited to get back there. It’s such a great opportunity, Nike just does such a great job with all the experiences, both on the course and off the course. I think now I’m a totally different runner and much more mature, and I can handle the pain much better than I did last year. It’s gonna hurt in that last K really bad, but that’s part of the experience. No matter what, you gotta have it on that day, and I think I’m gonna do pretty well.

You’ve still got a lot on your plate at Coronado, but the fall of your junior year is where that recruitment process starts picking up. When you’re starting to look at where you’re going to be at two falls from now, what are the things in college programs that would attract you the most?

Mostly it’s the team culture and how the team interacts with each other. I have such a great team around me—and I have the past three years—so that’s definitely one of the biggest things. The other thing is the coach’s history with people going pro out of his program. That’s the ultimate goal after college, so I want to go to a place where it gives me the best opportunities to go to the next level after college. There’s other factors like altitude and location, but at the end of the day I want to have a great team, great coach, and a great support system around me so that I can accomplish all the goals that I want to.

There’s a lot of excitement about that and there’s a lot of excitement about Saturday too. Oliver, congratulations on all the success this year and good luck at NXN!

Thanks for reading! This interview is part of our 2025 Nike Cross Nationals Series, where we’re catching up with some of the top high school athletes in the country as they prepare for the biggest meet of the fall. Stay tuned for more Q&As with the rising stars of high school distance running.