The threshold for mention in these articles is taking a sharp, upward turn. And that sharp, upward turn would reflect the level at which performances are taking off around the state.

PHOTOS BY ALAN VERSAW

I’m dialed in for boys on this article, but you know the drill by now. A girls’ article will be following shortly on the heels of this one. I’ll bold meet names within the article to make it a little easier for you to locate meets of interest. Due to constraints on time (mostly mine, but some yours, too) and space, I’m not visiting any JV meets in this week’s recap.

Ivory Moore – Columbine had the distinction of hosting the first rankings meet of the week. In the grand scheme of things, that probably doesn’t amount to much, but it does make for a place to begin.

For the most part, the heaviest hitters detoured around this meet, but a wind-legal 10.89 100 for Hayden Marx (Chatfield), a similarly wind-legal 15.03 110 hurdles for Myles Wilson (Ralston Valley), and a 135-5 dicus toss for Josh Shaffer (also Ralston Valley) nudged their ways in for notice.

Thomas Jefferson Twilight – It was DPS-hosted meet, so All-City Stadium was the place. There have been a lot of track meets hosted at that venerable stadium over the years. Don’t try to count.

It was a noteworthy duel in the 400, with Castle View’s Ace Malone taking a very narrow win over HR’s Luke Dry. Neither broke 49 seconds, but both could sniff it when they crossed the finish line. In time, folks, in time.

Jacob Culig of Bear Creek went 1:57.55 in the 800. Surely, that’s something of a recent school record for Culig. Bear Creek hasn’t been the home of a lot of recent fast 800s, but it appears that’s about to change.

And, just like clockwork, Cheyenne Mountain has responded to my question of, “Where’s Cheyenne Mountain’s distance troupe?” Cedar Collins posted a 4:26 1600, just edging Gavin Geer of Boulder at the finish line. CM’s Jackson Warmack was third in 4:29. The floodgates may be opening…

Speaking of floodgates opening, the Red-tailed Hawks went 7:47 in the 4×800. Message sent. Message received.

Cheyenne Mountain’s 4×800, however, wasn’t the only blazing relay of the day. To that list, add Lutheran’s 43.16, Castle View’s 1:29.80, and HR’s 3:24.73. If you wanted to get a t-shirt off a relay (I don’t know they were giving them out, but t-shirts are infinitely better awards than ribbons, regardless), you had to be pretty blazing quick about it.

Grant Haskins finally got himself a wind-legal long jump, winning at 21-11.25. The ThunderRidge coaching staff can rest a little easier now. Cade Whish of Fort Collins sent the discus on a 144-6 ride. He doubled back to win the shot put at 49-7.5.

Ray Headley – For those outside the inner circle of awareness, the Ray Headley meet is Swink’s home meet. If you’re outside that circle of awareness, too, Swink is a tiny bit west of La Junta. There is a lot of school districts within a stone’s throw of La Junta.

Trinidad’s Joe Ross won the 100 in 11.71 and the 200 in 23.71. Those aren’t the top 2A times, but they are enough to get on the board. Sanford’s Kelton Gartrell found a gap in the defense and blasted through the hole for—oh wait, it’s not football season any longer—an 11.98 100, which will definitely get him on the 1A board.

Centauri’s Mason Claunch won the 400 in 50.97. Putting my intuition meter to good use, I’ll speculate he was part of the Falcon’s nice 4×100 and 4×200 relays as well.

Elton Chavez of John Mall went 20-11 big in the long jump for the win, only to have the wind take that one off the rankings board. John Mall is where you would go to high school if you lived in or near Walsenburg.

City of Littleton Championships – When I was born, the City of Littleton Championships would have been an intrasquad meet at Littleton High School. My, how times have changed. I will allow, however, that Arapahoe came along not very long after I was born.

Running his second meet of the week, Hayden Marx won the 100 (10.95) and long jump (21-8.5). Teammate Charles LaFore left no doubt in the shot put (49-1.5) and discus (151-2). Other highlights had Dakota Ridge’s Dante Capolungo winning the 200 in 22.98 and Heritage’s Connor Kennedy winning the 3200 in 9:41.

This won’t go down as the most-competitive-ever City of Littleton Championships.

Greeley Twilight – Interestingly, Ace Malone and Luke Dry didn’t have the only 49.05 to 49.08 finish in the 400 last week. Andrew Muncy (Skyline) and Bennett Feldenkirchen (Mountain View) did the same. Something in the air, I guess.

Frontier Academy’s Sebastian Groom rocked the world of 3A with a 1:58.33 800. That raises the stakes a little at 800 meters. Also in distance events, Jackson Shorter was in a league of his own, as he often is, winning the 1600 in 4:16.

Jacob Martin of Dayspring Christian made some noise on the 2A board with a 42.05 winner in the 300 hurdles.

The best relay of the meet was a 43.61 4×100 turned in by Roosevelt.

Mohamed Ibrahim swept the throws titles, but with much more nearly mortal marks this week. Lucas Couron of Riverdale Ridge went 15-1 to quash all resistance in the pole vault. Additionally, and this seems to be becoming a pattern up north, freshman Jeremiah Hoffman of Severance won the triple jump at 41-8.5. Wind-legal? Good of you to ask, but yes.

Petrelli and Hunt – It’s too bad the Petrelli this meet was named after didn’t go by the name of Harry. Harry and Hunt would be just about the best possible name for a track meet. It would, however, be a slightly better name for a cross country meet. Alas, life is full of near misses.

Let’s hear it for the small schools. James Irwin won the 4×400 in 3:34-even. I’m not sure when the last time was that James Irwin’s boys won a relay, but this one was definitely worth celebrating. And, also on the small school roll of honor was Joseph Bjegovich of Banning Lewis. He won the shot put at 42-8.5.

Speaking of throws, I’ve heard a rumor they’ve moved the discus at Garry Berry back to its former location instead of just off the south turn of the track. If so, that is a very good move.

Elsewhere, it was a field day for Dallen Booker and Derek Allen of Widefield. Between the two of them, I’m going to say the best mark laid down was a wind-legal 15.06 by Allen to win the 110 hurdles.

Holy Family Tiger Tornado – Holy Family has been hosting this meet for years. Perhaps even for ages. In all those years, however, it probably never more of a tornado than it was on Friday.

Grayson Arnold won the 100 in 10.80 (-1.9!) and the 200 in 21.64. His teammates finished 3-4-5 in the 200, all at 23.17 or faster. In addition to Arnold, those were Pierce Kunz, Dominic Neely, and Conor Byrne. Between them, there is speed to burn. HF also went 42.05 in the 4×100. Yikes.

Golden took over at 800 meters, with Bryce Reeburgh and Henry Stubenrauch going 1:55 and 1:58, respectively.

Aaron Jenkins of Twin Peaks Charter suddenly finds himself high on the 2A leader board with a 10:20 3200.

Caleb Johnson of Longmont had a great all-around meet, but the triple jump remains his best event. This time, it took him to 44-5, which nudges his best mark of the season out a little.

John Tate Challenge Cup – It looks like they’ve finally bailed on the old two-day format for this meet. This was one of the last hangers-on in the state of meets that spread out over two days. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but it is a thing. And we have duly noted it here.

Lawrence Walker of FFC ran sub-11 and sub-22, but nothing that trimmed the margins on the 5A leaders in the 100 and 200.

Nate Plotner of Buena Vista came outta nowhere to win the 1600 in 4:42. That has him among the notables in 2A.

Kyle Bigley’s 156-something in the discus was more or less from the realm of the expected, but Ryan Lane of Pueblo South advanced his shot put PR by nearly a foot to win with a 48-11.

That wraps up the Friday action, so now we move ahead to Saturday. It was our busiest Saturday of the season thus far. Get some refreshments now; it could be a while.

Thunder-Storm – One of these days, I need to ask the folks at Pueblo West why they hyphenate Thunder-Storm as they do. I’m assuming there’s a reason, but I’m clearly not in on the reason. For the record, the Pueblo West mascot is the Cyclones, so there’s not a compelling reason there.

Mason Claunch? Didn’t we just mention his name a couple of meets ago? He was busy last week, winning the 100 and 200 in Pueblo.

The 800 was notable in that Hollister Beddingfield of Salida beat Henry Ilyasova of Manitou. I’m going to go out on a limb a little and say I suspect that’s the first time Beddingfield has beaten Ilyasova. Meanwhile—or actually a bit earlier in the day—Cooper Morris of PW ran 4:26 to win the 1600.

Manitou, however, started out the day with a winning time of 8:28 in the 4×800. That adds some urgency to the 3A conversation in that relay.

Rashaun McNeil of Crowley County kept the pressure on the 2A 300 hurdles field with a winning time of 41.94.

Xavier Freeman of Pueblo East won both throws, but well off his best marks of the season in both. It’s an overused saying of mine, but track and field wouldn’t be any fun if we simply went out and set PRs every week. PRs come when PRs come, not on a readily predictable schedule.

David S. D’Evelyn – In case nobody has spoiled the surprise for you yet, David S. D’Evelyn is the man for whom D’Evelyn High School is named. I’m not sure how bubbling in the circles on scannable forms went for young Mr. D’Evelyn, but I suspect it was at least occasionally an ordeal.

It wasn’t the world’s strongest set of highlights coming out of this meet. Scratching my head a little, I’m going to go with a set of hurdle titles for Wheat Ridge’s Jacob McDonough (15.64 and 41.55) and a winning shot put of 44-1.75 for Arvada West’s Brandon Simpson as the marks of the meet. You’re allowed to disagree, however, if you think you see a better one.

Holyoke – If you ever travel out to Holyoke, you might as well drive a few more miles east and say you’ve been to Nebraska. It’s that close.

Tiny little Peetz High School gets a shout-out here for winning the 4×800 in 9:33. That punches a ticket to state right there, gentlemen.

Akron’s Ryan McCaffrey had a huge PR of 11-10 to win the pole vault. In 1A, that most definitely will advance Mr. McCaffrey to state.

Like the aforementioned Mohamed Ibrahim, Bryant Schoenthal (Wray) dominated the shot put and discus again, but with marks not quite what they were in Wiggins the week before. Boding well for Mr. Schoenthal, however, is the fact that his marks are settling out week after week with very nice consistency.

And, we’ll note that Wray’s Jaden Dodsworth won the 110 hurdles in 16.61. It came with wind, however, so Mr. Dodsworth will have to run them again soon for the mark to stick for state qualifying.

Fightin’ Red Invitational – This is Eaton’s home meet. Sometimes they have more than one in a season, but the Fightin’ Red is always on the schedule. It’s worth fightin’ over, evidently.

Devin Lauer of Platte Valley posted very nice times to win the 100 and 200. The times don’t take him to the top of the charts yet, but the season is a process. We don’t know where the process ends yet. Lauer beat out the presumptive 2A favorite, Clay Robinson of Yuma, in both events. But, fear not for Mr. Robinson, his times were just fine. The competition at the top isn’t quite as fierce in 2A, but we should see both Lauer and Robinson at state.

I know I’m getting to sound like a bit of a broken record with respect to Tre Garcia and the hurdles, but he posts extremely good times every week. Ladies and gentlemen, I think we may have a 3A favorite, though the 300 hurdles favorite status isn’t exactly a done deal yet.

Zac Grable was a nice, round 43 in the triple jump for the home team. And, wind-legal, too. Philip Lawrence closed out the highlight reel for Eaton with a 45-6.5 in the shot put.

Xander Burns of Sterling earned a little attention in his direction with a winning pole vault of 13-6. After a bit of a slow start to his pole vault season, Mr. Burns is suddenly back in town.

Holly – What Holyoke is to Nebraska, Holly is to Kansas. Holly has the distinctions of having seen a few tornadoes in its day and also of producing one of Colorado’s former governors.

In a battle of the Braedens in the 100, the one with an ‘e’ in the spelling won out, at least in the 100. Braeden Harris of Cheraw went 11.80 FTW. That’s a substantial personal best for Harris and lands him on the 1A board. Teammate Josh Snyder dominated the 1600 at 4:40.

Shunta Suzuki of Rocky Ford ran two meets last week and collected a sizeable count of firsts for his efforts. First among those firsts, however, was arguably his 51.92 in the 400 at Holly.

Cheyenne Wells made a clean sweep of the relays. Their current relay rankings speak for themselves: 2, 3, 1, 1. See you at state, Tigers! Evan Worley’s 20-10 in the long jump more or less assures him of another spot at state.

John Hainer of Granada executed his second sweep of the throwing events of the week, but his marks were a bit better this time around—46-9 and 132-4.

Hawk Invitational – In case the mascot name provides but insufficient clarity, Horizon was the host of this one. Offhand, though, I can think of only one other school in the state with the Hawk mascot. Perhaps I need to think longer…

There were several very nice sprint marks out of this meet, but Brandon Hills at a wind-legal 21.66 for the 200 is the pick of the litter. Mr. Hills, of course, runs for Vista Ridge, which is 5A. Hills had a wind-aided 23-8 to win the long jump. It’s not, however, as if Hills still needs to get a long jump qualifier on the board.

Evan Kraus of Erie ran 9:49 for the 3200. The shame of that is it probably won’t stand the test of time as a 4A qualifier in the event. 4A distance is a tough place to make a living.

Poudre swept the sprint relays, but was barely fast enough to hold off Eaglecrest in the 4×100. Look for the Poudre relays at state. Poudre also won the 4×800, but that one was barely contested enough to count. The Impalas will need more to get that one to state.

Speaking of Poudre, Rhys Davis went 6-7 to win the high jump. You might be tempted to think that’s the best high jump in the state this year, but read on for more news about that. Adding to his fun on the day, Davis won the triple jump at 44-3.75.

Frank Woodburn – In the long list of meets hosted each spring at Stocker Stadium, Frank Woodburn takes its place. I’m not sure how long the lineage of this meet is, except to say that it is, indeed, long.

Shalom Trowbridge and Jackson Edwards both ran well under two minutes in the 800. You’re never safe in 4A unless you’re at least under 1:56, but lots of guys will make it to state with steady improvement over the course of the season. Perhaps Trowbridge and Edwards will be two of those guys.

North Fork’s Matthew Kasper had a nice ride over the 110 hurdles to win in 16.10. Also of small school note, Ouray’s 3:33 in the 4×400 parks their bus at the top of 2A.

Now, brace yourself for this, but 1A DeBeque currently has the top high jump mark in the state. The set of springs Scottie Vines ordered from Amazon came in just in time for Saturday’s meet. Vines is now at 6-10. We trust that mark will stand for state qualifying.

Jacob Doyle of Grand Valley continues the small-school highlight reel with a winning throw of 153-1 in the discus.

Miller Jones of Grand Junction swept the horizontals at a hair over 21 and 44 even.

Abel Velasquez – Since you probably don’t know who Abel Velasquez is/was, I’ll tell you this meet was held—as it usually is—in Ignacio. There’s also a good chance, however, you don’t know where Ignacio is. If you know where Bayfield is, go more or less directly south from there, but tap your brakes before you get to New Mexico.

Chorbin Cressler of Dove Creek and Zander Cruzan of Montezuma-Cortez traded off the sprint titles. You should see both at state. Cruzan, however, expanded his repertoire a bit with a winning effort of 41-7 in the triple jump. It’s probably a good idea to stay tuned to further developments on that front.

Damian Frausto of Durango ran 4:23 at substantial altitude to win the 1600. Count on him coming over the mountains in May as well.

Connor Showalter of Mancos claimed the shot put title at 47-6.

Warren Mitchell – This is the annual affair where Limon triples their population for a day, drawn almost entirely from places with populations less than Limon’s. It’s also named after one of the most—if not the most—legendary figures in Colorado track and field lore. Limon, if you didn’t know, is the place of legends.

The meet runs prelims and finals in the sprint events and the 110 hurdles. This gives these athletes two shots at a wind legal mark (kind of a big deal on the plains) and also an extra chance to blow out a hamstring. Lots of solid marks were dropped on the track, but the one of greatest significance where state qualifying is concerned is probably the 16.37 laid down in the 110 hurdles by Jacob Jefferson of Arickaree/Woodlin (see a previous article for a short course on where Arickaree/Woodlin is).

Arguably, the bigger marks of the meet drew from the field events. There, Johnathan Mikita of Calhan went 13-6 to win the pole vault, Keaton Floyd of Burlington went 42-11.5 to win the shot put, and Konner Rowden-Stum of Hi-Plains traveled 41-6.75 to win the triple jump. Bonus points if you know where Hi-Plains High School is located without an internet search.

Legend Track Clash – A funky schedule ruled the day here. Briefly, sprinters had to be very careful about picking places in the event order because a whole lot of sprint events were crammed into a very short span of the schedule. So long as you knew the schedule and picked your places, you were probably fine, but woe to the coach who did entries without first taking a long look at the schedule.

Unfortunately, I’m still waiting to see my first set of complete results from this meet. So, I’ll do my best with what I know of the meet since I was actually in attendance throughout the day.

Nate Gaye of Cherokee Trail triple jumped his way to #2 in the statewide rankings on Saturday.

I know Reuben Holness of Cherokee Trail laid down the law with a blazing 800 that stopped the clock at 1:55.99. Michael Hemingway of CT won the 100 in 11.00. That’s notable not so much because of the time but because I’ve thought of Hemingway exclusively as a jumper up to this point in time. It’s rarely too late to learn, however. Hunter Strand, also of CT, won the 1600 in 4:26. Nate Gaye win the triple jump in a statewide #2 mark of 45-4.75.

Carsen Bruns bypassed the 300 hurdles and a showdown with PJ Robinson to win the 400 in 49.22. Robinson responded by winning the 300 hurdles in 39.86.

Kevin Bruxvoort of Rocky Mountain posted the state’s #3 mark in the discus on the season with a throw of 161-5. For reference, it’s also the 5A #1 mark.

There may have been more highlights, but, as I mentioned earlier, I’m still waiting on seeing a complete set of results from the meet.

Mullen – The Mullen meet may not be precisely what it was on the Colorado landscape 15 or so years ago, but it’s an excellent meet even so. You don’t go to Mullen to show up. You go to compete and see what you can make of it.

Drew Costelo (Valor Christian) did his part with a 1:54.46 800. Tyler Nord of Cheyenne Mountain ran sub-1:58 but had to settle for second. Erik LeRoux and Knox Exton of CM went 4:19 and 4:20 in the 1600. That changes the look of the 4A rankings immensely. They also went 9:23 and 9:50 in the 3200. Evidently, LeRoux had more left after the 1600.

William Stone of Pine Creek threatened 40 seconds in the 300 hurdles but left with a 40.05. Denver East was 43.48 fast in the 4×100. Lutheran edged Valor Christian, both at about 3:29, for the 4×400 crown. Blaine Fisher of Denver East swept the throws titles with a 45-7.5 in the shot put and a 148-9 in the discus.

Arcadia – You may have noticed, “Well, that leaves out a lot of Colorado’s top athletes.” And so it does. There whereabouts of those athletes can be answered in one word—Arcadia. It’s a very large set of results, and I can’t pretend to be able to give you all the highlights. Moreover, I’m still not seeing a published set of Saturday results. From Friday, I do know the Grandview boys ran a 1:27.12 4×200.

But, we also know there’s a large set of results waiting to dump. Timely dumping of results is not one of the features for which Arcadia is much admired. Hopefully, the results we’re looking for—both boys and girls—will have dumped by later in the day today and I can weave them into the article of results for the girls’ weekend.

Sorry, folks, that’s the best I can do with that.