Girls Track – April 5-9 Recap

Just as it was for the boys, so it was for the girls. The first full week of track in April was filled with stunning performances and a few wild movements in the rankings. I’ll try to capture a decent share of those here. Oh, and by the way, I missed a couple of meets on the boys’ review, so you’ll find a handful of comments about boys’ results in the summaries that follow.

PHOTOS BY ALAN VERSAW

Taking the varsity meets more or less in the order they happened, here are the highlights of the week gone by…

Ivory Moore – Chatfield’s sprint crew continues to impress. Peyton Shepard is a bona fide contender for an individual medal at state but, together with teammates Emma Strom, Amelia Hubbell, and Aspen Webb, the Chargers’ greatest point of danger at state just might come in the sprint relays. A 1:49.97 SMR8 at this meet helps to illustrate Chatfield’s relay potential. 

In other highlights, Vista Peak’s Mikenzie Jones won another round of shot put at a quarter-inch shy of 37 feet. Mary Ella Brooks of Ralston Valley claimed the discus title at 114-6 in a meet where nobody else got to 100 feet. That would tend to suggest the winds weren’t cooperating for big throws.

City of Littleton Championships – That same four sprinters from Chatfield were back at it at this meet. And, this time, they had Margaret Hobart adding a bit of pop to the sprints as well. Amelia Hubbell veered off from the sprints at this one and won the 100 hurdles in 15.13. She also won the 300 hurdles in 44.84. Do keep an eye on this group. We’ve not heard the last of them.

Arapahoe’s Emily Lamontagne, whom we haven’t heard a lot from yet this season, picked off a nice double, winning the 800 in 2:19 and the 1600 in 4:59. Teammate Ava Mitchell went 10:54 to win the 3200. It’s starting to look and feel a lot more like the cross country team felt last fall. 

Columbine’s Annalena Heuten took triple jump honors at 34-1.5.

Holy Family Tiger Tornado – Skylar Hawk of the home team won three titles, but arguably the best of those three was a 45.07 in the 300 hurdles. Times are starting to trend down in that event, and Hawk is moving with the trend. 

Legacy launched a 1:48.89 4×200 that left about six seconds of dead air between first place and second. We call that convincing. When you see it on the track, you realize how convincing it is.

Kourtney Rathke managed a 17-4 PR in the long jump to go with her triple jump title. She probably would have won the pole vault, too, but this meet was not hosting the pole vault.

Greeley Twilight – Odone Omofoma, who’s come in for a lot of mention this spring, won the 100 in a PR of 12.71. Normally, I’d be backing off the mentions at this point, but she set a substantial PR into a -1.1 wind. That’s worth noting. 

Allison Pippert of Stargate won the 1600 in 5:10, then backed it up with a 2:24 winner in the 800. The 800 time undoubtedly gave a little ground to a huge effort earlier in the 1600. 

Roosevelt’s girls put a dagger into the heart of the 4×200, winning in 1:46.85. In a word, that’s a blazing effort. The Riders’ 4:10 4×400 wasn’t bad, either. 

Kylee Kielian is another athlete whom I’m trying to overlook for a bit lest I say too much, but she won the LJ and TJ with PRs. Try 16-8 and 36-10 on for size. Both wind-legal, of course, or they wouldn’t be PRs. Offhand, I’d say there’s a very good chance she was part of at least one of the two aforementioned Rider relays.

John Tate Challenge Cup – Jada Miller of Fountain-Fort Carson won the 100 in 12.45 and the 200 in 26.23. That will send a little notice in your direction. But, when you also win the long jump at 17-3 and the triple jump at 34-4… well, it was a big day for Ms. Miller. It’s always a nice day when you win four individual events. Figure on seeing more of Miller at state.

Cecilia Richardson of Simla won the pole vault at 8-6, which was the 1A-leading mark in the PV until Richardson went an inch better at Limon on Saturday.

Petrelli and Hunt – There wasn’t a lot of meets to keep the Colorado Springs locals in town last weekend. As a matter of fact, this one was the only show in town. For one reason or another, there’s a shortage of good competition venues in the greater Colorado Springs area.

Janise Everett of Mesa Ridge went basically unchallenged in the 100 and 200. Same story for the Grizzly 4×100 and 4×200. In fact, MR would have had to have traveled some distance to have found any decent competition for their 1:44.31 4×200. Keep an eye out for that one at state.

Eowyn Dalbec of Peyton, who’s been a little on the side quiet lately, won the 1600 in 5:25. That’s a vast improvement over her first two efforts of the season and gets her back into the 2A thick of things in that event.

Widefield’s Olivia Allison swept the horizontals at 16-5 and 35-3.5. Hope Callan of Liberty won the cannonball competition at 36-9.75. Nice marks all around.

Ray Headley – If you read the boys’ week-in-review article yesterday, you already know that this is Swink’s home meet and that you could think of Swink as a kind of suburb of La Junta. Somehow, though, I doubt that the Swink locals think of their community in those terms, even if they do go to La Junta to shop at Wal-Mart. Suffice it to say there is proximity between the two, and if urban sprawl ever hits La Junta, its city limits won’t take long to butt up against Swink.

Meet Teysia Tacoronte of Ellicott. Her 17-0 long jump vaulted her to #2 in the 2A rankings. And, again, it was wind-legal or it wouldn’t be in the rankings. Teammate Aileen Gutierrez-Hermosillo won the TJ at 33-1.75. In case you hadn’t noticed, Ellicott has a very good jumps thing going on. This isn’t the first meet where the Thunderhawks have showed up with springs and left with places. 

I talked about Delanie Bond of Cheraw in last week’s 1A Girls Deep Dive, and what does she do? She wins the 200 at the Ray Headley. Keep reading, though, as there’s more about Bond to come. 

Shaylee Scherer of Cheyenne Wells has a habit of winning the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles. She solidified the habit at this meet.

Abby Provost of Cheraw pushed her discus beyond 100 feet with a winning throw of 104-0. And, continuing what is no insignificant tradition in the throws at Eads High School, Kyra Sheridan won the shot put at 33-10.5. She’s a bit off the school record but trending in the right direction.

Thomas Jefferson Twilight – Hinkley’s Courtney Wilborn won the 100 and 200 in convincing fashion. And, it looks like she’s doing it from the top heat now. The days of hiding out in the unseeded heats are gone forever.

Malia Heien of Northfield threw a new name, her own, into the 800-meter discussion with a winning time of 2:22. Paige Hyden of Palmer Ridge can’t hide any longer. The Palmer Ridge senior won the long jump at 16-6. Right behind her was Soroco’s Marissa Martindale at 16-4.5. Martindale is a sleeper in the 2A LJ rankings—keep an eye on her. Sidney Walshaw of Green Mountain went big to the tune of 36-6.25 to win the triple jump. In 4A, that puts her squarely in the thick of things.

And, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back Giovanna Meeks! A few of us were wondering when she’d debut for the CHSAA season. This meet served as her debut. She left with a mark of 144-4 in the discus and 40-10 in the shot put. As Meeks competes for Northfield High School, that changes everything in the 4A throws rankings.

Thunder-Storm – We could use some rain around these parts, but this meet didn’t produce any. It did, however, produce a few nice marks, which is what a track meet is supposed to produce.

Aspen Fulbright of homestanding Pueblo West won the 800 in 2:20. Of note, she beat Nadhia Campos to do that. Campos had distinguished herself earlier in the day by winning the 1600 in 5:08. 

Bradie Menegatti, who might be related to the coach at Pueblo West, won the high jump at 5-4. That’s a very good jump and also changes a few things in the 4A rankings. 

Isabelle Coscetti of Manitou Springs set herself a new PR in the pole vault at 12-6. The 3A Girls pole vault plot continues to thicken. 

Eagle Valley – This is one of the meets where I missed boys’ results in yesterday’s article, so I’ll pick them up here. 

Jake Drever of homestanding Eagle Valley won the 1600 in 4:35 and the 3200 in 10:11. Those are, to be sure, nice marks, but it will take more than those marks to make state in 4A. You know the drill about 4A distance by now. 

Zach Eskelson of 2A Meeker took home shot put honors, winning with a throw of 43-1.5. That wasn’t quite a PR, but it’s about time to notice that Eskelson owns a nice spot in the 2A Boys shot put rankings. The top end gets all the press, but Eskelson is very much in the points right now.

Filling in for Peyton Garrison’s absence from the 100, teammate Jackie Camunez produced a 13.06 winner. You begin now to understand now why Coal Ridge is so good in the relays. Garrison, for her part, won the 200 by more than two seconds and the 400 by almost six seconds. I’d love to tell you that came as a shock to everyone gathered, but it didn’t. 

Brilee Jensen of Coal Ridge won the shot put at 33-6. That’s significant because it moves Jensen to #7 in the 3A rankings and breathes some life into the idea that the Titans can score at state in the throws. Every point is going to count come May.

Northfield Nighthawk – This, too, was a meet for which I missed boys’ results yesterday. I had not yet seen results from this meet. So, I’ll pick them up here.

Koen Johnston of Douglas County added some intrigue to the 5A Boys 200-meter pot with a winning time of 22.80. KJ McInnis of Denver North, who’s already shown a thing or two this season, showed a little more with a winning leap of 45-4 in the triple jump. 

Taylor Nichols of Douglas County dominated the shot put with a heave of 50-11. 

Trinity Doublin of TJ won the TJ with a leap of 35-0. In a prelims/finals meet, it’s kind of unusual that an athlete improves on his or her mark from prelims in finals—and perhaps especially so in the horizontal jumps. Fatigue becomes a bigger player with each successive jump, starting with about the third or fourth jump. Anyhow, all that to highlight the fact that Doublin improved her 34-7 in prelims to a 35-0 in finals. Nicely done.

Giovanna Meeks was competing elsewhere this day, so Mikenzie Jones walked off with another shot put title at this one.

Legend Track Clash – One letter can make a lot of difference. Imagine if they had named this meet the Legend Track Crash. Add that one to your life’s list of near misses.

Sophia McHenry was blazing fast in the 100 and Symone Adams was blazing fast in the 200. How blazing fast? 12.14 and 24.76. But both just barely missed being wind legal. Speaking of near misses…

Addison Price of Cherry Creek surprised herself a bit with a 5:02 winner in the 1600. It’s the kind of breakthrough moment in sport we all love to see.

Not that we haven’t seen it before, but Fabiola Belibi was tough in the hurdles—winning the 100s in 14.31 (wind-legal) and the 300s in 44.10. For good measure, she also won the high jump at 5-2. 

Cherry Creek just missed breaking four minutes in the 4×400. I’m willing to guess it doesn’t get away from them next time. What didn’t get away from Creek this time was the 4×800. They won that one, running all by themselves, in 9:17. And, there was no Riley Stewart around to close this one out.

CT’s Natalie Rue won the long jump at 17-6.75 but only got a 5A #7 out of the deal. Climbing that ladder is hard. Kaeli Powe, also of CT, won the triple jump at 38-7.25 with a very slight wind assist. Powe remains well out in front of the rest of the classification. 

Savannah Jorgens of Cherry Creek (it was a Creek kind of day) powered her way to the shot put title with a 37-8.

Holyoke – Zoey Vandenbark of Fleming catapulted herself into the 1A 100 meter dash top position with a 13.42. Those Fleming relays last week were indeed telling us something. The other shoe has dropped.

Teammate Kally Kirkwood went 1:02.60 to win the 400. You’re wondering where that one lands her in the 1A rankings, right? Second. ‘Ware the Wildcats.

Holyoke did this week what Holyoke did last week in the throws. Sweeping the top two places week after week can become highly addictive. 

Holly – Delanie Bond was doubling up this past weekend. In addition to the 200 at Ray Headley, she won the 100 at Holly. She also won the 200. And teammate Kenzi Bartholomew won the 400. In the world of 1A, Cheraw has wheels. 

Cheraw also has arms. Abby Provost won the shot put at 35-8, with teammate Kieran Harris finishing second at 33-5.

The bidding price of Cheraw state meet stock went up sharply over the weekend. 

Lamar didn’t send a lot of athletes to this meet—it can kind of send the wrong message when the locally large school does that—but Melissa Hines was there for the high jump, and she won it at 5-3. 

Hawk Invitational – Eaglecrest came here with something to prove in the 200. They proved it. Haley Esser, Jaylynn Wilson, and Favour Akpokiere went (an easy) 1-2-3. All wind legal. 25.33, 25.63, and 26.03. 

By the time they ran their 200s, though, their 4×200 was already in the books. Eaglecrest won it in 1:42.68. They are more than two seconds ahead of second place in the latest 5A rankings in that event. But now you have a better idea of why they’re so good in the 4×200. 

Jaclyn Donoho of Evergreen matched her high jump PR from last year’s state meet to win the high jump at 5-5. On her current trajectory, it’s reasonable to expect that PR will enjoy but a short life span. Easy come, easy go, as they say.

Charlotte Elliston of Fairview won the long jump at 17-7.75. I’ve already hinted at how tough the 5A Girls long jump field is. All the best, Ms. Elliston!

And, Lilly Nichols of Broomfield won the pole vault at 12-6.

Fightin’ Red – If you’ve been wondering where the Merino 4×400 has been coming from, we got one serious clue on Saturday when Taysa Conger won the 400 at 60.03. Suddenly, a 4:23 starts to make a lot more sense. Conger’s 400 doubles now as a prohibitive #1 in the 1A rankings.

Ebi Omofoma continues to dominate 100 meter hurdles races, winning this one in 15.49 (-2.0). In second was Alivia Weathers of Lone Star. Her 17.01 pushes her to #2 in the 1A rankings. Weathers also triple jumped 34-7.25. That, too, is a prohibitive 1A #1. Her 8-6 pole vault has her at another 1A #2. 

Jaymie Badhdadi of Greeley West won the shot put with a nice heave of 36-5.5. Is it just me or are there a lot more 35+ girls’ shot puts than there used to be?

Frank Woodburn – Megan Jenkins and Kylee Terry of Cedaredge altered their usual routines just a little and went 1-2 in the 400 with 60.x times. If you’re doing a little pencil-and-paper math at home and reading these articles as they publish, it’s not hard to envision a brutally tough Cedaredge 4×400.

Tristian Spence wins a lot of distance races on the Western Slope. This time, it was a 5:10 1600 doing the trick. 

Hayley Burr of Rangely went 51.67 to win the 300 hurdles. Not only is that easily her best time of the season, it also moves her to #5 in 2A.

Best marks in the relays went to Moffat County’s 4×200 (1:48) and North Fork’s 4×400 (4:13). 

And, in a shot put heard all the way to Holyoke, Elizabeth Brooks of Cedaredge took the win at 37-11.5.

David S. D’Evelyn – Summit’s Ella Hagen blitzed the 1600 field with a 5:05 winner. You might recall that Ella has an older brother, one who goes by the handle of Luc, who ran for Air Academy a few years back. That might help add some context.

Hannah Turpin, who had a 17-0 NWI long jump a little over a week ago, got a wind-legal 16-7 at this meet. She’ll be heard from at state. St. Mary’s, 2A Girls. 

Abel Velasquez – If you know how to get to Ignacio High School without the help of Google Maps and you’re reading this article, there is a very good chance you were at this meet. 

Lisa Sutherland (Nucla) improved her 1A-leading 100 hurdles time with a winning effort of 16.69. 

Relays were thinly contested, but Durango did post an ominous 9:44.99 4×800 without the benefit of meaningful competition. There were two teams on the track, but one was not in contention.

Sydney Flores of Durango had a very impressive 38-even to win the shot put. For good measure, she took home discus honors as well.

Warren Mitchell – For a majority of eastern plains track and field programs, this was the place to be on Saturday. With all due apologies to Holly, Swink, Holyoke, and Eaton—each of which, I’m sure, hosted very nice meets—nothing east of the I-25 corridor exerts the gravitational pull of this meet.

Madison Crisp of Flagler went to #2 in the 1A 100 with a 13.44. 

Strasburg is one of the smallest schools in 3A, but Peighton Marrero went straight to the 3A #2 400 with a time of 58.32. She won the triple jump at 35-0.25, but, unfortunately, that one wasn’t wind-legal (an occupational hazard of competing in Limon). Marrero likely left her fingerprints on the baton that Strasburg carried to a 1:49.92 win in the 4×200 as well. 

Cecilia Richardson (Simla) set the 1A standard in the pole vault with an 8-7. 

Zadie Mackey (Elbert) had a monster throw of 139-4 to win the discus. She more than met her match in the shot put, however. Alexandria Tice of Lamar went 40-5.5 for the win there. 

Mullen – We’ll cut straight to the chase and talk about Agur Dwol first. She won the long jump at 19-5 and the triple jump at 41-3. I don’t know what I could say that might embellish marks like that. 

Peyton Holmes of Valor Christian edged Casia Provencal of Ralston Valley in the 100, only to see the tables turned in the 200. Sub-13, sub-26. If you weren’t there, you missed a pair of nice races. Provencal added a wind-buffeted 14.89 winner in the 100 hurdles to her day’s resume.

Callie Fuhr of Pine Creek posted easily her best 400 of the season to win in 58.75. 

Brooke Wilson and Keeghan Edwards of Valor went 2:14 and 2:16 to go 1-2 in the 800. With those times, you probably should go 1-2. Earlier in the day, however, the order of finish was reversed, with Edwards winning the 1600 in 4:57 to 4:59 for Wilson. 

Niwot’s Kimora Northrup, who missed winning the 100 hurdles despite running a 14.95, cleaned house in the 300 hurdles with a 43.87. 

Fossil Ridge was blazing in the 4×100 and 4×200.

Jaysa Even of Banning Lewis Prep stunned the assembled large-school field with a 5-3 winner in the high jump. 

Giovanna Meeks showed up here and blew the top off the throwing events. Her winning discus throw was 150-9, and her winning shot put went 42-1. That sets the standard for the state in both events, thank you.

Arcadia – A complete set of results is now available. I expected to see more Colorado names, however, than I found. Touching only the highlights, and including boys’ marks I’ve not already mentioned:

• Isabel Allori of Liberty Common runs an astounding 10:28 to win the Seeded Girls 3200. Olivia Alessandrini runs 10:34 to finish sixth.
• Stella Vieth of Niwot runs 2:12 to finish sixth in the Open Girls 800.
• Mia Prok of Niwot runs 4:53 to finish second in the Seeded Girls Mile.
• Kyle Berg of Centaurus runs 4:15 to finish third in the Seeded Boys Mile.
• Madison Shults of Niwot runs 2:11 to finish fourth in the Invitational Girls 800.
• Riley Stewart of Cherry Creek runs 4:40 to finish fourth in the Invitational Girls Mile.
• Eva Klingbeil of Niwot runs 10:00 to finish second in the Invitational Girls 3200.
• Zane Bergen of Niwot runs 8:44 to finish third in the Invitational Boys 3200.
• Mateo Munoz of Grandview vaults 14-7 to finish fifth in the Open Boys Pole Vault.

I’m pretty sure that takes care of all the top-six finishes out at Arcadia. There were definitely other finishes that could be listed, but I’ve drawn the line at top-six finishes.