Fun finishes highlight the final day of the state track and field meet

LAKEWOOD – Exhale.

The 2025 Colorado track and field season has come to a close — but not without a ton of fireworks.

The final day of the state championships provided plenty to talk about, as everything was a final. There was something going on in every direction and in every minute of the day.

Everything was exciting.

Here are the highlights.

In the Class 1A sprints Roxy Unruh successfully defended all three of her titles, winning the 100-, 200-, and 400-meter dashes. Add that she ran 1A state meet records in the 200 and 400, clocking 25.58 seconds and 56.45, respectively.

There was a theme of sweeps in quite a few events.

Like the boys 1A distance, where Parker Arbuthnot achieved the feat by winning the 1,600 in 4 minutes, 39 seconds.

Likewise, Bobby Kiesewetter achieved the rare feat of sweeping the distance events for the triple crown, clocking an impressive 4:17 to win the 2A 1,600.

In the girl’s 3A 1,600 it was a redemption run for Eaton’s Delaney Reuter.

The Eaton sophomore rallied back from Friday’s DQ in the 3,200, and third-place finish in the 800 to win the 1,600 state title, running 4:59.18.

“I had to box it away (Friday’s races) and rebound as best as I could,” she said. “I feel like I was more determined to place well in the 1,600.”

Reuter attacked the race halfway through and never looked back, capturing her first state title on the track in her third race in two days.

In 4A, Windsor’s Kiana Cumings dominated the 200 and 400, clocking 23.96 and 54.92. Her 200 is the fastest time run in Colorado this season.

“I just reminded myself that this is it,” she said. “You’re built for this. This is what all the hard work in the off-season is for.”

Of additional note, she did not use blocks in the 400.

“It really helps me mentally,” she admitted. “Sitting in your blocks waiting really freaks me out, standing up is like a breath of fresh air.”

Sticking with the theme of sweeps, Niwot’s Reese Kasper dominated the hurdles. The Niwot junior defended her 300 hurdle title, torching a 41.22 — the fastest time run in Colorado this season — and added the 100 hurdles state title to her resume, clocking 14.22. A year ago she was second in the 100.

“My goal this year was to sweep,” she said. “Knowing I’m doing this for my team is really motivating.”

Meanwhile, Longmont’s Teagan Malcom took the boys 4A state title, clocking 36.94.

The boys 4A 1,600 was a kicker’s affair, and it kept mostly to script, with Niwot’s Rocco Culpepper using his trademark kick to defend his state title, clocking 4:12.23 off a 57-second final lap.

“I tried to not lead until I had to,” he said. “I told myself to wait.”

On the other side of the spectrum — in terms of strategies — Niwot’s Addy Ritzenhein took the girls 4A 1,600 from the gun, soloing a 4:47.05.

“I didn’t have another race after this,” she explained. “So I might as well go big or go home, and put it towards my team’s success.”

Ritzenhein’s victory was her second individual title of the 2025 state meet, and her fourth race.

Starting off the day Ponderosa’s Payton Becker turned heads by torching a 13.79 to win the 5A 100 Hurdles — that’s the fastest time run in Colorado this season.

Taylor Waters literally raised the bar in the 5A pole vault. The Cherokee Trail senior won the event with a state-leading 16-9, and he had a few close attempts at 17-0.

The 1,600 finals saw two exciting races as well.

In the boy’s 1,600 Mountain Vista’s Benji Anderson set an insanely hot pace but was caught in the final 200 meters by 800 state champion Ben Lee, who’s fiery kick eliminated a massive gap and led to a 4:09.44 state title.

Meanwhile, the girls 5A 1,600 was another hotly contested battle that went down to the line.

Cherry Creek’s Emily Cohen put together one of the best doubles of the weekend, winning the 3,200 in a kick-finish Friday morning, and backing that up by doing it again the 1,600. Cohen won in 4:52.07, which was just ahead of Mountain Vista’s Keeghan Edwards, who finished in 4:52.46.

Now that the dust has settled, many athletes will look into June, where a slew of championship meets are on tap.