In this article, we’ll run a quick review of the meets last week that completed through Friday. There were several enormous—both in terms of size and significance—meets that completed on Saturday that will come in for separate treatment.
Randy Yaussi City Championships – Contrary to how the title could be read, there is no city of Randy Yaussi. A few years back, they started up a city championship meet in Fort Collins and named it after Yaussi. It’s not exactly as simple as that, but that’s the general idea. Honestly, my very strong hunch is that he did some highly competent coaching of track and field at some point, but that’s strictly a piece of guesswork on my part.
In any case, it looks like weather took a bite out of this meet before very many people got carried away with high-end performances. You remember what the weather was like on Tuesday of last week, right? A 12.60 100 for Katie Wrona, a 36-11.75 triple jump for Brooke Naughton, and a 36-8 shot put for Laura Davis highlight the abbreviated meet action on the girls’ side.
The singular boys’ highlight of the meet was a 16.27 for Merek Ranstrom in the 110 meter hurdles that he managed to keep wind legal. Not a PR, but it was a good effort under the circumstances. Fort Collins logged an 8:16 4×800 that created some movement on the board as well.
Peak to Peak Meet #2 – Evidently wind got pretty wicked for this meet. This meet also appears to have been cut short. Perhaps mercifully cut short. I say that because a lot of folks who can normally be counted on for nice performances seem to have been more about ducking for cover. And, if the Peak to Peak folks are experiencing difficulty with inventive meet names, I could conjure up a couple of suggestions of people to speak to. Let me know, their ideas are probably better than mine.
Bill Kalb – Bill Kalb formerly coached a whole lot of track and field out at Yuma. Even when confined to a wheelchair, he refused to give in. The man was born to coach track and field. They did get through the entire meet on Tuesday, but that may have something to do with the fact that folks out in Yuma are likely a bit more hardened to inclement weather than those of us up and down the front range. That said, it’s not easy to find a wind less than 4.0 in the entire set of meet results.
Despite all that, there were a few nice marks to be had. Haxtun’s Cassidy Goddard spun the discus 108-8. That’s a solid 1A mark. Linda Esser of Holyoke battled a -3.7 wind to land a 15-foot long jump. Lea Richardson of Yuma went 1:04.49 to win the 400. Hazarding a guess here, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that Richardson has a low wind profile. And, Sedgwick County posted a very nice pair of sprint relays. Like Yuma, Sedgwick County gets some regular experience with knifing through wind.
The usual suspects were at it in the boys’ throws, though they saved their bigger efforts for Saturday. Aside from the throws, probably the mark of the meet belongs to Ethan Johnson of Holyoke, who won the long jump at 19-11 (-4.0).
Norsemen Invitational – It appears yet another meet got cut short—weather seems a likely culprit, even though this one was a day later than the ones above. Neither Tuesday nor Wednesday of last week were chamber of commerce kind of days where the weather was concerned. If you can imagine Dominykas Remeikis running a 4:50 1600, that’s the kind of day it was. High-end marks were distributed thinly among the results there were, but the best of the marks out of this meet was clearly a 35-6 triple jump for Longmont’s Ella Pears. Add that to the burgeoning pile of very nice triple jumps in 4A.
Pueblo D60 City Championships – The meet title pretty much tells you what you need to know here. They could have also called it the Pueblo Quad, but City Championships has a much nicer ring to it. And, the weather was a bit better by Thursday as well.
Kyle Bigley and Xavier Freeman had their usual showdown in the throws, with Bigley winning the discus at 154-and-change and Freeman winning the shot put at 53-and-change. Aside from that we go with a 41-2.5 triple jump for Jacson Carroll of Central as the boys’ highlight of the meet.
Leyah Martinez won the hurdle events, as she should have, but my eyes stuck on a 12.68 winner for Pueblo South’s Layla Armijo in the 100. Armijo carried that momentum through into a winning effort in the long jump as well.
High Altitude Challenge – There is no disputing the title of this meet. Alamosa’s 7554 feet of elevation do qualify as High Altitude (even without the capitalization), and it is challenging to run in Alamosa in the spring. If the oxygen deprivation doesn’t get to you, maybe the wind will.
Highlights are a bit scattered from this meet—possbly a function of conditions—but, in an event combination we don’t often see outside of state—Alamosa’s own Sarah De La Cerda won the 400 in 1:01.58, then doubled back to win the 800 in 2:25. Bailey Asbell posted what was easily her best time of the season to win the 300 hurdles in 51.15.
Sprinters evidently don’t need oxygen and the wind wasn’t a thing for the 100s. Mason Claunch of Centauri capitalized on the opportunity to run a PR 11.04 in the 100. Riley Orr (and relation to Spud Orr?) advanced his pole vault PR to 11-7. Lincoln Nix of Florence swept the hurdle events, and William Knight of Durango laid down another very convincing set of throws to claim those titles.
Don Osse Lakewood Tiger Invitational – As meet names go, this one is very long. If meets were still printing ribbons, it would take a lot of real estate on the ribbon to get the meet name all on there. The meet has the unusual distinction of happening at Jeffco Stadium the day before the Pomona Panther. If you can’t get into the latter, it’s very likely they’ll take you in the former, if you’re willing to run on Thursday.
For the boys, Jack Nauman and Andrey Kutchma of Heritage Christian parked their presence on the 1A 1600 board with a pair of 4:44s. Ian McCurdy of Standley Lake got his name into the 4A 300 meter hurdles derby with a 40.96. That’s almost four seconds of improvement from his previous effort, so it’s a huge move—on the board and off.
Girls’ highlights include an 11:30 for Jade Allen of Lewis-Palmer in the 3200. Fabiola Belibi is a highlight reel almost any time she steps on the track. She won the 100 hurdles in 14.81 and the long jump at 18-7.25, both wind legal. While we’re at the long jump pit, Marissa Martindale of Soroco launched a substantial PR in the long jump with a 17-1. You could say that sends a signal to the gathered masses in 2A.
Seeing that Eaglecrest got some nice press for a very solid 4×200 last week, Chatfield posted one of their own this week. And, yes, 1:43.42 is definitely good enough for a mention here. Cleary, Chatfield has some wheels.
Phil Wertman – This week’s big school extravaganza on the Western Slope was the Phil Wertman. Fruita Monument hosts this one, but the Stocker Stadium venue is, well, a bit familiar for most of the teams there.
Among the girls, Fruita Monument edged a little closer to state in the 4×800 with a 9:56. That time probably won’t stick, but it keeps FM in range and in the conversation. Gabrielle Horton of Palisade posted a very nice 12.53 to win the 100 and, yes, it was wind legal. Halle Hamilton of Moffat County joined the short list of 3A types under a minute in the 400 with a 59.99. Undoubtedly, a few folks held their breath on that one before it was determined it actually was under a minute. Emma and Alexis Jones of Moffat County tied for the high jump title at 5-2, but it tipped toward Emma on misses.
For the boys, Zander Cruzan of Montezuma-Cortez continues to make noise in the sprints. Here’s hoping someone in 3A on the front range is listening. This time, Cruzan ran 10.96 in the 100 and 22.10 in the 200. The 3A sprint races at state should be spectacular. Elsewhere, Montrose’s Isaac Renfrow won the 110s in 16.16 That keeps his name in the points-for-state conversation. Miller Jones had a noteworthy 44-10 effort to win the triple jump.
Mancos Mid-April – This meet title cedes nothing in the truth-in-advertising department. The meet was definitely in Mancos—even if south of the school is a little out view as you drive through town—and was definitely in mid-April. If clarity is what you expect in a meet name, this meet wins a prize.
Connor Showalter posted a pair of season-best marks in the throws tossing from his own rings. Otherwise, most of the boys’ marks from this meet came a bit short of marks posted earlier in the season.
Tea Yeomans of Mancos edging Tara Glover of Dove Creek (33-6 to 33-4) is clearly the girls’ performance highlight of this meet.
NoCo Series #2 – NoCo = Northern Colorado. I kind of like SPlat (South Platte) Series, but I can also understand why meet administration might balk on using that name for a meet series.
Alexys Hill of Severance was 12.76 fast in winning the 100. That’s not a PR for her, but it is her fastest of the season, which is to say she’s headed in the right direction. She also won the long jump at 16-5.25, which isn’t all that notable for her, except that it came into a -4.2 wind. That kind of breeze can stand you up at the peak of your jump and just drop you into the pit. Other girls’ meet highlights tend to involve the surname of Omofoma, and I’m trying to give those sisters a break for a week.
Freshman Cole Mazurana of Windsor ran a nice 4:39 to win the 1600. Later, he doubled back to win the 3200 in 10:02. He’s making a name for himself as he goes. PRs, and nice ones, abounded in the field events. Jaden Hoffman of Severance went 6-0.5 to win the high jump. Danner Bakula, also of Windsor, went an even 13 feet to win the pole vault. Garrett Krehbiel of Dayspring Christian chucked the platter 126-7. And Toby Gilliam of Roosevelt sent one 44-6.5 deep in the shot put. That last one is notable, at least in part, because it could add a dimension to Roosevelt’s state title hunt.
