Numerous meets were canceled, postponed, or stopped before completion in the last week. Wind will do that to track and field meets.

The one event area least impacted—which is not the same as saying unimpacted—by all that was arguably the bar events, the pole vault and high jump.

So, what I’ll do here is take a look at the latest movement in the rankings in the high jump and pole vault. Who—in spite of all the turmoil that came with last week—made significant improvement to their positions?

Boys High Jump

There are two established leaders in the statewide high jump rankings—Scottie Vines of DeBeque and Antoni Smith of Cheyenne Mountain. Vines jumped an inauspicious (for him) 6-5 at Coal Ridge and 6-3 at Rangely in the last week, while Smith saw no action.

We’re going to have to dig a little deeper for the good stuff, folks.

Kaleb Kimaita of Horizon found a relatively unique place in the 5A rankings with a 6-2.25 jump at the Adams 12 Five Star meet. I’m going to hazard a guess that 6-2 was a record somewhere (maybe a meet record, maybe a school record) and Kimaita wanted to break it. So, he had the bar set as low as he could while still breaking the record. While I’m not a big fan of quarter-inch increments in the high jump, the stratagem achieved the desired end. And, it earned Kimaita a nice little place in the rankings that will probably count as a state qualifier even if he doesn’t improve it in the next three weeks.

Also in 5A, Arvada West’s Elijah Anderson improved his season best by two inches, going 6-2 at the 5A Jeffco League Relays. Suddenly, Anderson looks like a strong contender for a state berth.

For now, Poudre’s Rhys Davis is seeing no immediate threats for the lead in 5A.

In 4A, there were two new entries at a height over six feet. One was Jamison Taylor of Harrison, who cleared 6-1 at the Dakota Ridge Invitational. The other was Will Taylor of Montrose, who cleared 6-0.5 at the Coal Ridge Invitational.

Antoni Smith, of course, stands all alone at the top of the 4A pile.

Pickings were similarly thin in 3A. There, the new news is that Moffat County’s Evan Atkin went 6-0.5 at the Coal Ridge Invitational.

Eaton’s Zac Grable and Manitou’s John Maynard are the only two in 3A who have cleared 6-4 or better to date.

Moving to 2A, Mason Goodwin of Mancos (6-3) and Nate Early of Banning Lewis Prep (6-2) hold down the top positions.

Brysen Harris of Cedaredge was part of the 6-0.5 party at Coal Ridge. And, I should probably explain at least a piece of what was going on there. The meet was setting bars at half-inch stops to help break of some of the logjams at even inches in the various classifications. It becomes a little unwieldy at state if you have 28 jumpers entered the high jump because of a massive tie at 6-1 or 6-0. A few meets setting the bars at half-inch stops helps the break up those logjams a little.

So far, though, only six guys in 2A have cleared six feet or better. Harris joined that exclusive club this last weekend, but there wasn’t much movement to be had elsewhere in the ranks of 2A high jumpers. Better luck this week, I guess…

Even though the statewide leader in the high jump is a 1A guy, only Vines, Westen Filter of Weldon Valley, and Kyler Crane of Springfield have cleared six feet thus far. That more or less makes them your favorites to go 1-2-3 at state, but it’s not yet a done deal. Akron’s Ryan McCaffrey improved his 1A standing with a 5-10 clearance at the Dick Evans Invitational on Thursday.

Girls High Jump

Statewide leader? That’s Brooke Naughton of Fort Collins. She’s been at 5-8 for a little better than a month now. She’s likely as impatient about that as anyone. Everyone wants to see progress.

The movement in 5A this past week was minor. Ciara Piffarerio of Rampart and Sydney Baller of Valor Christian both cleared 5-0 in the past week. While that has them in the state field for now, it’s better advice to count those marks as stepping stones than to hope they’ll still be state qualifiers at the end of the day on May 14.

Elizabeth Heumann of Thompson Valley (5-6) sits atop the rankings for now, but Jaclyn Donoho of Evergreen and Bradie Menegatti of Pueblo West are uncomfortably close behind.

Ana Shea of Glenwood was the only one to establish a new foothold in the top 20 in the past week—Shea got there with a 4-11 at Dakota Ridge Invitational.

Sierra Haberman of Jefferson Academy leads 3A at 5-4, but only an inch behind/below are Melissa Hines of Lamar and Nykole Meshew of Bayfield.

3A, however, had some nice movement in the rankings in the last week—and that despite all the wind. Hallie Williams of Jefferson Academy moved up to 5-1. Jordan Lindstrom of Pagosa Springs moved to 5-0. Angela Hindes of Gunnison went to 4-10.5. It got significantly harder to qualify for state in 3A in the last week (and a little harder yet on Monday, 4/25, but that’s beyond the scope of this article).

2A has a solid trio in the lead with Ebi Omofoma of Dayspring Christian at 5-4, Jaysa Even of Banning Lewis Prep at 5-3, and Annika McKown of Clear Creek at 5-3. The rest of the field is well back.

Hannah Search of Platte Canyon and Kayedence Brunner of Soroco, however, got a solid foothold in the rankings in the past week with clearances of 5-0 and 4-10, respectively. Five-even is probably safe to qualify for state in 2A, but counting on a 4-10 to do the same is living dangerously. See the above discussion about stepping stones.

In 1A, we have a situation of one of these is not like the others. Your leaders, all at 4-10 are Maggie Haase of Eads, Kali Siemers of Heritage Christian, and Harper Siemers of Heritage Christian.

The Dick Evans Invitational in Wray on Thursday, however, introduced a couple new faces into the 1A field of contenders. Both Caliche’s Ryann Nichols and Daphne Hartman of Hi-Plains staked some new turf, Nichols at 4-9 and Hartman at 4-8. This is how state meet dreams are built.

Girls Pole Vault

Broomfield’s Lilly Nichols retains a solid grip on the 5A lead, but there was considerable movement below her in the rankings.

Arapahoe’s Paige Plumb and Monarch’s McKenna Selby moved into a #5 tie at 10-3. Better yet, they did it together at the Dakota Ridge Invitational. Pine Creek’s Allison Lee and Northglenn’s Dorit Goldstein both went 9-6 to get on the board, as did Rocky Mountain’s Avry MacKenzie at 9-3. The last three marks, however, teeter precariously close to the edge. Stepping stones, again.

The 4A lead is the sole and undisputed property of Silver Creek’s Megan Kelleghan. As in 5A, however, there was plenty of movement behind Kelleghan. Kendall Morrison of Green Mountain and Emmy Kiefer of Riverdale Ridge went 9-9, together (well not at exactly the same time) at Dakota Ridge. There was plenty of pole vaulter togetherness at this meet. Seneca Wilson of Durango got 9-6 at her home meet. Sydney Kennett of Ponderosa also cleared 9-6 this last week. Liadan Graham of Longmont went 9-0. At least for a week or two, those marks figure to stay safely on the board, but 9-0 might be on either edge of what advances to state and what does not.

The crowd of Willis, Rathke, Wrona, and Coscetti still dominates the top of 3A. Faith Christian’s Katherine Heekin went 9-9 and Lauren Mitchek of Sterling went 9-1 in the last week. For now, 9-1 is the cutoff for seventh place. The only other new entry over eight feet came from Jamie Caron of Rifle. The High Country Pole Vault meet in Kremmling served as her venue of choice.

Hannah Grover of Platte Canyon sits atop 2A at 9-9. Once again, though, the scenery behind her was undergoing a lot of change.

The High County Pole Vault meet saw Platte Canyon teammate Hannah Search go 9-3. Yes, there are (at least) two Hannahs pole vaulting at Platte Canyon. Aspen Merrifield of Meeker got 8-10 at Coal Ridge. Lillian Hufford of West Grand got 8-4, curiously, at Coal Ridge, not at her home meet. Braelyn Wentworth of Wray and Fatima Duran of Yuma both got 8-1 at the Dick Evans meet.

It looks reasonably safe to say it’s going to take at least 8-0 to advance to state in the 2A Girls pole vault.

We got some definite movement in the 1A pole vault rankings. Lamya Kuntz and Alivia Weathers, both of Lone Star, cleared 9-3 at the High Country Pole Vault meet. They had a very long ride back over which to enjoy their marks, but I’m guessing both fell asleep somewhere along the way. Kyndal Richards of Idalia got 8-1 at the Dick Evans. Aleighcea Kuntz of Lone Star got 6-9, also at the High Country. Some schools have a community service requirement for graduation. It’s looking a little like Lone Star has a pole vault requirement.

Boys Pole Vault

Jackson Wray of Legend leads 5A at 15-6, but he got some company over the weekend. Mateo Munoz of Grandview cleared 15-1 at Dakota Ridge (which, as you have surely noted by now, was a rather big pole vault meet). Teammate Rylen Lippelt went 12-7 to slide into the #7 position. Blake Kinney of Dakota Ridge joined him at that height—the togetherness factor strikes again!

Ethan Jacquez of Mountain Range barely got into the 5A top 18 with an 11-3. The trick now, of course, is to stay there.

Lucas Couron of Riverdale Ridge leads 4A at 15-6, with Mead’s Quin Dukes reasonably close at 14-8.

Eagle Valley, however, went to the High Country Pole Vault and carved out a spot in the rankings. Isaac San Diego cleared 12-9 for the 4A #5.

Sterling’s Zander Burns owns the 3A rankings at 13-6. Justin Richel of Coal Ridge, however, used his home meet to climb to #4 with an 11-6. Nicholas Rothe and Trevor Bretz, both of University, went all the way out to the Dick Evans to go 10-7. Rifle’s Patrick Whitt was the only other one to snare a top-18 ranking with 9-10 at Coal Ridge.

Johnathan Mikita of Calhan leads 2A at 13-6. Things got a little tighter over the weekend, however, when Limon’s Kailer Schmidt went 13-1 at Dick Evans. Jace Peters of Lake County went 12-9 at the High Country. Owen Hannemann of Meeker went 10-7, also at the High Country, as did West Grand’s own Ollie Bergman. Yuma’s Bridger Lynch got 10-1 at the Dick Evans.

It’s probably going to take at least 10 feet to advance to state in 2A this year. Three more weeks to get there!

Ryan McCaffrey of Akron, who doubles as a high jumper (see above), leads 1A at 12-2, but the togetherness factor that was at work last week was working overtime behind him.

Tyler Frank of Merino, Koy Smith of Idalia, and Jackson Filla of Akron all went 10-7 at the Dick Evans. Abraham Martinez of Lone Star went 10-1. Taylor Ringlein of Otis went 9-7. It’s almost a done deal in 1A that it will take at least 10 feet to advance to state.

So, paradoxically, you would be prone to think that all that wind we had would make life difficult, and maybe a little scary, for pole vaulters. Evidently, it isn’t so.