When it was time to put the meet away, nobody was even close to being as fast at Cherokee Trail in the 4x100. Photos by Alan Versaw.
It was supposed to be a grand showdown between the three superpowers of 5A girls--Fort Collins, Pine Creek, and Cherokee Trail. What we got instead was a display of raw power from Cherokee Trail.
Fort Collins managed to keep it respectably close, but Pine Creek's balloon lost its air when a tight hamstring combined with a looming soccer commitment kept ace sprinter Ally Watt out of Saturday's action.
The first most folks knew of Watt's departure was an empty lane five in Saturday morning's 100 meter dash final. Over in lane six, Shayna Yon made quick work of the field without Watt on the line. Yon came back and did much the same thing in the afternoon 200 (24.17, -0.3), but this time the open lane was six.
To be sure, Yon found her way to the top of the podium without open lanes as well, winning the long jump at 18-9.25 and taking a leg on the winning 4x100.
And points came from almost every imaginable corner, save distance and throws, for CT as well.
Haley Rogers backed Yon up with points in the 100 and 200. Hurdles struggled a little, but Amazing Ashby did manage a contribution in the 100s. The 4x200 posted a second, and the 4x400 a third. Anastacia Johnston raised a few eyebrows with a fifth in the high jump. Sydnee Larkin and Amazing Ashby backed up Yon in the long jump with a second and a fifth. And, the triple jump was triple fun with Amazing Ashby taking the win and Larkin and Aumni Ashby adding points to the pile. Ashby's 39-4 marked Colorado's best triple jump of the season.
All that left CT a half-point short of 100 and 13.5 points ahead of a very good Fort Collins squad.
Fort Collins rode a win by Lauren Gregory in the 3200 (plus two PR efforts in the 800 and 1600), a stellar 53.64 400 meter title from Becca Schulte, and a 4x400 meter title to their 86 points.
With Watt out of the Saturday picture, Pine Creek sputtered to a fourth-place finish, one point behind cross-district rival Rampart.
5A meet records were taken of the board and replaced with new ones by Denver East's SMR8 and Jordyn Colter in the 800 and 1600. Jennifer Calascione and Gina Coleman found some of 5A's biggest distances of the season to claim the discus and shot put titles. Christina Stathakis pushed her personal PR to 11-9 to win the pole vault.
Rock Canyon freshman Emily Sloan caught up with Zoe Gilbertson to win the 100 meter hurdles title in 14.11, but Gilbertson had her backside covered in the 300 hurdles, winning in 42.37 after a rousing 42.21 in prelims.