A Little Rust, a Little Polish


Nobody did more to put himself or herself on the track and field road map tonight than Isaiah LaPioli. Photo by Alan Versaw.

We've already detailed the record-setting pole vault of Andrea Willis, so what else of interest to the high school set happened at today's Air Force Holiday Open?

At points, things looked just a little rusty. At other points, well, it's fun to start imagining what the possibilities might be.

Taking a glance at some of the girls performances that hinted at a whole lot more fun to come, we could certainly include the following:


  • Julia Hall punishing the field in the 300 with a 41.46.
  • Zoe Gilbertson opening the season with an 8.74 ride over the hurdles
  • Dawnielle Lewis and Mia Coats winning their heats of the 60 in 7.75 and 7.86, respectively.
  • Taylor Alexander clearing 11-5.75 in the pole vault, which would have scored a lot of favorable attention on almost any other evening.

Top highlights for the boys included:


  • Javan Lanier and Desmond Calhoun winning heats of the 300 at 36.55 and 37.78, respectively.
  • Isaiah LaPioli of Vista Ridge (get to know this name, please) running 37.02 for the 300 and 1:09.46 for the 500.
  • Ryan Vomacka putting a 1:07.40 500 on the board to edge a familiar foe in Logan Malone at the finish line. 
  • Max Gilbertson at 8.48 over the 42" hurdles
  • Chris Youngs at 6.96 for 60 meters
  • Javan Lanier at 22-10.5 for the long jump

All that should be over and above enough to get your appetite whetted for the season ahead. While it is true we won't be seeing much more of the 300, 500, and 1000 meter distances, whether in winter or in spring, it's not too difficult to translate the times posted tonight into reasonable approximations for 200, 400, 800, and 1600 meter times. And, if you take a little time to do that, I think you'll like what you see.

Complete Results and Photos