For most track athletes in Colorado, summer is a time away from competitive events. Increasing numbers and quality, however, are showing up in post-season summer meets such as the USATF Colorado Junior Olympics, held this past weekend at Legacy Stadium in Aurora.
Sometimes, these events offer athletes an opportunity to showcase skills that don't always become evident during the CHSAA-sanctioned high school track season. Nowhere was this more evident this past weekend than intermediate girls and young women heptathlon competitions.
We are accustomed to seeing the names Annie Kunz (Wheat Ridge) and Margaret Weingart (Peak to Peak) listed high among the results of high school hurdle events. What most of us did not know until now is that their skills go quite a bit wider than we have seen in March, April, and May. Kunz captured the intermediate girls' heptathlon competition with a score of 3910. Weingart, just days away from starting her new adventure as an incoming cadet at the US Air Force Academy, captured the young women's heptathlon with a score of 3942. Following Kunz and Weingart were Tiffany Kenney (intermediate girls, Colorado Springs Christian) and Briana Suppes (young women, Doherty), both familiar names to those who follow high school track in Colorado.
Elsewhere, events went pretty much according to form. Elizabeth Stover won the young women's pole vault. Natasha Gay breezed to victories in the young women's 100 and 200. Dominick Roberts sped away from the fields in the young men's 200 and 400. And, Sam Berggren was once again a force to be reckoned with, winning the intermediate girls' 400 and 800, and finishing second in the 200 to Kayla Fisher-Taylor. Berggren's 55.40 time in the 400 topped her season's best mark in that event. Eleanor Fulton pulled a trifecta in the intermediate girls 1500, 3000, and 2000 steeplechase, winning all three events by comfortable margins. Mike McPherson followed up his solid showing in the Great Southwest Classic decathlong with a victory in the same event at the state JOs.
For a few of these athletes, national JOs in Omaha loom ahead. For most of the rest, a long track season has finally come to an end.
Meet Results
For most track athletes in Colorado, summer is a time away from competitive events. Increasing numbers and quality, however, are showing up in post-season summer meets such as the USATF Colorado Junior Olympics, held this past weekend at Legacy Stadium in Aurora.
Sometimes, these events offer athletes an opportunity to showcase skills that don't always become evident during the CHSAA-sanctioned high school track season. Nowhere was this more evident this past weekend than intermediate girls and young women heptathlon competitions.
We are accustomed to seeing the names Annie Kunz (Wheat Ridge) and Margaret Weingart (Peak to Peak) listed high among the results of high school hurdle events. What most of us did not know until now is that their skills go quite a bit wider than we have seen in March, April, and May. Kunz captured the intermediate girls' heptathlon competition with a score of 3910. Weingart, just days away from starting her new adventure as an incoming cadet at the US Air Force Academy, captured the young women's heptathlon with a score of 3942. Following Kunz and Weingart were Tiffany Kenney (intermediate girls, Colorado Springs Christian) and Briana Suppes (young women, Doherty), both familiar names to those who follow high school track in Colorado.