Last week was prelude. This week is still prelude, but we are getting closer to program.
Just about everybody, save for a few small schools still recovering from basketball season and a few more who are serious about spring break, gets into the action this week. There are JV and non-rankings meets ramping up on Tuesday, rankings meets starting Wednesday, and then a nearly full slate of rankings meets coming on the weekend.
Coaches and meet directors, if you'd like heat sheets or start lists posted for your meet, see the instructions here. It's about as simple as life gets.
The first rankings meet of the week--and the only midweek one this week--is hosted by Thornton. The Thornton Early Bird rolls out onto the Adams 12 North Stadium track on Wednesday. The results from this meet are destined to get a lot of attention seeing that they'll be the only rankings results until Friday.
On Friday, however, all ranking breaks loose...
Weld Central hosts their Early Season Invite in Keenesburg. Center--with their home track showing the signs of several cycles of intense San Luis Valley winter cold and summer sun--hosts at Monte Vista, Rifle hosts I-70 corridor crowd on the Western Slope, and Frederick hosts their annual Pow Wow.
Saturday might be the beginning of spring break for a few around the state, but track and field doesn't seem to mind.
City championships are being staged for Arvada and Aurora. Presumably, having conquered your own city, you move on to bigger challenges. But, even if you don't conquer your city, you still move on. Paradoxically, Arvada goes to neutral turf in Lakewood to settle their issues.
Brush hosts their Beetdigger Invitational on Saturday, though hopefully any remaining beets from the fall's harvest have already been dug out of the long and triple jump pits. In any case, Brush is your lone meet option on the Eastern Plains for Saturday. Typically, that makes for a fairly large meet.
Delta and Farmington (New Mexico) parcel out whatever remains of the Western Slope crowd after Friday's Rifle meet.
Then, up and down the Front Range, teams will be clamoring for tent space at overflowing meets hosted by Windsor, Harrison, ThunderRidge (Echo Park), and Pueblo Centennial (Dutch Clark). If you're looking for a cozy little meet with eight or fewer teams on this weekend, that's happening at the LPS Spring Break Duals, but you probably can't get into that meet at this point.
Offhand, I'm guessing it comes down between Windsor, Harrison, and ThunderRidge for the biggest extravaganza of the weekend. Windsor, evidently, is working out any potential kinks in their system in advance with a JV meet on Tuesday. Given the kind of crowd they typically draw, that's probably a solid plan.
Full-orbed coverage this weekend takes aim at Delta and Pueblo Centennial. Colorado Track XC also expects to have a camera snapping photos at ThunderRidge.
Keep checking back here for results, photos, and analysis (and the occasional offhand observation).