Standout Boys
There has been a little bit of discussion this spring about the significance of a young man who can throw a shot put over fifty feet. Nico Heineke Magri from Monarch, the current all-classification leader in the shot put, showed why he is currently the best of the best in the state with a 51'2.5" throw on Saturday to win the shot put by almost two feet. The shot put area is not always a very loud place, but when Heineke Magri's blast went past the fifty-foot line, there was a distinct "whoa" from those gathered.
It was a somewhat unbelievable day for boys' distance fans as all three events saw some serious stand out performances. In the 800m, Hayelom Fitsum made his season debut sporting the colors of Denver East rather than DSST. Fitsum split a 56 on the first lap, and then delivered on that promise winning in 1:54.90 over Yanique Borne from Denver South's 1:55.80. The only person in Colorado to run faster this season was Isaac Green who won Saturday's 1600 in a devastating all-classification leading 4:19.15. In the 3200m field, you had to scan to 13th place to find a boy on Saturday who did not break 10 minutes. Ouch. Jeremy Meadows from Palmer Ridge lead a loaded field through the finish line in 9:28, a 14 second betterment of his seed mark.
As a final stand out performance, although not one totally assignable to gender, the meet management deserves a big high five. Some kind of timing system malfunction delayed the start of the second heat of the boys 3200 for about 40 minutes on Saturday. Plenty of meets would have continued to fall farther and farther behind. There were plenty of grumblings at the finish line about the meet finishing in the dark. All day long the meet moved closer and closer to the pre-set times before finally finishing slightly ahead of schedule.