Colorado State T&F 2017: Lutheran Marches On

In the last year, Jacob Dack became remarkably proficient with the discus.


2A gifted Lutheran to 3A three years ago. 3A hasn't been the same since.

And, whatever hope 3A had of toppling Lutheran this year took a triple hit when Adam Dawson picked up the shot put, Jacob Dack picked up the discus, and Eaton sent Lutheran home early from the state baseball playoffs, thus freeing up some serious sprint talent to compete at the state track meet.

Pretty much whatever expectations there were, Lutheran lived up to them. 

Jacob Dack and Adam Dawson went 1-5 and 3-1 in the shot put and discus, respectively. And, Donovan Simmons (13th in the shot put this year) is lurking in the weeds to make the transition to next year's Lutheran throws program as seamless as possible. Even though Dawson threw 203 feet, there was no meet record in view. It's tough when you happen to show up in the same classification where Mason Finley threw almost a decade ago.

Ryan Goldhammer added a sixth in the high jump to round out the field events contribution for Lutheran.

Amazingly, Lutheran didn't win a single relay. Elizabeth, Platte Valley, and Alamosa tag-teamed that little turn of fortune, but it's not as if the Lutheran relays didn't produce. The purple-clad Lions still claimed 31 team points from relays, finishing second in each of the sprint relays and third in the 4x800.

It was in the short, explosive events where Lutheran excelled and put together the Lions' share of their points. 

Aaron Clausen and Nate Hanson went 2-6 in the 110 hurdles. Clausen's high school career is done. Hanson figures to pick up where Clausen left off next spring.


Luke Arkell just might have had the meet of his life, finishing fifth with a wind-legal 10.90 100 and third in the 200. Arkell also chipped in on the 4x100 and 4x200.

Nick Ciccio added a fourth in the 100 and a fifth in the 200. AJ Thompson added an eighth in the 400. 

It may not have been as flashy as some Lutheran conquests in recent years, but it was all of thorough and effective just the same. 

Lutheran figures to build around guys like Arkell, Hanson, and Simmons next year. They'll be back, and they'll be trouble again next year, too.

The battle for second place in the teams standings took a few twists and turns before The Classical Academy edged Elizabeth in the contest for the silver trophy. TCA rode Tanner Norman's two distance event titles and a series of performances who exceeded their seed positions by several places to get there.


Sunday Abarca narrowly missed the sprint trifecta, but settled for a meet record (beating his own from last year) in the 400. But for a pesky wind, Abarca might have bumped off the 200 meet record as well.

RESULTS   |   PHOTOS