With memories of a wind-buffeted 1600 at Banana Belt still fresh on their minds, Conner Wilburn and Corey Lewenkamp come to Longmont Saturday with expectations of much better conditions in place. Photo by Alan Versaw.
If you haven't seen a good distance event since cross country season, you definitely need to be making tracks for Longmont tomorrow morning.
The Longmont Invitational will be running showdown heats of the 3200 tomorrow morning, 9:50 for the girls and 10:05 for the boys. The boys showdown heat includes:
| - | Roberts, Paul | Lyons High School | 09:31 | |
| - | Miller, Paul | Poudre High School | 09:39 | |
| - | Such, Marcel | Lyons High School | 09:45 | |
| - | Weaver, Connor | Mountain Vista High School | 09:45 | |
| - | Wilburn, Conner | Classical Academy, The | 09:51 | |
| - | Hamer, Eric | Palmer Ridge High School | 09:52 | |
| - | Such, Joel | Lyons High School | 09:56 | |
| - | Lewis, Kyle | Boulder High School | 09:56 | |
| - | Horen, Joseph | Arvada West High School | 10:00 | |
| - | Lewenkamp, Corey | Custer County High School | 10:01 | |
| - | Roch, Tyger | Monarch High School | 10:04 | |
| - | Raymond, Henry | Poudre High School | 10:10 | |
| - | Hart, Carson | Mountain Vista High School | 10:10 | |
| - | Laguera, Marcelo | Pomona High School | 10:11.21 | |
| - | Herebic, Tommy | Palmer Ridge High School | 10:14 | |
| - | Ryd, Chandler | Classical Academy, The | 10:14 | |
| - | Barton, Forrest | Castle View High School | 10:16 | |
| - | Rieder, David | Boulder High School | 10:16 | |
| - | Freeman, Jesse | Castle View High School | 10:20 | |
| - | Mason, Gavin | Pomona High School | 10:22.76 | |
| - | Minor, Elliot | Niwot High School | 10:23.38 | |
| - | Cox, Ian | Littleton High School | 10:23.63 | |
| - | Dillon, Matt | Lyons High School | 10:25 |
while the girls showndown heat counters with:
| - | Kennedy, Isabelle | Fairview High School | 11:03 | |
| - | McLaughlin, Erin | Boulder High School | 11:03 | |
| - | Benner, Kaitlyn | Monarch High School | 11:15.0 | |
| - | Mooney, Megan | Horizon High School | 11:20.40 | |
| - | Roberts, Miriam | Lyons High School | 11:30 | |
| - | Boettiger, Christa | Niwot High School | 11:46.46 | |
| - | McCaffrey, Jenna | Niwot High School | 11:55.00 | |
| - | Ritschard, Kristina | Loveland High School | 11:59.38 | |
| - | Knapp, Katie | Classical Academy, The | 12:02 | |
| - | Ramsey, Kaitlin | Palmer Ridge High School | 12:09 | |
| - | Dalton, Savanna | Castle View High School | 12:12 | |
| - | Furst, Audree | Palmer Ridge High School | 12:13 | |
| - | Williams, Hannah | Classical Academy, The | 12:18 | |
| - | Fernald, Sophia | Wheat Ridge High School | 12:24.93 | |
| - | McKinney, Calysta | Castle View High School | 12:29 | |
| - | Kennedy, Cami | Pomona High School | 12:42.97 |
Obviously, any meet bringing in these kind of fields is anxious to showcase the races, and the folks at Longmont are no exception to the rule.
Co-host Lyons coach Mark Roberts sees it as a gilt-edged opportunity, "I think there are several folks in the boys' field who are capable of breaking the stadium record of 9:30.50 set in 2006 by Noah Shannon from Fort Collins... the boys' meet record of 9:53.48 set in 2012 by Nick Harris of Niwot may have a number of folks under it tomorrow if the weather holds up."
He's not quite as optimistice about the girls stadium record going down, though, "On the girls' side, 11:08.86 is the meet record by Sam Lewis from Boulder in 2012, and the stadium record of 10:51.44 was set in 1989 by Melody Fairchild from Boulder. The meet record could go down, though the stadium record will be a much bigger challenge."
About the weather... the forecasted 10 AM temperatures for Longmont are in the high 40s with light (5 mph) winds, and a barometer slightly on the side of high. Temperatures in the low 40s, though, guarantee good oxygen density and should keep all the 3200 types comfortably cool. If the forecasted conditions pan out, it is very good news for the competitors.
A second set of 3200s will be run in the afternoon, and there is plenty of potential for times in those heats to drop well into the 10s and 12s. In between, of course, you have the full gamut on track and field events with all the easy access to the field events that the Everly-Montgomery Field facitlies afford.
Colorado Track XC will be on hand covering the feature 3200s. Video will be posted on the site later in the day on Saturday. Ring a few cowbells around the fence if you can find them, but make noise however you can.
Longmont Invitational meet page