Jake Murphy parlayed his cross country success into a 10:54.49 3200 to easily top all 1A runners in that event last weekend. Colorado Track XC file photo by Paul Jaeger.
Jenna McKinley found her way to the top of the week's rankings for 1A girls discus, and she ended up second in the shot put. Colorado Track XC file photo by Alan Versaw.
1A track and field is just getting going, but we had enough results this past week to make it worth our while to queue up a list of top marks of the week. Meets in Lamar and Center made the biggest contributions to the pile of results, but 1A athletes showed up in smaller numbers elsewhere as well.
One of the things we learned this week is that the ongoing ebbs and flows of the Walsh/Campo/Vilas/Pritchett track and field program will be embodied this year as Baca County. Vilas has no athletes participating in the co-op, but Walsh, Campo, and Pritchett do. Figure that it's a pretty competitive team--track and field has a long history of doing well in this corner of the state.
If you look down the list of names in the 1A girls throws, you will note a Heather Graham of Genoa-Hugo. Heather is a freshman this year, but it wasn't that long ago that Genoa-Hugo had another Graham chucking the shot put and discus. Tradition runs deep in many 1A programs.
In an ominous note, Shining Mountain Waldorf claimed the top four 1A girls spots in the 1600 meter run for the week. If that trend persists, it's going to be tough to top SMW at state this spring.
As you scan the list of names in the performances lists linked below, you will recognize many familiar names and probably see many more not-so-familiar names. That's one of the great things about starting a new season--there's always something to learn.