For those who had written off Carly Lester's season, there is now a winning effort in the 400 hurdles to process. Photo by Alan Versaw.
If you were expecting a quiet little lead-up meet to the Colorado Junior Olympic Championships, you met disappointment when you drove up to Lewis-Palmer High School and tried to find a parking spot. Hopefully, however, you did not leave disappointed.
Among the highlights and much-anticipated results of the high school set were a sweep of the 15-16 shot and disc from Sierra Suazo, a sweep of the 15-16 100 and 200 from Dawnielle Lewis (who kind of left the radar screen during the CHSAA-sanctioned season), a pair of blazing sprints from Heide Baron (24.98, 55.81), a couple of big throws in the discus and hammer for Haley Showalter, and a 1:02.64 return to action for Carly Lester in the 400 meter hurdles.
A similar set of highlights dotted the high school boys results. Charles Broomfield swept the 15-16 shot and disc. Joshua Wright was 14.54 for the 110 hurdles into a -1.4. And, Adrian Brukner discovered a little of what he was missing in his high school experience when he made a clean sweep of the four 17-18 throwing events.
What may be the most fun about these meets, however, is looking at the 11-12 and 13-14 results with an eye toward who might be making a big entry onto the high school scene over the next couple of years.
Some of those you may want to keep your eye on include:
Taylor James - winner of the 11-12 800 at 2:32, high jump at 5-0.25 and long jump at 14-5.25.
Emily Glynn - winner of the 11-12 1500 at 5:15.96 and 3000 at 11:24.72.
Arria Minor and Abigail Tamminga - we've known about these two 13-14 sprinters for a while now, but they did nothing to diminish the expectations with 1-2 finishes in the 100 and 200.
Anna Hall - The younger of the Hall sisters simply dominated the 13-14 high jump and 800, not the most usual of event combinations.
Sarah Sams - They didn't do a 13-14 hammer throw, but, if they had, she likely would have won that, too, and matched Adrian Brukner's total of throwing titles.
Erik LeRoux - We won't see Mr. LeRoux in high school next year, but he is looking more and more like the next big distance prospect around the Colorado Springs area. He easily won both the 11-12 800 and 1500.
Dane Palazzo - Dane should be running a Valor next year if I've read the tea leaves correctly. He's already at 57.07 for the 400 and dropping.
Tyler Ervin - manhandled the 13-14 1500 and 3000 with ease.
We will, of course, see a lot more next weekend, but this wasn't at all a poor lead-up act to the state JO meet next weekend.