Today's District 11 Relays pitted most of the 4A and 5A programs in the Colorado Springs area, plus Pueblo Central, in a relays format. Those who came hoping for a few big surprises went away disappointed. Teams and individuals who established reputations for themselves last year did nothing to diminish those reputations today.
On the girls' side of the ledger, most of the big guns were already in evidence. Sierra's Samantha Thompson (at left), anchored her team to a 17-second victory in the 1600 medley relay. Liberty's Kaylen Slack and Amy Kress dominated the mile team race with Slack finishing in an impressive time of roughly 5:25 on the first weekend of the competitive season. The race, which was scored like a four-person team cross country race, saw Liberty accumulate only 20 points in a 9-team field. Kress and Slack would return later in the day to help Liberty to a 10-second margin of victory in the distance medley relay. And, at the end of the afternoon, Doherty put their fourth relay title of the day on the board with a 4:20.9 effort in the 4 X 400, anchored by Lynnea Sjoerdsma. Throws were dominated by Falcon who won both the shot put and discus events by substantial margins over the rest of the field. Fountain-Ft. Carson produced the top 4 X 100 on the day, finishing in a solid early-season time of 51.0.
Surprises were no more in evidence in the boys' events. Rampart was the only team on the day to win
four events, taking first place in the 800 medley relay, the 4 x 800, the discus, and the 1600 medley. Team specialties were very much in evidence, however, as Pine Creek clocked a nice 43.4 to win the 4 X 100, Rampart won the 4 X 800 in 8:24.1, and Falcon staged a major comeback in the last two legs of the distance medley relay to overtake Rampart with a time of 11:02.0 to Rampart's 11:05.0. Kevin Johnson ran the 1200 for Falcon before handing off to Wes Rickman (at right). Rickman made up the remaining difference on the first three laps before adding 20 meters of margin to his winning effort on the final lap, with each lap coming in under 70 seconds. No other team finished within 40 seconds of either Falcon or Rampart. The Mesa Ridge horizontal jumpers, winners of the 4A titles in both the long and triple jump last spring, did their part by sweeping the long and triple jump events today. Finally, as if to send a message that all is well in the land of the Stallions, Sierra's 4 X 400 team scorched the track with a 3:30.5. For most teams, that would be a solid mid-season effort. For Sierra, it is merely an indication that this team will be heard from at state.
Most of the teams competing in the today's District 11 Relays will head a few miles north to run at the Liberty Lancer Invitational next Saturday. It will be the first prequalifying meet of the season for most of the teams in attendance.