It's Thursday evening and the weekend's track and field action hasn't yet begun--but it's about to!
Colorado's indoor track and field contingent will be divided between two destinations. By far, the majority of Colorado's indoor track and field athletes will be headed to the Martin Luther King Mile High Classic on Saturday at the Cadet Field House of the United States Air Force Academy. A much smaller, but definitely noteworthy, group will be headed to the Reno Livestock Events Center for what is billed as the largest pole vault event of the year--the National Pole Vault Summit.
And, scratch the part about the smaller group "will be headed to..." As I write this, no doubt a large portion of the vaulters, coaches, and parents have already converged on Reno.
The National Pole Vault Summit most definitely does include a pole vault competition, and we'll be posting results as they become available.
Closer to home, the Martin Luther King Mile High is typically the second busiest high school indoor event in the state each year (with the Air Force High School Indoor Open being the busiest--at least from a strictly high school perspective). This is the first truly big indoor meet for the Colorado season. It will draw nearly all of the high school regulars and a large percentage of those who aren't as regular about indoor competition--those who compete only once or twice during the indoor season.
For athletes of with a birth year of 2002 or earlier, competition begins at 8:30 AM and should be wrapping up by about noon, or possibly even a little sooner in some events. The 8:30 start time also includes pole vaulters who require an opening height below 9 feet. The nine foot bar will be set at 10 AM, so most high school vaulters should be starting at that time.
For all other high school age (and older) events, straight-up noon is the starting time.
The interesting match-ups on the high school stage are legion. Rather than me talking on about them, just show up and enjoy. Almost every event has at least one or two promising showdowns looming.
With the CHSCA coaches clinic falling on January 29 and 30 and thereby eliminating a lot of high school coaches from taking their athletes to the indoor meet that weekend, it once again seems to come down to this meet and the Air Force High School Indoor Open as the must-see events of the indoor season.
Colorado Track XC will be on hand Saturday with both photo and video coverage of the events (primarily high school).