The Harrison Panther Invitational fell victim to snow flurries, suspended after the completion of the 1600 meter races. Meanwhile, just 45 miles to the south, the Pueblo Centennial Invitational went on uninterrupted--and much of it in brilliant sunshine.
A large contingent of schools from the Colorado Springs and south Denver areas converged on Memorial Stadium at Harrison High School today, many just hoping to get in a meet after last weekend's cancellation of the Liberty Lancer Invitational. The morning's weather forecast looked promising--a high a 47 degrees with only a 20 percent chance of precipitation. Unfortunately, the 20 percent chance arrived before noon, bringing with it a swift end to favorable meet conditions. Coaches voted to suspend the meet. The meet may be finished in April.
At Dutch Clark Stadium in Pueblo, however, weather conditions were distinctly different for the season opener for numerous schools from the southeastern quadrant of the state. Once the sun burned off a layer of morning clouds, conditions remained cool but pleasant for most of the rest of the day.
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Meet records fell in almost every other event, but the day's headlines belonged to the multiple-event winners. Shaylee Robinette of Crowley County led the victory derby with three titles, winning the 100 in 12.69, the 400 in 59.96, and the 200 in 25.89. Nearly matching Robinette's effort on the boy's side was Widefield's Patrick Richards (pictured at left). Richards won the 100 in 11.26, the 200 in 22.42, but did not compete in the 400 meters. Richards' teammate Joy Warrington dominated the girl's throws with a 119-8 effort in the discus and an impressive 42-11 toss in the shot put. The girl's distance events belonged to Jamie Welch of Woodland Park, who won the 1600 in 5:36.86 and the 3200 in 11:52.27 minutes. Yet another multiple winner was Pueblo Central's Tyshawn Nicholas. Nicholas swept the hurdle events with a 15.96 in the 110 hurdles and a 41.56 effort in the 300 hurdles. In other notes of interest, two Alamosa high jumpers, Tate McDaniel and Jordan Reeves, both cleared 6-5 to put them--temporarily, at least--atop the state leaderboard in that event. Ken Harriman of Pueblo South added a monster 55-0 throw in the shot put.
In team standings, Widefield won on the girls' side, while Pueblo South ran away from the field on the boys' side.
Prior to suspension of the Harrison meet, the girl's 1600 saw a razor-close finish between two of the 3A classification's top runners--Kara Slavoski of St. Mary's and Kaitlin Hanenburg of The Classical Academy. Slavoski edged Hanenburg at the finish to win in 5:15.28. Slavoski's effort puts her atop the Colorado leaderboard in the 1600 for the moment. Erik Sutterfield of Rock Canyon added a 15-0 clearance in the pole vault, which was completed before the weather took its turn for the worse.