As most of you already know, I was not present at the USATF-Colorado State Indoor Championships meet. It was that or the CHSCA Track and Field Clinic, and any hope of a late appearance at the track meet withered away when the mandatory rules briefing went into overtime.
So, what I've written below are merely observations on the results, and not anything that comes directly from the meet itself.
The first thing about the results that jumped out at me was the 400 meter girls result where Lauren Gale beat Heide Baron by a little over one second. The 200 meter results suggest that Gale is blessed with a bit more raw foot speed than Baron, and Gale was able to hold that advantage over the extra 200 meters. In private conversations with a couple other coaches, I had speculated that 400 meters might be Gale's best event. This result does not prove the speculation but it does count as corroborating evidence.
Almost as intriguing is the girls results was the fact that it took a sub-8 performance to make the finals of the girls 60. The Cadet Field House isn't necessarily the state's fastest track for 60 meters, but this field made it look fast on Saturday.
Arria Minor took a close win over Maya Evans in the 60 finals, 7.54 to 7.57. Evans didn't have a great start to her sprint season, but the results definitely seem to be coming around now.
Emily Sloan and Zoe Gilbertson both improved on season-best marks in the 60 hurdles, but Sloan got a little more improvement than Gilbertson and widened the gap between the one and two slots in the statewide rankings.
Kiara Mattern and Taryn Ceglowski made it a 3A affair at the top end of the 1500 field, with Mattern taking a win of about two seconds at 5:06.72. Figure that Ceglowski's effort, her first of the indoor season, is a warm-up for the Western State Indoor in two weeks.
Kiara Kearney launched a statewide best-of-the-season 5-5 high jump. All of Colorado had been stuck on 5-3 until this clearance.
And, also of particular interest in the girls results was the pole vault outcome. Andrea Willis and Taylor Alexander ended up deadlocked at 12-7.5. Alexander, obviously, has made a successful transition to vaulting over 12 feet. Erika Willis set herself up with a new PR of 11-7.75 for third in the event.
On the boys side of the ledger, Chris Youngs accomplished his first-ever sweep of the 60 and 200. It took a 6.97 and a 22.79 to get that done. The latter represents a substantial indoor PR.
The 400 seems to have an impenetrable barrier at 50 seconds this indoor season. Luke Desmond beat Isaiah LaPioli by the narrowest of margins for the win here at 51.06. At 800 meters, it was Gage Mayo by a little better than 2.5 seconds at 2:04.73. That just missed Cam Dimas' best mark of the season for the event.
And, speaking of Dimas, he reversed the order of finish from the last time out with Mason Brevig by taking a 4:15.25 win in the 1500.
Alex Miller continued to win indoor hurdle titles.
Cooper Daniels made it three for the season over 15 feet in the pole vault with a 15-1 winner. Jayce Hall flirted with 22 feet in the long jump but came up a half-inch short. And, Jacob Dack impressed again in the shot put at 47-7.25.