It's been a very impressive weekend for Colorado high school track and field--both inside and outside of the state boundaries.
Elizabeth Stover's record-setting pole vault has already been noted on this site, but the excellent performances hardly ended with her vault.
At the Nike Littleton meet, Cherry Creek's Roman Holmes posted season-best marks for the long jump (24-5) and triple jump (47-3). The long jump and triple jump is an exceedingly difficult double at state, but Holmes seems better positioned to do so than anyone in a long time. The Nike Littleton meet also hosted the top female long jump of the year as well. Emmalie Pfankuch, who doubles as a soccer player for Fort Collins HS, became the first girl of year to go beyond 18 feet in the long jump, winning with a jump of 18-1.5.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Continental Divide, Mason Finley exceeded expectations at the Gunnison Invitational. This time, however, Finley launched a 64-7 shot put, good enough to put him within 20 inches of the all-time Colorado record. As big and as technically sound as Finley is, it seems only a matter of time until the record falls.
Proving that not all the best marks happen at prequalifying meets, Arvada's Ashley Fanelli and D'Evelyn's Calyn Hull staged a battle royal in the high jump at the Standley Lake Gator Invitational. Both competitors cleared 5-6, two inches better than the previous best in the state on the year, but failed with the bar at 5-8. The bar was reset to 5-6.25 to break the tie. Fanelli cleared 5-6.25 to win the meet title.
Several Colorado athletes traveled to Lawrence, KS, this weekend to compete in the annual Kansas Relays. Of those who did, D'Evelyn's Kevin Williams came back with a 9:02.29 3200 and Andrew Berberick of Mullen came back with a 1:54.33 800. Temporarily setting aside the issue of altitude adjustments, both efforts rank as the top marks for the season by in-state athletes.
Finally, it appears that a season-best mark was set and reset, or at least a previous mark was exceeded twice, this weekend in the girls' 400. Middle Park's freshman phenom, Sam Berggren, blazed a 56.95 400 at the Horizon Twilight Invite on Friday. Meanwhile, out in Kansas, Emily Blok lowered her season-best mark in the same event to 56.75. It's getting very difficult to stay atop the leader board these days.
On two relay side notes, ThunderRidge became the first girls 4 X 400 team on the season to crack 4:00, and the Littleton boys became the first team on the season to break 8:00 in the 4 X 800.
Stay tuned for more exciting action this coming weekend! The big meets on tap are the St. Vrain Invitational in Longmont and the Liberty Bell meet in Littleton. If the preceding paragraphs tell us anything, however, there will be big things happening at meets all across the state.