Noah McGhee belongs to a long list of certifiably fast dudes ready to take the track at Mullen on Saturday. Colorado Track XC file photo by Alan Versaw.
Things got busy last week and stay busy this week on the Colorado high school track and field schedule.
The showcase event of the week is the Mullen Runners Roost Invitational on the campus of Mullen High School in south Denver. As the cover photo for this article indicates, Colorado Track XC will be on-hand for live streaming (plus the usual aspects of coverage) at this one.
Entries are already looking very solid for this year's edition of the Mullen meet. A rather lengthy list of state rankings leaders will be represented in the various event fields. Final heat sheets should be posted by late Wednesday or Thursday and we'll have a clearer picture then of precisely how many of the rankings leaders will be represented at Mullen on Saturday. It will not be a small number.
If there is a chink in Mullen's armor this year, it lies in the fact that they're up against the Arcadia Invitational in California. So, a small but significant load of Colorado talent will be off in sunny California for the weekend.
As big as those two meets promise to be, there's still plenty going on around the state.
Today's action picks up with a postponement from Thursday--the Brighton Mercury hits the track later this afternoon, minus a couple of the originally-scheduled teams.
An unusually high count of three rankings meets take center stage on Tuesday. This would include the NC Golden Spikes #2, the Jeffco Qualifier #2 (as they try to reschedule #1), and the Holy Family Early April Invite. Taken as a whole, those meets should have the most impact on the 4A and 5A rankings, with a scattering of impacts on other classifications as well.
Then, rankings action takes a break for a couple of days before picking up in earnest on Friday. On Friday, Thomas Jefferson hosts at All-City Stadium, Weld Central hosts out in Keenesburg, Cheyenne Wells hosts, and the John Tate Challenge Cup (which rolls into Saturday) kicks off at Dutch Clark Stadium. Meanwhile, the Penny McKnight Invitational figures to host of few Colorado teams in Aztec, New Mexico.
On Saturday, all track and field breaks loose. As in, here a meet, there a meet, everywhere a meet-meet...
Legend hosts at Sports Authority. Palisade hosts the Frank Woodburn at Stocker Stadium. Eagle Valley hosts in Gypsum. Ignacio hosts the Abel Velasquez at their new track and field digs. The Robert Caviness takes place at Aurora Public Schools Stadium. Salida hosts under the shadow of Mt. Shavano. D'Evelyn takes their turn hosting at Jeffco Stadium. Eaton and Holyoke host in their namesake communities. And, the venerable Warren Mitchell hosts what seems like half of eastern Colorado in Limon.
Weather has the potential to get a little strange on Saturday. Right now, it looks favorable enough to get the meets in, but it's worth checking back with the forecasters once or twice during the week to see if anything changes.
As usual, I will post links to heat sheets and actual time schedules as they become available. Honestly, I don't think of an order of events without any times as a schedule. We all realize schedules don't necessarily stay in place as written, but they at least function as a general time guide. An order of events does not.
If you're not in full-bore track and field mode yet, this week should take you the rest of the way there.