WATCH Mullen Runners Roost Invitational LIVE Today!


Zoe Gilbertson takes a shot at a new season best (better than 13.88!) at Mullen on Saturday. Photo by Alan Versaw

SIGNUP TO WATCH LIVE!

For those who like their high school track and field served up with excellence, there is a treat awaiting this weekend in the form of the Mullen Runners Roost Invitational. Each year, Mullen hosts this meet which brings together much of the top competition from around the state--and especially from up and down the Front Range from Loveland to Colorado Springs. 

This year's edition of the Mullen Runners Roost will be live streamed on MileSplit. Jeff Bliven will be in the announcer's booth, doing your online play-by-play for the meet. 

There's a long list of events of considerable interest to be contested on Friday. I'll touch on a few of those here:

Girls Pole Vault - So far this season, Andrea Willis has made two upward revisions of the girls outdoor pole vault record. She takes aim at revision #3 on Saturday. 13-5 and climbing...

Boys 1600 - This looks to be shaping up as a very entertaining showdown. Ben Butler makes his season debut against the likes of Jack Davidson, Thomas Staines, Tanner Norman, Jarrett Thollot, and Alec Hornecker. A sub-4:20 doesn't seem like too much to hope for here.

Girls 100 Hurdles - Without Emily Sloan in the field, there may not be anyone to really push Zoe Gilbertson, but she's already been below 14 seconds twice this season without that kind of push. How low can Gilbertson go?

Boys 400 - Nik Chappee raised a few eyebrows last Saturday beating Christian Lyon in the finals of the Palmer Terror 200 (21.27, +0.1). This week, he moves up to the 400 and takes on Cameron Murray, Brock Miller, and Ryan Vomacka. With 49.93 standing as the top 400 of the season to date, we should almost certainly see a revision of that standard on Saturday.

Girls High Jump - Rylee Anderson won here last year at 5-5. She's already been over 5-6 (twice) this season and has been showing amazing consistency in her high jumping. A little extra adrenaline could push her into new PR territory. Among those she must contend with are Jessica Kenney, Morgan Barone, Heather Betz, Elizabeth Wayne, and Sydney Wetterstrom.

Boys 300 Hurdles - We get to see the top-two ranked 300 hurdlers in the state on Saturday--Alex Miller and Johnathan Penrose. Something has to give, and it's very likely to be the standard for the season. 38.xx seems likely and 37.xx not out of the question.

Girls 100 Meters - Welcome to the high school debut of Arria Minor. Minor lit up the indoor season at both 60 and 200 meters. The first competition she faces in the outdoor season includes Maya Evans and Zoe Gilbertson. This one could turn fast. If it turns too fast and you miss Minor in this one, she should be back for the 200.

Boys 200 Meters - What's not to like about seeing Jordan Xiong, Kent Harris, Chris Youngs, Javan Lanier, Brock Miller, and Ben Waters all squaring off together in the top heat of the 200? Making this doubly interesting are the different racing styles in play. People won't be in their seats very long into this race. 21 or 22 seconds to lose your voice.

There are, of course, many more excellent showdowns to be seen on Saturday (pretty much one in every event), but this should whet your appetite a little for what is coming your way. 

You can sign up today to watch the Mullen Runners Roost LIVE and become a MileSplit insider for only $48/year or $11.99/month. Not only will you be able to watch the live stream of the 2016 Mullen Runners Roost, but will gain access to all the premium content features on MileSplit both nationally and locally within Colorado. Archived race videos will be posted to replay the meet's races immediately after the event along with photos from all the action.

And, don't forget that event action starts early for this meet, at 8 AM. Mullen Runners Roost downloadable time schedule (subject to some variability).