There was plenty of misery to go around throughout the morning prelims session of the Kiowa Klassic. Bitter north winds whipping at speeds of 25 to 40 miles per hour made life unpleasant for spectators and athletes alike.
Mercifully, the winds relented and temperatures rose at least 10 degrees in the afternoon. The winds did not cease altogether, however, and there were no wind-legal times on the day for straightaway events nor any wind-legal long jumps.
Although their times on the day would not count, the meet featured three of the top sprinters in 2A: Simla's Jake Toney, Nikki Lippitt of Byers, and Brittany Crippen of The Vanguard School. Each had his or her moments on the day. Lippitt ran the 200 leg on the winning sprint medley relay, Crippen won the 100 and 200, and Toney, as he has done all season against 2A competition, left the field behind in the 100 and 200.
But it was not the kind of day that produces a harvest of great performances. Those performances that did stand out were all the more noteworthy on account of the conditions the athletes had to persevere through to get there. Freshman Tiffany Kenney of Colorado Springs Christian School won the 100 hurdles and helped the Lions to victory in the 4 X 100 and 4 X 200 relays, but those triumphs were bittersweet; CSCS came in with hopes of prequalifying both relays. Those hopes were gone with the wind. Lynnae Hewlett of Elbert HS had a banner day in the shot and discus, winning both events and prequalifying in the shot put.
On the boys' side, Strasburg's Kameron Weber ran away with both hurdle events, as well as eking out first place in the triple-jump-into-the-teeth-of-a-gale event. Shawn Dubbs of Cripple Creek-Victor shut out the competition in the 1600 and 3200, and Chris Winstead of Miami-Yoder punched a ticket to state by going over 6-2 to win the high jump.
Neither Bennett nor Peyton dominated the individual events, but both teams showed enough overall depth to come away as meet champions. Runners-up were CSCS on the boys' side and Byers on the girls' side.
At left, Shawn Dubbs of Cripple Creek-Victor eases away from the competition in the 1600.
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Meet Results
There was plenty of misery to go around throughout the morning prelims session of the Kiowa Klassic. Bitter north winds whipping at speeds of 25 to 40 miles per hour made life unpleasant for spectators and athletes alike.
Mercifully, the winds relented and temperatures rose at least 10 degrees in the afternoon. The winds did not cease altogether, however, and there were no wind-legal times on the day for straightaway events nor any wind-legal long jumps.
Although their times on the day would not count, the meet featured three of the top sprinters in 2A: Simla's Jake Toney, Nikki Lippitt of Byers, and Brittany Crippen of The Vanguard School. Each had his or her moments on the day. Lippitt ran the 200 leg on the winning sprint medley relay, Crippen won the 100 and 200, and Toney, as he has done all season against 2A competition, left the field behind in the 100 and 200.