The count of 5A teams attending the Mullen adidas Runners Roost has taken a dip in recent years, but the quality of the meet has held steady. In fact, by yesterday's count of records, it could be that this meet has never been better than it was yesterday.
The cascade of records took a while to get started. Solid winning 1600 efforts by Lauren Offerman and Thomas Staines didn't take down any meet records, but they did help get things pointed in the right direction.
A very tactical first lap of the girls 1600 put records out of the question almost right away, but also helped to set up a stirring finish where Offerman just managed to hold off hard-charging Reagan Hausmann the entire length of the final straight. Once Staines took over the lead from Jack Davidson late in the boys 1600, he didn't leave much question whether or not he would take the win. Staines just missed answering the sub-4:20 question in the affirmative.
Zoe Gilbertson and Alex Miller dispatched with the hurdle competiton. Gilbertson's 13.84 would have been the top girls mark of the season but for a just-barely non-legal wind. Miller advanced the boys top time in the state to 14.43.
And, so, it fell to Lauren Gale to get the parade of individual event records--mostly meet records, but a couple otherwise--started. The Discovery Canyon sophomore ripped a 54.22 to beat Mia Coats and all previous meet contestants. The final heat of the girls 400 featured all eight finishers under a minute. The minute barrier has been a little tough to break this season, but that appears now to be an artifact of the past.
Several minutes later, Air Academy's Nik Chappee set a new season standard for the boys at 400 meters with a 48.14.
The Mullen adidas Runners Roost features a non-standard ordering of events, so the 100 meter dash comes on the heels of the 400.
Throughout most of the girls 100s, the wind kept nudging its way over 2.0, wiping out a series of nice marks. Almost on cue, however, the wind settled a little for the final heat of the 100, almost as if it, too, was waiting to see what Arria Minor could deliver.
Minor did not disappoint, dropping a meet record 11.64 (0.7) to usher in a new chapter in the history of Colorado girls 100s. Maya Evans joined Minor under 12 seconds, but it really wasn't all that close.
As the boys worked their way through the 100s, the girls pole vault field was narrowing itself down to a few competitors.
Noah McGhee would take the top heat of the 100 at 10.68, but a 3.5 wind meant nothing about the mark sticks around longer than the meet.
And, at this point, the pole vault field had whittled it down to a single competitor--Andrea Willis. Willis cleared 12-6, and then 13-0 in almost effortless fashion. Next up, the bar would raise to 13-6, a little beyond Willis's recent 13-4.25 and 13-5 revisions of the state record.
Willis found success at 13-6, revising her own all-time record in the process. Next, Willis opted to push the bar to 13-8. The signficance of that measure most likely reflecting a desired improvement on her PR of 13-7.25 from the indoor season.
After two misses, it appeared as if Willis would have to settle for the all-time outdoor record on the day, but a very nice vault on her third attempt unified the Colorado outdoor record with Willis's personal best mark.
Three more attempts at 14 feet brought at least one near miss, but no further revisions of the record.
Somewhere in the middle of all that, TCA's Claudia Valenzuela ran down Loveland on the final leg of the girls 4x200 and revised the 4A best mark of the season down to 1:43.02. For Valenzuela, there may have been some redemption in the 4x200 effort as she had seen a would-be school record effort in the 100 meters get nixed by a 2.6 wind.
Arguably, however, the performance of the day was still waiting in the wings. Facing a -1.8 wind on the finish straight of the 200, Arria Minor dialed her personal wind resistance down to an approximation of zero and finished the race in 23.65. That beat Lauren Gale by a second but, in the bigger picture, put Minor at #2 in the nation for the season with easily the top freshman 200 mark of the season (the next freshman is at 24.27, 1.7).
Obviously, there will be a lot of eyes trained on any further 200 efforts by Minor this season.
Among the other notable outcomes of the day were a 47.76 4x100 from Denver East, 5-6 high jumps by Rylee Anderson and Morgan Barone, a 42.95 4x100 from the Lutheran boys, a 19-4.5 long jump from Maya Evans, sub-50 400s from Isaiah Lapioli and Alex Weseman, a 171-3 discus from Adam Dawson, a 38.74 from Johnathan Penrose in the 300 hurdles, and a 3A sweep of the top three places of the girls 3200.
Fairly early in the 3200, Peak to Peak's Quinn McConnell and Anna Shults had separated themselves from the rest of the field. For anyone with any familiarity with Peak to Peak distance, the rest of the script seemed to be written. McConnell would lead the way to the finish line with Shults in tow. Or not.
Coming of the final turn, Shults surged hard to the lead. McConnell resisted, but Shults was not to be denied. Shults would hit the finish line in an oxygen-starved 3200 at 11:16.55, very nearly two seconds ahead of McConnell.
Lily Tomasula-Martin wrapped up the 3A sweep of the podium close to 20 seconds later.