It's not a region short on talent. In fact, several of the top-ranked 3A athletes in the state compete in this region. But only two left the meet as winners of more than one individual event.
Rick Rimbert of Manitou Springs claimed both horizontal jump titles with a long jump of 20-4.5 on Friday. On Saturday, he came back to claim the triple jump title at 42-6.5. Around and in between these events, Rimbert ran a relay leg or two as Manitou Springs qualified both of the short sprint relays for state, including a wind-blasted 1:34.50 effort to edge out Colorado Springs Christian in the 4 X 200.
On the girls' side of the ledger, James Irwin sprinter Joni Raile (pronounced as Riley), pictured at left, missed the sprint triple crown by only one place, taking the 100 and 200 in wind-aided times of 12.87 and 26.70, and finishing second in the 400 with a time of 1:00.46. Raile also added a second in the long jump to account for 36 of her teams 38 points.
For The Classical Academy, winner of both team titles at the meet, it was a matter of scoring high points across a wide spectrum of events. For the boys, Trevor Waliszewski won the 3200 and teammate Sam Feldotto won the 1600. Trevor Miller followed up his surprise win in the 400 at last week's Tri-Peaks League meet with another 400 title in the regional meet. Kevin Schwindt went 12-0 to win the pole vault. TCA likewise claimed regional titles in the 4 X 400 and, for the fifth year in a row, the 4 X 800, narrowly defeating Lamar on the finish straight.
The TCA girls claimed 10 of the 19 titles on the girls side, including Shannon Harrell in the 400, Kaitlin Hanenburg in the 1600, Emily Husted in the 3200, Emily LaValley in the 300 hurdles, Noelle Brown in the high jump, Alyssa Northam in the triple jump, Rani Schwindt in the pole vault, plus the 4 X 400, 4 X 800, and sprint medley relays.
Perhaps the best race of the regional meet fell on Friday in the girls 800. Kara Slavoski of St. Mary's passed TCA's Kaitlin Hanenburg coming down the finish straight to win in a personal best of 2:15.44. Hanenburg and TCA's Kelsey Brown both finished under 2:19 to make it unprecedented top three for a 3A regional.
La Junta junior Ben Velasquez had a similarly strong finish in the boys 800 to put his mark on that event. Saint Mary's senior Ryan Cantu narrowly missed a double in the hurdle events, winning the 300 hurdles, by losing by a thin margin to Dan Gieck of Manitou Springs in the 110 hurdles.
The girls from Colorado Springs Christian will be well-represented at state, led by their regional-winning 4 X 100 and 4 X 200 relays. In addition to the relays, the Kenney sisters will be going in the 100, 200, 100 hurdles, and long jump. Sophomore Becca Bultje won the regional 100-meter hurdles title as well.