The Northern Conference teams came to the 4A girls state track meet with something to prove. And they proved it.
The Thompson Valley Eagles were the team champions, beating traditional favorite Mullen by 14 points. But it was the rest of the Northern Conference that was the surprise of the meet. The Longmont girls were third, Broomfield girls fifth, Mountain View girls sixth, Greeley Central girls ninth, and Fossil Ridge girls tenth. No further proof is required that the ladies of the Northern Conference are a force to be reckoned with, not just this year but for years to come.
Thompson Valley was in top form on Saturday. Led by the Tremblay twins, Laura and Liz, the Eagles blew away the competition. They got firsts from Laura in the 1600 (5:03) and 800 (2:13). Twin sister Liz helped with a third in the 400 (56.43) and fourth in the 200 (25.44). While those contributions were important, the place where the Eagles pulled away from the rest of the field was in the relays. They won the 800 meter relay (1:42.91), and followed that up with new a state record in the 1600 meter realy (3:54.45). The Eagles' sprint medley relay also finished fourth.
The Eagles may have won the team title, and the northern conference demonstrated some dominance, but Saturday belonged to Emily Blok. The Conifer junior wowed the crowed with wins in the 100 (11.8), 200 (24.11), and 400 (55.69). Three state championships would make anybody proud, but it may be her second-place finish in the long jump that haunts her. Blok only finished second by one inch, jumping 17-5. Three gold medals and a second is all in a day's work for this very talented sprinter. She returns next year with one more shot at achieving that elusive fourth gold. Blok scored 38 of Conifers 39 points, leading them to a top ten finish.
Other outstanding performances in girls 4A:
- Stover also got second in 100 meter hurdles (15.02).
- Kayla Wein and Ahsley Miknis once again dueled it out in the hurdles with Wein taking the gold in the 100 (14.67). Miknis took the 300m hurdles in 44.14.
- Kendra Gerk won the 3200m run in 10:55, beating her nearest competitor by seventeen seconds.
- In the throwing events it was Liz Johnson (Fossil Ridge) vs. Joy Warrington (Widefield). Johnson claimed gold in the discus throwing 134-4, beating Warrington by seven feet. But is was
On the boys side, fifty-plus years of drought came to an end. The Longmont boys won the team title, scoring 78 points and beating a very good Sierra team by ten.
The Trojans were led as always by Matt Butcher. The senior was looking to go out in style. Finishing third in the 100 (10.85), second in the 400 (47.62), and first in the 200 (21.28), he also anchored the Trojans' winning 1600m relay team, chasing down the Sierra anchor to claim that first.
Some maintain that Butcher won the 200 because he was upset the he did not win the 400, but that is probably not the case. “I knew that there were great guys in that race and I knew that I had to get out and. I am not one that runs angry or upset”.
Butcher added, “For me it was all about winning a team title. I wanted the individual titles, but wanted the team title more."
Although Butcher was the main catalyst for the Trojans, it was, arguably, the jumps and pole vault that provided the margin of victory for Longmont. The Trojans scored 25 points in the jumps (pole vault, high jump, long jump, triple jump). Teammates Tevin McIntire and Beau Brittenham sealed the title for the Trojans going fourth and fifth, respectively, in the triple jump. Head coach Tim McIntire remarked, “It takes everybody to win a team title, and that is what we had today. The triple jump put us over the top, but it was truly a team effort”.
The 4A boys 3200 meter run was shaping up to be the premier race of the day. With D’Evelyn High school Senior Kevin Williams (at left, photo courtesy of Ken Regan) gunning for a state record, and a host of others including Wes Rickman of Falcon and Johnny Stevens of Battle Mountain, this figured to be a classic showdown. Only, the showdown ended up being between Williams and the clock. Setting a blistering pace early stages, Williams and Rickman went through the 800 in 2:15, and 1600 in 4:31. But, after the fifth lap Rickman walked off, the heat and pace had taken its toll. Williams was all alone a good two hundred meters ahead of second place. He went through seven laps in 7:58/59 with a great shot at breaking the record. With the crowd shouting their encouragement through the final lap, he gave it his all only to come through the tape at 9:06.27, a mere 0.5 seconds away from Brent Vaughn’s record. A valiant effort, and but for the heat, he may have crushed the old record. Williams also won the mile on Friday running an all-classification best time of 4:14.76.
Other notable performances of the meet included Andrew Berberick of Mullen winning the 800 in just over 1:53, taking fourth in the 1600 at 4:26, and fifth in the 3200 at 9:55. Patrick Richards pulled the upset of the day by beating Butcher down the home straight in the 400 with a 47.50, but Richards also took second in the 100 (10.83) and second in the 200 (21.57).
It was a great 4A state meet with some great performances. One can only begin to look to next year and how the new state qualifying system will look and work.