The Colorado indoor season, at least as far as high school athletes are concerned, is set to open on Friday. The venue will be the familiar setting of the Cadet Field House at the Air Force Academy.
This, of course, will be the familiar low-key setting of the Air Force Holiday Open. It should be noted, however, that the Holiday Open is the only collegiate meet in the state this winter that will be accepting entries from high school level athletes. All other meets will be dedicated high school indoor meets or USATF age-group meets.
Entries remain open until midnight tonight.
There figures to be a limited number of high school entries at this meet due to the collegiate implements being used in the men's shot put and 60 hurdles, the fact that starting heights in the pole vault (11-0, 13-7) and high jump (4-11, 5-11) effectively take a large proportion of high school athletes out of the picture.
It should also be noted that the triple jump boards measure 34 feet (women) and 41 feet (men) from the pits. That, too, casts a dampening effect on the number of potential entries.
All that said, there will be high schoolers competing alongside athletes from the Air Force Academy, the University of Colorado, Fresno State University, and post-collegiate club teams shaking off the dust and getting started on a new season.
Race distances will be a bit on the side of odd. Aside from the 60 meter dash and hurdles (which are standard indoor distances), race distances will measure 300, 500, and 1000 meters. Mile races will kick off the evening.
Aside from the women's weight throw, which does not figure to have any high school entries this year, action begins at 4 PM with the men's pole vault, women's high jump, and both long jumps. Track action begins at 5 PM and should wrap up by 7:30 PM.
Results will be posted here on Colorado Track XC when they become available. Colorado Track XC will link to start lists on the Air Force Academy athletic web site once they are posted (likely sometime Thursday afternoon or later).
