With three of four of this year's scheduled Mines High School Indoor Series now in the books, the series ranks as a raging success. Sometimes speed is as big of a deal when it comes to finishing meets as it is when it comes to finishing races.
No meet has taken more than two hours and 45 minutes to complete. The meets continue to attract solid numbers of athletes, even against blockbuster meet competition.
This has been a huge plus for Colorado high school indoor track and field.
And, last night's meet only added to the emerging legacy.
I'll cherry-pick a few meet highlights in the paragraphs that follow.
Alayna Szuch, not exactly a high schooler, won the mile in 5:23.48. That's fast, but not exactly out of character for the seventh-grade phenom. Here's an interesting question for you: Give the Grace Ping situation this past fall, does Szuch show up on the NXR-SW Championship Race starting line next fall. If not and the family asks, how do you say no?
Sarah Yocum's hurdle race went well enough, but a 31-4 shot put mark is also begging to be noticed. Yocum dabbling in the shot put has every indication of a possible multi-event effort in the not-too-distant future.
Mia Manson's pursuit of the US freshman all-time record in the pole vault got put on temporary hold when she topped out at 10-6. Erika Willis went on a few more heights to take the win at 12-0. As new as Manson is to the pole vault--which is in and of itself a bit of a fickle event--we'll allow her a few meets where she doesn't quite find the height she conquered in the previous meet. One has to believe the continuity of performances is something that's still part of the learning curve.
Devin Cadena evidently has no in-state peers in the 60. AJ Thompson atoned for an unfinished race last weekend with a 53.74 winner in the 400. In case the interpretation helps, 53.74 is fast on the Steinhauer oval, including four seconds faster than second place.
Weston Donati-Leach opened his indoor season with a 2:04-and-change in the 800. That's a nice way to begin. Ryan Lehmuth had a similar effort in the mile, roughing some folks up with a 4:47-and-change.
The twice-weekly pole vault duel between Max Manson and Corbin Mayes played out again. This time, Mayes got the win at 15-6 to Manson's 15-0. It's a reasonable guess all these meets are serving as valuable practice time as well.