Horizontal Jumps Top the Day
The day started non-surprisingly enough. Palisade's Zaccre Kenward continued to take his triple jump to new lengths. Although struggling with the board and recording only two fair jumps, it turns out he only needed the first one for the win, to establish a new PR, and to come away with the 3rd best in all classifications. That hop, skip and jump leap was 45-4.5 (0.0). His last attempt sailed into the 46+ range. Scratch though it was, it hinted at bigger things to come.
Austin Wagner of Montezuma-Cortez also made his first jump his best and came away with his all-time best to date 43-0.75 into a headwind (-1.9). That mark has him sitting second in the 3A rankings.
Not to be outdone, the girls had a good day at the triple pit as well. Grand Junction's Tia Wright followed the trend of the day by putting a big one out there on her first triple leap, a 35-10 (0.0). Wright was incredibly consistent, putting four marks in the 35+ foot range.
Unfortunately for her, ThunderRidge's Anna Hart was also consistent, inching up on Wright's big leap. It looked like Wright had the win locked up until Hart popped her last attempt out to 36-5.25 (-1.8). Wright responded with a worthy 35-7 (0.0), but still was short of the win. Hart currently sits at #2 in all classifications and Wright #6.
These performances in themselves would make it a great day in the sand, but big leaps were happening for the guys springing down the southward runway as well. Par for the day, Fruita Monument's Gunner Rigsby hit it big on the first leap. 23-2.5 would be enough for the win, but with a 2.2 wind behind him, it would not count for the state standings. He later followed with a 22-10 but with another over-the-allowable wind of 2.1. No worries! Rigsby returned with his fifth trip down the strip and matched his mark from his first leap. This time the wind was legal (-0.3) and the length currently stands as the top leap in the state.
Rigsby is a familiar face to the Western Slope, previously competing for Grand Valley High School 45 miles east on the I-70 corridor. Formerly a top performer in the 3A track scene, he has stepped up nicely to the 5A ranks!
Kenward had a second PR on the day, extending his single bound to 22-7.25 (+1.2). Roaring Fork's Justin Thompson took advantage of the great jumping and propelled himself to 3rd place. His 22-0.5 (0.0) has him at the top of the 3A leaderboard.