Even if the weather isn't done doing its thing yet, spring break is--barring a very few exceptions.
So, this week is shaping up as a much busier week of track and field than last week.
The highlight of the upcoming weekend is, of course, the Mullen Invitational. Colorado Track XC/MileSplit will be live streaming that one from the grounds of Mullen High School in south Denver. One added attraction for this year's meet is that Mullen was able to lasso Fountain-Fort Carson as one of the participating teams. That amps up the quality of the explosive events a little.
This week also takes care of some unfinished business from last week. Assuming they can beat the weather, Highlands Ranch tries to get their meet in today. La Junta aims at finishing the meet they began on Friday with a regathering of teams on Thursday of this week.
Even without the carry-overs from last week, though, this was shaping up as a big week. Starting on Tuesday, we have the Grand Valley and Prairie View rankings meets.
I've dispatched David Pressgrove to Grand Valley for coverage of that one. I figure a debut meet on a brand-new track (noticed while I was driving I-70 to Grand Junction in September) is worthy of some coverage. So, if you're competing in that meet, make sure it's your best performance. You never know who's going to be on the cover of an article of Colorado Track XC after a meet...
Rankings meets then take a breather until Friday (less the La Junta Open make-up date on Thursday), when they resume with a vengeance.
On Friday, the Littleton schools (which are more than you might think) battle for city-wide bragging rights.
Cheyenne Wells hosts all things far eastern Colorado, plus probably a few things far western Kansas.
Thomas Jefferson hosts their annual affair at All-City Stadium. Weld Central does their Rebel Round-Up for northeast Colorado schools, and Pueblo's annual John Tate Challenge Cup kicks off the first of its two days of action.
Then, on Saturday, seemingly everyone gets into the act. In addition to Mullen, we have meets at Ignacio, Jeffco Stadium (hosted by D'Evelyn), Eaton, Eagle Valley, Stocker Stadium (hosted by Palisade), Holyoke, Fort Lupton, Echo Park Stadium (hosted by Legend), Salida, Thornton, Limon, and Aurora Public Schools Stadium (hosted by Aurora Central).
If you can't find a rankings meet on Saturday you are just way too picky.
The Limon meet is notable as the granddaddy of Eastern Plains meets. It's called the Warren Mitchell Invitational. If you need an introduction to who Warren Mitchell was, you haven't been around Colorado high school track and field for long. Few coaches ever leave a legacy like Warren Mitchell did. And, here is your introduction to what he accomplished over his career.
The meet in Ignacio probably prevents anyone from escaping across the border into New Mexico for a meet this weekend. You can almost see New Mexico from Ignacio, but you aren't there yet. No javelin, no SMR16, no 4x200 with an open third exchange, but you did get wind gauges, a 4x800, and the girls get an SMR8 if you compete at Ignacio.
Stocker Stadium was fairly bursting at the seams this past weekend and may be doing so again this weekend. Some of the traffic will be diverted, of course, by Eagle Valley but Cedaredge provided something of a diversion this past weekend.
Dutch Clark will be about as full as it ever gets these days with the two days of action of the John Tate Challenge Cup. Small schools and large schools have their separate divisions for this meet.
The Pueblo meet would be even bigger but for the development of the Salida meet. Salida tends to keep the upper Arkansas Valley and San Luis Valley schools closer to home for the weekend, while Pueblo sucks up almost everything downriver from Pueblo, plus a good bit of Colorado Springs that isn't otherwise headed to Denver for the weekend.
With the pie being divided so many different ways this week, Colorado Track XC will focus coverage on Grand Valley on Tuesday and Mullen on Saturday. All results will be posted as we get them.