Kenward Steals The Saturday Show In FFC's House
Everybody knows Fountain-Fort Carson excels in sprints and jumps. That would include Palisade's Zaccre Kenward. Kenward, however, rose to Saturday's occasion.
After taking second to Jequan Hogan in Friday's triple jump (in which Hogan and Kenward ended up with the #1 and #3 marks in the state, respectively, for that event), Kenward showed up at the long jump pit on Saturday morning facing the same obstacle he'd met at the same pit some 18 hours earlier for the triple jump.
Jequan Hogan is difficult to miss.
But, for about an hour of long jump competition on Saturday morning, Kenward stood taller.
Both Kenward and Hogan struggled a little with finding the board. It might have been legs a little tired from Friday's triple jump competition. It may have been the still-chilly conditions of the morning. It may have been just one of those days.
Regardless, when all the rising and falling at the long jump pit had subsided, Kenward had prevailed. Kenward's best legal jump of 21-3 reached five inches farther from the board than Hogan's best legal jump.
But Kenward wasn't quite done yet.
There was one more matter of 200 meters to be settled.
If Kenward hoped to see FFC speedster Donovan Williams in the 200, that matter was settled on Friday. The 200 was not on Williams' roster of events for the weekend.
With blustery conditions dominating Friday's 200 prelims, the only priority was qualifying for finals. Only one heat of the boys 200 prelims ended up wind legal. Kenward did what he needed to do, advancing with the second-best time out of prelims.
By the time the 200 finals came around on Saturday afternoon, conditions were much improved--indeed, almost favorable. The sun was sneaking peaks between clouds and the winds remained almost dead calm.
The dead calm ended, however, the instant the gun went off. Kenward hit the accelerator early. Through the first 100 meters, the race appeared a near dead heat between Kenward and top prelims finisher Luke Arkell of Lutheran.
Down the final 100 meters of straightaway, however, Kenward was untouchable, building his lead with every stride. Kenward's 22.63 took the win by more than a quarter of a second.