The Vista Ridge sprint relays had a field day, prevailing in all three 4A Boys sprint relays.
It was difficult not to see this one coming.
All season long, Vista Ridge had simply been getting better and better. There were no wheels coming of the wagon. And, none of the obvious other contenders had things coming together when it mattered most.
So, it scarcely counts as a surprise that Vista Ridge won this one with ease.
And, as expected, it was the Vista Ridge sprint relays that did a large share of the demolition work. As in Vista Ridge won the 4x100, 4x200, and 4x400. Only the 4x200 was close. The other two counted as smackdowns.
Vista Ridge invested heavily in relays this season and, when it mattered most, those relays produced in a very big sort of way. Isaiah Lapioli, Gavin Urban, Kendrick Cannick, Anthony Bellot, Kobe Christiansen, and Joel Walker each toted the baton at least once.
That omits two or three more who were relay mainstays early in the season. Vista Ridge was deep in sprint types this spring. Try to imagine a team that scores only nine points in sprint events posting 30 points in the three sprint relays. That would be Vista Ridge's story.
Vista Ridge came up empty in distance and hurdle events, meaning that all the rest of their 93.5 points came from field events. And a spectacular set of field events it was.
Hunter Maldonado, Raymon Harper, and Tristan Pratt went 3-4-6 in the high jump. Addison Settle stunned more than a few folks with a second in the pole vault. Harper, Pratt, and Maldonado went 2-4-9 in the long jump. Micah Hilts, Maldonado, and Harper went 5-6-7 in the triple jump. Jalen Sami finished seventh in the shot put.
You're not supposed to be able to win a state meet on field events, but you could make a very good case that Vista Ridge did exactly that. Tally up the points. Vista Ridge had a whopping 54.5 points out of field events.
Second place Air Academy had 58 points. Third place Silver Creek had 52.
Lots of teams settled for bits and pieces here and there. Vista Ridge sat down to an entire feast.
Palmer Ridge got a big win out of Jeremy Meadows in the 800. Montrose got wins out of Ian Meek in the 3200 and the 4x800. Air Academy got wins from Nik Chappee in the 200 and 400. Silver Creek took wins by James Lee in the 800 and Brock Knechtel in the discus.
But, nobody could mount any kind of serious challenge to the juggernaut that was Vista Ridge. The view really was better from Vista Ridge this weekend.
RESULTS | PHOTOS
