Action from early stages of Sunday's 60 Meter Hurdle finals at the Cadet Field House (photo courtesy of Mark Weeks).
It all started Friday night at the Don Barrett All-Comers Meet at the Air Force Academy. Although technically open only to college-age athletes, a few Colorado high school standouts apparently met the age cutoff and made the most of the their opportunities. Jeremy Rankin blazed a 6.79 to beat the collegiate field at 60 meters. Chase Cooper vaulted 16-4.75 to place second in the pole vault. Others posting marks to put them into the national indoor rankings included Tashaun Hill (7.13 in the 60 Meter Dash and 8.20 in the 60 Hurdles), Tarique Hill (8.63 in the 60 Hurdles), and Elliott Beski (14-7.25 in the Pole Vault).
But the weekend was only starting. Next stop, CU's Balch Field House on Saturday.
Mason Finley's 67-0.5 shot put would have attracted a great deal more attention if he hadn't thrown almost a foot farther two weeks earlier. Kayla Fisher-Taylor won the 60 for the second consecutive week, this time with a time of 7.81. Emily Hunsucker went to the front of the shot put with a heave of 38-0. Eleanor Fulton turned a 5:14.1 mile to dispel any notions that she's lost a step since cross country season. And, finally, the brothers Hill and Cory Engel skipped over the 60 Meter Hurdles in 8.03, 8.48, and 8.57, respectively.
The biggest meet of them all, however, took place on Sunday, back at the Cadet Field House at the Air Force Academy.
To answer the first question on everyone's mind, yes, Tashaun and Tarique Hill did run the 60 Hurdles again, going 8.05 and 8.36 to finish their busy weekend of hurdling. They finished second and third, however, as Kyle Macintosh broke out early and won the event in 7.96.
Bobby Nicolls dominated the 2 Mile in the thin air at the Cadet Field House, winning in 9:36.4. Elsewhere, Emily Blok threw down a 7.68 to win the 60 Meters. GinAsia Hamilton, however, swept the longer sprints, taking the 200 in 25.40 and the 400 in 59.09. Kobi Rex and Brock Emory both went 6-4 to top the field in a very good early high jump showdown. Sara Benson ripped an 8.92 to win the girls 60 hurdles. Samantha Thompson notched an impressive early-season mark of 2:19.27 to capture the girls 800.
Perhaps the most notably mark of the entire day, however, came from the preliminaries of the 60 Meter Dash. There, Jeremy Rankin posted a 6.69 to put himself atop the national rankings for high school indoor track in 2009 for that event.