Marissa Smith of Holyoke returns as the top-ranked 400 runner in 2A this spring. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Of this much we can be certain: 2A girls will crown a new team state champion this spring. The Lyons juggernaut, along with their 90 points, has moved up to 3A, leaving an enormous hole in the position they occupied last spring.
The most obvious team to look to to fill the void would be Akron. Akron will have to overcome the departure by graduation of Alyssa Guy (now running for Chadron State), but otherwise returns the key components of last year's runner-up team. Last year, the Rams accumulated their points in relays, finishing no worse than third in all five relays, and on the state-champion pole of Erin Krause. Whether or not Akron returns to the everything-at-the-relays strategy this year or not remains to be seen, but figure that Akron will be among the contenders at season's end.
If there is any team in 2A that is the equal of Akron's tradition, it is Limon. Like Akron, Limon is traditionally strong in relays, though Akron definitely got the better of it in relays at the state meet last spring. Unlike Akron, Limon has a known quantity in standout sophomore Caitlyn Hubbard. Hubbard will probably have to wait another year to finish atop the 100 Hurdles event in 2A, but she stands out as a hurdler/sprinter nevertheless. Nicole O'Dwyer adds some punch in the distance events for the Badgers.
One dark horse team worthy of consideration is McClave. The Cardinals are led by senior hurdler/relay leg Jerrica Mallard. While McClave's strength may have slipped slightly in recent years, they are still a dangerour team with still a few girls around with an understanding of what it takes to win the big-time events.
Of the other teams that finished in the top eight last spring, Wiggins brings back the most points from last year. The others, Byers, Crested Butte, and Sangre de Cristo each took enormous hits to graduation. Quality programs have a way of coming back, and often sooner than anticipated, but question marks abound for these three schools at this point.
Wiggins' strength lies in the distance tandem of Tara Richardson and Jayleen Erker. Unfortunately, they could be divvying up the best distance points with Nederland and Crested Butte, thus stalling the drives of each of these three teams toward the top. Nederland figures to be led by the sister tandem of Kat and Kelly Robinson, while Erin Kelly will represent the best hopes of Crested Butte. Seemingly, the distance events represent the strength of 2A girls heading into this spring's competitions. Based on cross country results, Nederland would seem to hold the uppermost hand in the distance events. That hold, however, is a bit tenuous, given the quality of the competition.
No such logjam at the top is currently in place in the sprinting events. In fact, each of the three sprint events will have a new state titleist this spring as Shaylee Robinette now runs for the UNC Bears.
Marissa Smith of Holyoke is the odds-on favorite to take over the 400, but the 100 and 200 are wide open with Haven Cappellucci (Hoehne) and Brittany Crippen (Vanguard) ranking as the top contenders.
The 100 hurdles and high jump appear, for now, to be resting in the hands of TCU-bound Emily Hanna of Fountain Valley. The high jump, however, is anything but a sure thing. Cassie Lamb (Del Norte) and Lauren Hagemeyer (Ouray), both figure to have something to say about the ultimate outcome in the high jump.
Emily Post of Wray figures to be a force once again in both horizontal jumps. She returns as the top state placer in both events.
Holli Salazar of Hayden pushed by both Talli Hansen and Brittany Brown to win the shot put last spring. The closest returning shot putter this year finished almost five feet behind Salazar.
This discus event is much more wide open, but holds the intriguing possibility of seeing a brother-sister tandem winning both 2A discus events. Mollie Lane of Norwood returns as the top-placing discus thrower in the 2A classification, but should be pressed by Lori Weirich of Eads and Morgan Darden of Mancos.
Last Year's 2A State Meet Results