For the second weekend in a row, Widefield's Derek McAllister posted one of the state's top 400 meter times of the weekend.
Saturday was a big day for throws in Pueblo and Arvada and a big day for hurdles in Littleton, Aurora, and Grand Junction.
It was a big day for unseasonably nice weather all across the state. That particular bill appears to be coming due this week, however.
Littleton HS hosted their spring break invitational on Saturday and the home team--most notably Kyle Macintosh--didn't disappoint. Macintosh won both hurdle events with a 14.90 in the 110s and a 37.99 in the 300s. Teammate Ben Courtney finished second in the 300s and third in the 110s. Meanwhile, Eleanor Fulton of Highlands Ranch continued to make the 1600 look easy, this time winning in 5:04.
Glenwood Springs had much the same kind of hurdle success on Saturday, but had to drive 89 miles to do it instead of doing it on their home track. One-two sweeps in both the boys and girls 300 hurdles at the Mickey Dunn Invitational in Grand Junction helped Glenwood to a second-place finish in the boys team race and a first place in the girls. Doing the honors were Kurt Hartmann (40.34), Dakota Stonehouse (40.39), Laura Young (47.44), and Kristy Moore (48.94).
In Pueblo, heavy objects were flying everywhere. Mason Finley's weekend exploits (66-8 and 207-0) have been previously reported, but the "warm-up acts" were worth the price of admission as well. Pueblo South's Ken Harriman lobbed the shot 58-6, and Alamosa's Katie Kruger chucked it 42-9. Kiah Hicks of Falcon and Katie Kruger both threw the discus in excess of 120 feet. It should probably be noted here that the notorious shot put "power alley" along the river side of the sector at Dutch Clark has been done away with by the new, narrower throwing sector for that event. This was, by any standard, an impressive day of shot putting.
But throwers didn't have the entire show in Pueblo. Derek McAllister of Widefield continues to run away from people at 200 and 400 meters. Distance had their moments as well.
Falcon's Kevin Johnson and Buena Vista's Joseph DeMoor staged a nice little early season battle in the 1600, with Johnson winning this round by two seconds. With Alamosa's girls sitting out the 4 X 800, TCA's girls lapped every team in the 4 X 800 field except one en route to a 9:42.11.
Fountain-Fort Carson had things to themselves at the Harrison Panther Invitational and the rest of the state had better start taking notice that the Trojan boys just might be forging a state title contender a few miles south of Colorado Springs. Saturday, they more than doubled the score on second-place Rampart. Leading the way for Fountain Fort-Carson were thrower Jaramius Mathis (139-3 and 51-10.25), and jumpers Damian Henry and Trey Talley.
Doherty's Jordan Rand swept the long (16-8.5) and triple (37-7) jumps for the most notable result from the girls side at Harrison.
The best showdown of the weekend took place a few miles outside of Longmont at Frederick High School. Improbably, Emily Blok and Sam Berggren found themselves squaring off on the same track a long way from home for both. Blok took the 200, 25.20 to 25.83. But that was only after Berggren had taken the 400, 56.39 to 57.05. That fact the either one took "only" second in a race is remarkable in itself.
Denver A-suburbs held their own city championships on Saturday.
On the east side in Aurora, Jordan Aguilar-Wynn of Regis smoked a 38.85 in the 300 hurdles. Perhaps more impressive, however, was the 14.42 clocked by Michael Tasker of Cherokee Trail in the 110s. Smoky Hill's Vanessa Samuel swept the girls hurdle events. At other venues, Overland's Brittany Lewis long jumped an even 18, and Smoky's Chase Cooper went over the bar at 16-2 in the pole vault. Smoky's Mark Sparks, who is difficult to overlook in any meet, made certain that throwers got a little bit of attention in Aurora with marks of 54-8 and 169-2.
On the west side, things weren't quite so dramatic for the Arvada City Championships, though still quite competitive in a few events--most notably where Ryan Duman (Pomona), Mark Weeks (Arvada), Adrienne Lettow (Faith Christian), and Emily Hunsucker (Pomona) were concerned.
And that's a wrap on this weekend's summary. One more weekend of spring breaks to deal with and then the action gets a great deal more intense!