In what would turn out to be a classic battle, Eleanor Fulton takes an early lead in the 1600 at the Mullen Runners Roost on Saturday. Photo by Rick Wilson.
NOTE: Links for most meet results referenced below appear at the bottom of this article. Due to the demands of keeping up with this site, I am no longer able to reformat and post to the database results I do not receive in Hy-Tek flat html format. There simply aren't enough hours in the day to do that for the results generated in a single weekend of Colorado high school track and field.
For anyone who had the feeling that the track season was getting off to a slow start, that feeling went away somewhere in the last six days.
A sustantial percentage of Colorado's top track and field athletes went out to California for the Arcadia Invitational. The folks in California caught a little glimpse of what they might see at UCLA the next few years as Mason Finley dominated the shot and disc with throws of 64-11 and 221-0. Elsewhere, the most noteworthy Colorado performance saw four boys go 9:10 or lower in the Invitational 3200--Wes Rickman, Joseph DeMoor, Walter Schafer, and Kevin Johnson.
Anyone who follows high school track in Colorado knows that the Mullen Runners Roost was the headliner meet for this weekend, if not for the entire invitational season. Wind and cold temperatures played havoc with the results at Mullen (and all across the state, for that matter) all day long, but there were still some significant efforts.
Doherty's Kenny Chambers planted his flag as king of the Mullen hill in the short sprints, winning both the 100 and 200 by comfortable margins. Eleanor Fulton scorched a 4:57.08 to win the girls 1600. Alamosa's Katie Kruger is rapidly becoming as untouchable as Mason Finley in the throws, winning the shot at 44-5 and the discus at 133-7. Liz Tremblay of Thompson Valley ran a very nice 56.07 400 in unfavorable conditions. Speaking of throws, Mark Sparks took advantage of Mason Finley's trip to California to capture both boys throws titles at 59-0 and 171-3. And, finally, Andrew Berberick pleased the home crowd with a 4:16.80 effort to win the 1600 (photo below by Rick Wilson).
Glenwood Springs swept both titles under mostly miserable conditions at their own invitational. By mid-day the weather had wiped out the timing system, so many opportunities at ranked or prequalifying marks went by the wayside. Kristy Moore and Laura Young helped the Demons' efforts by going 1-2 in the 300 hurdles at 47.66 and 47.99, respectively. The two also helped their teammates complete an impressive sweep of all five relay events. Holli Salazar of Hayden set the season standard for the 2A girls shot put with a heave of 42-2.5. Finally, Colton Cowan of Grand Valley prequalified the 110 hurdles with a mark of 15.62 in the prelims. He may have run faster in the finals, but hand times do not count toward prequalification.
Windsor and Palmer split the team titles at the Palmer Invitational. Intermiittent morning snow and persistent afternoon winds kept a lid on many performances, but not all. Jeff Warren of Mountain Vista hit 9:53.76 in the 3200 and Palmer's Maurice Blackledge went 21-9.75 in the long jump to highlight the boys' action. On the girls side, Windsor's Emily Elliott swept the short sprint events--including a bundled-up 26.00 200 into a -1.9 wind (photo below by Alan Versaw)--and contributed toward another relay title for the Wizards.
At Pueblo's Dutch Clark Stadium, the John Tate Challenge Cup kept things lively over two days--Friday and Saturday. With the advantage of some more favorable weather conditions relative to the rest of the state, the Challenge Cup turned up several remarkable performances. There was Kara Slavoski of St. Mary's notching a solo 11:09.50 in the 3200. Woodland Park's Natasha Bruin's soared to 18-3 in the long jump. Coronado had two particularly spectacular performances from Travvis Scott, 6-8 in the high jump, and Marvin McChriston, 45-5 in the triple jump. (Photos below of McChriston's triple and Slavoski's 3200 are courtesy of Mark Weeks.)
Limon, too, had it's share of fun around the oval on Saturay. Limon, though, had more fun with the wind--if that's what you want to call it--than the rest of us. Limon swept both titles at the Warren Mitchell Invitational, but my nomination for performer of the day goes to Ashley Atkin. The Fleming sophomore swept the 100, 200, and 400, doing battle with -5.0 and -6.6 winds in the first two events. She also notched the top times in the prelims for both events. We should be hearing more from her at the 2A state meet. A not-too-distance second place in the performer of the day derby goes to Kameron Weber of Strasburg. Mr. Weber won both hurdle events (including a 40.93 in the prelims of the 300 hurdles) and also hit for the cycle by winning the long and triple jumps for Strasburg.
Notable results coming out of the Longmont Invitational included the first-of-the-season sub-50 400 in the 3A ranks. Grant Stegehuis of Faith Christian notched a 49.68 mark to strengthen his position at the top of the 3A leaderboard. Longmont's Aaron Praska ran 39.60 in the 300 hurdles, Ryan Chopp of Longmont laid down a very nice 22.63 in the boys 200, and Hayden Loudenslager of Faith Christian swept the jumping events, including a 44-4.5 in the triple jump. The two notable performances for Longmont just might underscore the fact that anyone counting the Trojans out on the heels of the knee injury to Tevan McIntire just might be counting too soon.