While snow poured from the sky outside, blanketing the landscape in a soft white glow, athletes brought the heat inside to the Western State High School Open Saturday.
The girl's mile was all Battle Mountain. The trio of Naomi Harding, Lizzy Harding, and Alex Raichart went 1-2-3. The Harding sisters used a late surge to separate themselves from the field - something they will also do in the 800 - go sweep the mile. Naomi took the win with a final lap kick over her sister to take the event 5:28 to Lizzy's 5:29. Raichart finished third in 5:39, holding off a late charge from Maren Busath and Avery Doan who finished in 5:39.
Fenner made the boys mile steeple no competition, as he cruised over the steeples with appeared ease, lapping the competition. He even had time to apologize mid-jump for brushing up a lapped competitor. The Nebraska-commit finished just over 5 minutes. Likewise, the girls steeple was all Anna Busath. After surging away early she held on for the win in 6:03.
The boys mile saw hometown favorite Colton Stice run wire-to-wire for the win. After a steady first 200 Stice surged hard to separate himself from the pack and run solo the rest of the way for a 4:42 win.
A little over an hour later the Harding sisters were back on the track for the 800. The duo went 1-2 once again, but with Lizzy taking the W this time in 2:26 to Naomi's 2:28. Rounding out the top three was Joslin Blair in 2:28. A half an hour earlier Blair won the 400 in 1:03.37
The boys 800 was a stacked race. While the first heat had a slew of sub 2 800 runners, one noticeable absence from the first heat was Drew Seidel, but we'll come back to that. After a fairly quick opening 200 Fenner surged hard, distancing himself from the field quickly. The gap was something that no one could close, as Fenner telescoped away for a 2:05 win. In the wake of Fenner's dominance, James Moran and Connor McCabe went 2-3, in 2:07, and 2:09.
Two heats later Seidel emerged on the starting line. When the gun went off the next four laps were all his. Seidel went out in 27 seconds and battled to keep the pace hot despite no competition. When the bell rang it was evident that Seidel was flirting with a sub-2 clocking. But it appeared flirting was about as close to a sub 2 he could come on this day - Seidel crossed in 2:00.13 for the fastest time of the day. It was later revealed that the snowy conditions and change of schedule caused Seidel to miss the first heat. Regardless, he ran a 2-flat on cold legs at 7,770 feet.
In the sprints the name "Grant" was the winner in two events. Ty Grant dominated the 200 in 23.66, while Jaquaireus Grant took the 60 in 7.20. Jack Ball was the clear winner in the 400 in 53.50.
In the field events Katie Hyke recorded a state-leading mark in the shot put. Hyke tossed 37-11 to take the event while Amaya Atencio finished second with a toss of 35-1, No. 6 in the state.
Sydney Trichler claimed the high jumpe and the triple jump. Trichler went in 4-11 in the high jump and 35-10 in the triple jump. For the boys Brady Lenz too the long jump in 20-0, while Reece Davidson dominated all-comers in the shot with a toss of 54-11, a mark that's only second to himself.
The boys high jump was a chess-match between Colorado titans Jasper Germain and Andrew Jorgenson. The duo went back and forth with Germain looking smooth despite opening his season. Germain cleared 6--3 with ease, as did Jorgenson, but both would miss on all three attempts at 6'6. The duo now share the No. 5 mark in the state.