Isabella Bowland leads a charge of Colorado distance runners into Saturday's finals at the Simplot Games.
The first day of the Simplot Games hosted mostly distance events and a few field events, though it was in the distance events that Colorado really came and impressed in the preliminary heats.
In the boys mile James Lee and Landon Rast ran the second and third fastest qualifiers, out of 291 entrants. No one ran faster than 4:24, giving the notion that it was a tactical sit and kick affair. Lee ran 4:24.22, while Rast was right behind in 4:24.67. Cal Banta was the third and final Colorado qualifier in 4:29.
On the girls side Fairview's Isabella Bowland led the way with a 5:10 qualifier, good for the sixth fastest time. Madi Kenyon wasn't far behind in 5:16, while Madeleine Burns ran 5:17. Additional qualifies included Lauren McKenna (5:25), Abigael Howard (5:27), and Hannah Mae Gigstad (5:30).