Tiny white snowflakes fell from the sky Saturday morning, coating the infield at JeffCo stadium in white. The red track was spared, however, opening the door for the 2018 edition of the Dakota Ridge Invitational. For the third weekend in a row a storm of wintery mixture rolled over the Colorado mountains and onto the Front Range, causing chaos and a slew of meet cancellations.
But when you've go 30 teams spiking up trackside, the show had to go on.
The weather was nowhere near ideal for the sprint or field events, but the distance events appeared to benefit from the cooler temperatures.
Cole Sprout continued to burn hard like a gemlike flame through the 2018 outdoor season. He soloed a jaw-dropping 9:10.33 victory in the 3,200. Clearly, Tanner Norman's 9:04 Colorado record is in jeopardy. 16-seconds back Austin Vancil put up an impressive 9:26 to finish second.
In the 1,600 Ben Kelley took the W in a personal best of 4:21, just ahead of Easton Allred and Connor Ohlson, who ran 4:24.14, and 4:24.77.
Yonatan Kefle was the lone runner under 2 minutes in the 800, winning the event in 1:59.18.
Among other event winners were Brandon Deas in the 100, Kyle Scofield in the 200, Andrew Martinez in the 400, Cameron Harris in the 110 hurdles, Dimy Dobrev in the 300 hurdles, Cristian Pena in the high jump,
On the girl's side, Jenna Fitzsimmons put up an impressive 10:56 victory in the 3,200, winning the event by 13 seconds. Freshman Taylor Whitfield, who has been having a stellar outdoor season so far, was the next across the line in 11:09.
In the 1,600 it was Maggi Congdon who took her second-consecutive victory in the event in 5:11. Behind her Keely Jones and Tiya Chamberlin finished in 5:14.45, and 5:14.62.
Tiana Bradfield was the runaway winner in the 800, taking the event in 2:17.74, while Caroline Eck was hot on her heels in 2:18.45.
Among other event winners were Kynzi Booth in the 100, Serenity Burnett in the 200, Chloe Piegat in the 400, Leilani Washington in the 100 hurdles, Lily Acosta in the 300 hurdles, Emily Ellis in the high jump, Marcada Baker in the long jump, Katherine Sena in the triple jump. Tameryn Coryell in the pole vault,
Amanda Opp in the discus and shot.