A Big Night At The Stutler Twilight


Micaylon Moore went 23-10.50 in the long jump for a new state-leading mark, and No. 5 in the country.

Friday night's version didn't disappoint, as there were several state leading marks posted along with a handful of national caliber performances. One of the first highlights of the meet was the eye popping 23-10.50 long jump posted by Micaylon Moore. It was nearly a foot improvement on the season for him. The 100 hurdles saw Jaiden Paris dominate in 14.23. While Darrius Gawcreeping closer to his early season form, took the boys 110 hurdles in 14.39 -- a meet record.
Besides Paris, the venerable sprint and jumps crew from Cherokee Trail had several fine performances including Taylor Watson's victory in a wind legal time of 11.89 for 100 meters. Watson, and jumper Sydnee Larkin would later go 1-2 in the 200 meters as CT continues to stamp itself as a serious contender for the state title in three weeks time.
Marcus Miller, after an array of false starts, a non-captured race by the timing system, and a re-run over an hour later, eventually won the 100 meter dash in 10.99. He doubled up on gold medals with a 22.30 in the 200 later on.
Cherry Creek's boy's 4x200 quartet issued a salvo to Fountain-Fort Carson getting the stick around the track in a speedy 1:26.75.
As anticipated, both1600 meter races lived up to the pre-meet hype. First up was the girls' race. In typical form, Katelyn Mitchem took the race out and led for the first 600 meters tugging Madison Mooney and Jenna Fitzsimmons along. Soon thereafter, Mooney moved to the front with Fitzsimmons in tow. It remained that way until the 200 meter mark where Mooney gained some separation and sprinted home in a Colorado PR of 4:55.24 -- her first time under 5:00 on home soil, and a new meet record taking down a Brie Oakley record. Fitzsimmons posted a big pr as well, 4:57.14. Fitzsimmons' time was the first sub 5:00 ever for a Mountain Vista girl -- hard to believe, given their incredible success over the last decade.
The boy's race had some pre-race buzz surrounding a possible state record attempt. The 65-2:11 opening splits didn't help the cause, however the final 800 was as exciting as one could ask for. Michael Mooney
led early, then Carter Dillon took over late in the first lap and led until the half-way mark. Mooney shot to front at that point and the two began to sprint away from the field.
In a similar replay from the Mullen Invite a few weeks back, Dillon and Mooney were side by side, in full-flight, over most of the final lap. Dillon slid by with about 150 meters remaining, and it looked like he had a gap. However, in the final 50 meters, Mooney came storming back and nearly caught Duke bound Dillon. The final tally, 4:14.20 - 4:14.44, including a 2:03 last 800 with a 58 second last 400. This only stokes the growing fire of anticipation where at the state meet we'll see a rematch of Dillon and Mooney in the 5A 1600, and Cole SproutCruz Culpepper, and James Lee in the 4A 1600 -- all chasing the 38 year old 4:10.98 record belonging to Rich Martinez.