Braeden Holcombe's big indoor season seemed poised to spill over into a big outdoor season.
Pulling around the turn and into the final straightaway of this series, we touch today on 4A Boys. As with the articles that have gone before, the idea is twofold--identify the teams that were most likely to have been in the hunt for a state trophy, then identify that seniors (seniors whose final season of high school sports was lost this spring) who would have been on the spot to help push their teams over the top.
Teams are listed below in alphabetical order.
Cheyenne Mountain - Interestingly, the Indians figured to do most of their damage at state with guys who weren't seniors this spring. That makes them a team of definite concern next spring. But, there were a few seniors who figured to be mixing it up for points at state. Among them were middle distance type Jacob Allen, long jumper Dakota Kempf, and high jumper Jaden Harrison.
Harrison - Not far at all from Cheyenne Mountain High School, and along a bicycle route where you would almost never have to pedal, lies Harrison High School. I believe Harrison was due for a coaching change this spring due to Al Melo becoming the AD at Harrison High School, but it's possible he could have continued on in at least some capacity as a track coach. In any case, the Panthers figured to have enough talent to be on the radar screen of several folks this spring. Leading the way for Harrison appeared to be sprinter Tyrese Van Horne. If it seems like Van Horne has been around forever, that's because he was already making a big impact as a freshman. Not many boys set out on their high school journey with that kind of standing.
Longmont - The was due to be the year the Trojans returned to the land of being a force of no small consequence at the state meet. Those who figured to help make that happen included hurdler Adam Chughtai and jumper Adam Shew.
Niwot - About as far from Longmont High School as Harrison is from Cheyenne Mountain, though with slight uphill uphill grade for your bicycle to conquer, is Niwot High School. We'll put an asterisk here, though, as rumors were afoot as the season started that Cruz Culpepper was possibly going to forego his final year of high school eligibility to compete on a larger stage. If that's the case, Niwot's status as the overall favorite would have gone out the window, but they would still have been very much in the thick of things. Contributing to that would have been sprinter Emrik Wells, middle distance type Jack Kenkel, and long jumper Milo Ostwald.
Palmer Ridge - The Bears have become a regular fixture on the list of state meet contenders. Some years are better than others, of course, but Palmer Ridge never seems to be far out of the hunt. Those seniors angling for a slice of the limelight included middle distance type James Murphy, hurdler/jumper Braeden Holcombe, throwers Nathan Lemke and Brian McCarthy, and pole vaulter Tyson Wahlgren. When you have those kind of numbers in your senior class, you're more or less an auto to be in the hunt.