What are the odds?
And there are two questions there.
What are the odds that two Colorado state records - the 3,200, and the one-week-old 1,600 - would fall on the same day?
And - what are the odds that the previous 1,600 state record, which lasted 40 years, would be broken twice in the span of about eight days?
Two of the more challenging state records fell like flies Saturday, as Parker Wolfe ran an 8:55.94 3,200 state record in the morning, then Harrison Witt ran a 4:05.18 1,600 state record just after noon.
Two records. One day.
Both records were run at considerable elevation - Wolfe's at Cherokee Trail, and Witt's at Centaurus.
For a few hours Saturday morning Wolfe owned the entire distance slate of Colorado state records - the 1,600, 3,200, and the 5k.
Last fall Wolfe ran the Colorado 5k state record of 14:30. Then last week Wolfe ran the 1,600 state record of 4:06.17. And then Saturday morning he officially added the 3,200 state record to his resume, running 8:55.94.
Wolfe soloed the entire eight laps, passing the 1,600 in 4:24. A slight wind on the backstretch eventually became an additional obstacle to overcome. Regardless, Wolfe ran the second Sub-9 on Colorado soil, ever. And - captured his second state record in eight days, and his third of the year.
Across town talk of Wolfe's record run circulated around the track at the Broomfield Shootout for several hours.
"Did you hear Parker Wolfe ran 8:55!"
And then Harrison Witt stormed into the conversation.
It was a moment that felt straight of Neal Bascomb's The Perfect Mile (which is a non-fictional take on Roger Bannister, John Landy, and Wes Santee's chase for the first Sub-4 mile.)
The name Harrison Witt started circulating around the track like wildfire.
"Did you hear Harrison Witt just ran a 4:05!"
4:05.18 to be exact.
Just one week after Wolfe took four seconds off the late Rich Martinez's 40 year-old state record, Witt sliced another second off it.
Witt's time is currently a US No. 2 - without an altitude adjustment, while Wolfe now sits No. 3.
Two records. One (historic) day.
And it's only the second week of the 2021 Colorado outdoor track and field season...
I'll go ahead and say CHSAA might have to hold out on updating their record books - we've got six more weeks of track ahead of us...
Colorado currently has two milers within distance of a Sub-4 clocking at lower elevations. Like Bascomb's The Perfect Mile, the chase is on.
Where will the record land by the end of the season?
Well, Wolfe and Witt will toe the line for the 5A state 1,600 championships next month. Perhaps we'll know then.