Niwot Sweeps The Colorado State T&F Champs: 4A Recap


In the 100 Kaleah Ruff dominated

The Mullen senior won the event by nearly half-a-second, running 12.03. 

Doubling up in distance, Ruff battled with the defending state champ, Taylor James, in the 200. James captured her second individual title of the day, running 24.61 to Ruff's 24.83. 

James' first state individual state title of the day came a few hours earlier when she won the 400 in 54.69 - a three-second victory. 

The further up in distance we go, the more green there was on the track. 


Madison Shults kept the 800 state title at Niwot, winning in a controlled kick of 2:12.17. Samantha Blair finished second in 2:13.17, while Mia Prok and Lucca Fulkerson gave Niwot three in the top-four, running 2:13.68, and 2:14.56. 

Saturday's 1,600 was another exciting race. Rain poured from the sky while Prok and Bethany Michalak set an honest early pace.

They cruised through the 800 in 2:24 before Michalak surged to the front to keep the pedal to the floor. The state cross country champion hit the bell in 3:41 with Maggie McCleskey, Fulkerson, and Prok on her heels. 

Michalak held her lead all the way around the track and into the final straight, though Fulkerson was making one last bid for the state title. She inched closer to Michalak into the final strides, just as the Air Academy freshman was throwing up her hands in victory. Fulkerson dipped at the line as the two crossed. 

For a brief moment it was unknown who won, but when the scoreboard read out the results, Michalak had the second state title of her freshman year. 


Michalak ran 4:55.01, which was just ahead of Fulkerson's 4:55.08. The photo above is what seven-hundredths of a second look like. McClesky finished third in 4:56.39

Two days earlier Fulkerson cruised eight laps to capture the 3,200 state title in 10:34.65. Prok was second in 10:51.80, just ahead of McClesky's 10:54.38. 

The 100 Hurdles lived up to the hype, as Jahzara Davis and Kimora Northrup were  separated by eight-hundredths-of-a-second. Davis captured the state title in 14.62, while Northrup was second in 14.70.

Northrup didn't go home without gold, however. She won the 300H in 43.78. 

Niwot swept the relays, literally. They won the 4x100, 4x200, Sprint Medley, 4x400, and the 4x800. 

Off the track, there were a ton of exciting events. 


Four were within two-inches of each other in the high jump, led by Shayla Padilla's 5-6 state winning jump. Jaclyn Donoho and Laurene Powell cleared 5-5, while Elizabeth Heumann cleared 5-4.

Meanwhile Agur Dwol swept the horizontal jumps.

The Mullen junior won the long jump in 18-11.25, while Madissyn Moore took second in 17-9. 

Dwol starred in her main event - the triple jump - where she won the state title in 40-9 - nearly five-feet beyond the competition.

In the discus Giavonna Meeks claimed her first state title. The Northfield junior won the event with a toss of 141-2. She did not compete in the shot put, however. This opened the door for Bahati Nabindu, who won the event in 36-5.5. 


Megan Kelleghan duplicated the feat of setting a new 4A state meet record in the pole vault on the girl's side of the competition. The Silver Creek sophomore cleared 13-4.5 for a Colorado No. 1

Niwot made no competition of the overall team race. They tallied a staggering 183 points to defend their state title. Mullen took second with 48 points, while Battle Mountain finished third with 38, which was just ahead of Palmer Ridge's 35.