It's here. 

Finally. 

The official outdoor track & field season starts today - sort of. 

Official practice starts today.

We'll have to wait another 11 days for the first official competition.

The indoor/polar bear/pre-season has been full of exciting insights. I've been writing this for a few months now - it's just hinting at what's coming. 

And what's coming is a tsunami of jaw-dropping performances.

The 2023 outdoor track & field season is bound to be another exciting one for Colorado. But before we get to it, there was plenty of action in the days behind us to recap...

The highlight of the week came from Saturday's PEAK Pre-Season #2 Polar Bear meet, which saw a ton of distance action. 

While the official 2023 outdoor track & field season hasn't even launched off the starting line, Colorado has already seen its first sub-5 clockings in the girl's mile.

Mia Prok and Madison Shults cracked the barrier, with Prok turning the tables on her Niwot teammate - two weeks ago it was Shults taking the W in 800 just a few strides ahead of Prok. But Saturday in a race double the distance it was Prok with the W, running 4:58.96, which was just ahead of Shults' 4:59.77. 

Brooke Wilson toed the line for her first since since finishing second at NXN last December. Wilson took third here, running 5:02.01. Another big performance came from Rosie Mucharsky, who ran a nicely sized personal best to finish fourth in 5:02.52, which was just ahead of Ella Johns who raced for the first time since coming off injury - she finished fifth in 5:03.92.

Doubling up in distance Ava Mitchell proved that she's ready to roll this outdoor season. The Arapahoe senior nearly PRd in the 3,200, running 10:55 to win the event.

Going the opposite way and down in distance, the 800 was a nail-biter, with three sharing the same second. Gabrielle Shepston, Lindsey Kiehl, and Jocelyn Millican all ran 2:19, with Shepston taking the W in 2:19.42, to Kiehl's .83, and Millican's .87.

The boy's mile has been a fiery event in recent years with four cracking 4:10 - a time which once held the allure of a Sub-4 mile (at lower elevations.) 

Tyler Downs showed that we could once again see the barrier broken. The Mountain Vista senior opened his track season with a 4:14.92 clocking - that's just off his Colorado PR of 4:14.49, and a solid eight-seconds ahead of where he was this time last year.

Likewise, Drew Costelow torched the 800, running 1:54.32, which is about a second-ahead of where he was this time last year.

Tavon Underwood has been on fire throughout the indoor season - and he brought that fire outdoors Saturday, running a 400 PR of 47.57 - that's a hundredth-of-a-second off his indoor PR, and over a full-second off his outdoor PR. 

While the PEAK Pre-Season meet was a star-studded affair amongst the distance crews, so was the ATB 550 Pole Vault Meet #5 for pole vaulters. 

Kourtney Rathke and Anna Willis cleared 13-0.25. 

That's the sixth-consecutive 13-plus clearance for Rathke, and the ninth time she's done in this indoor season. That's the fourth time Willis has cleared the mark as well. 

A total of five girls cleared 12-0, including Charlotte Elliston, Taegan Olson and Olivia Kosanovich

For the boys Cameron Thomas took the W with a 15-5.75 clearance, which was just over Tyler Rowan's 15-0. 

Editor's Note: We're still working out some kinks with the boy's 800 results from PEAK Pre-Season. Bare with us...