"Hey man, what's your PR?" a runner asked Cheyenne Mountain's Brogan Collins.
"Me?" Collins responded.
"Yeah, man," the runner said. He pointed to the "1" sticker on Collins' singlet.
"4:19..." Collins said.
"Wow..." the runner covered his mouth with his hands.
"But it was at lower elevations," Collins quickly admitted.
A 4:19 at any elevation is pretty stellar, particularly when you're a sophomore.
"I hate being the one-seed," Collins said bashfully before turning back towards the track to prepare for the fast heat of the boy's 1,600.
Yes indeed.
The one-seed carries the weight of being the fastest-seeded runner in the race. The one-seed is the bullseye on the back. In other words, the one-seed means everyone's looking at you.
While Collins humbly admitted his time was run at lower elevations prior to Saturday's 1,600 at the NoCo Series #1 like Bruce Banner, on the track he was the Hulk.
Fast-forward the length of Andrew McMahon's "Shot out of a Cannon" (roughly four-minutes) from the start of the race.
Collins hovered over 4A state cross country champ Nolan Hoffman's right shoulder as the two hit the top of the track.
100 meters to go.
While Collins had spent the previous 1,500-meters chasing, now launched his attack.
The Cheyenne Mountain sophomore torched the final 100 meters, off and away to the second big victory of the young season.
(His other being a 9:14 3,200 victory at the Chandler Rotary Invitational last week - he also ran 4:19.62 afterwards.)
Collins crossed the line in a monstrous Colorado personal best of 4:19.80. Mead's Hoffman was a close runner-up in 4:21.01. Five of the top-six times run in the 1,600 this season came from this race.
"Going into it, I knew I'd have to go all-out," he said after the race.
Previously Collins had run 4:29 indoors several months ago, and a year ago his outdoor PR was 4:42. As of this writing his 4:19 is currently a Colorado No. 1 in the event.
Clearly, he's made The Jump.
For those who do watch Monday's MileSplit Shorts you might already be hearing me say the word "Introductions." And for those of you who haven't tuned in, you might want to start...
The green hill that sits on the western side of the track colored in various hues as teams from Colorado's front range descended on Niwot for the NoCo Series #1 - which was Niwot's first-ever home track meet.
Do you get the title of this recap now?
And just as colorful as the scene was, the meet played host to a slew of highlights in addition to Collins' big run.
RESULTS | VIDEOS | PHOTOS
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