By Marcus Hill
Following a chilly and windy day in Colorado Springs, the Harrison District 2 Invitational spoiled athletes and event-goers with warm weather and a heap of eye-popping performances.
The event had a slew of close competitions, personal bests and entertaining relays.
Supporters scooted toward the edge of their warm, cozy metal seats as they watched the final legs of relays deliver slim-margin victories.
They also watched competitors act as masters of their crafts as they cruised through their races with wire-to-wire victories for their schools.
But first, to the spectacles of distance and sprint relays.
Photo-finish relays.
Anyone who skipped their cup of Joe before the meet surely got a jolt of energy from the excitement provided by the girls 4x800.
The Salida High School girls 3,200 relay squad held a sizable advantage most of the run.
The Spartans held a 30 meter lead after their first two legs of the race and built it to about 50 meters before the final hand off.
This is where the commotion began.
Canon City, the team which trailed by 30 and 50 meters during Salida's first three legs of the race, kept their poise as the Spartans stretched their lead.
Fans saw the gap shorten from 50 to 40 meters on the final 300 of the race and began clamoring about a comeback from the Tigers.
When the Spartans' final runner hit the last 200 of the race, the Tigers had a 15-meter gap to fill.
Guess what the Tigers did on the final 100 of the race?
Canon City fans rose from the bleachers in attempt to shift the momentum as the Spartans' final runner fought to hold off the Tigers' anchor in the last 40 meters of the relay, but to no avail.
The Tigers eclipsed the Spartans with 25 meters and leaned past the finish line to clock in at 10:14.85 to Salida's 10:15.49.
Mesa Ridge's butter smooth hand offs allowed them to build a sizable advantage from one exchange to the next.
But Harrison not only achieved a flawless hand off on the final exchange, their anchor hit turbo on the home stretch. The Grizzlies anchor staved off Harrison's final runner as long as possible.
The boys final heat of the 4x100 had a similar result.
Heading toward the final exchange of the race, the Grizzlies held a 15-meter lead.
They ran side by side for 20 meters before Harrison's anchor performed a sprinter's crescendo and slowly built the lead against Mesa Ridge to give the Panther's first with a time of 42.85 to the Grizzlies' 43.09.
Mills' Lane
Sierra's Marcus Mills hoped to set a personal best in the 110 hurdles at Memorial Stadium.
The weather, which hit the low 60s around 9 a.m. with a light breeze, called for such a performance from athletes.
For Mills, whose previous best was a blazing 14.52 on April 21 at the Colorado Springs All City Meet at Garry Berry, he had hit sub 15 five times this season.
This time, Mills flirted with running a sub-14-second race.
Mills' performance made multiple coaches say they thought their hurdlers ran slower times than usual.No worries, that wasn't the case.
Mills ran a blistering 14.22, to finish first and shatter the previous meet record of 16.02 set by Widefield's Derek Allen.
Mills wasn't finished, either. He cooked the field in the 300 hurdles with a time of 40.36 to earn another first place in a hurdles event.
As Mills' head coach Amy Dolbeare checked her handheld watch, she looked on with disbelief.
Then Dolbeare got the official time and was pleasantly surprised. As was Mills, who let out a "wooo" that would please Ric Flair.
Campos let the competition hang around a bit, then delivered the proverbial knock-out blow to build her lead.
Just look at the splits.
In the 800, less than a second separated Campos (1:09.63) and Salida's Quinn Smith (1:10.18) on the first lap.
But Campos opened her stride in the final 400 and ran a 2:19.73 for the event and 1:10.11 on her final lap. Smith completed her last lap in 1:13.03.
In the mile, Campos dueled with Riverdale Ridge's Payton Meineke.
The pair nearly mirrored each other's first 400 with Campos clocking in behind Meineke at 1:13.87 on her first lap. Meineke opened with a 1:13.30.
On the first turn of the second lap, Meineke peeked over her left shoulder, expecting to see Campos in the rearview. As Meineke checked, Campos snuck past Meineke on her right side to gain the lead, which she never relinquished. Campos ran 1:18.39 for her second lap while Meineke clocked in at 1:20.72, giving Campos a near two-second advantage.
After the third lap, Campos built a seven-second lead with a time of 3:51.38 (1:19.04 on the third lap) while Meineke ran 3:58.98 (1:24.97 third lap).
When Campos crossed the finish line and checked the clock, it read 5:04.92, breaking the previous record, held by Gunnison's Jemma Petrie, of 5:42.46.