District 20 Championships

They did finish this meet from the Saturday before--you know, the meet with the cover photo of the 4x800 boys running in the middle of a dense cloud.

At a time of year when teams should be sharpening their axes, the results were just a little on the side of flat. You get the sense that a lot of teams are just a little out of sync right now. Making matters a little worse, the meet was completed without Discovery Canyon and The Classical Academy, both of whom already had a conflict on the make-up date.

Sara Benson did record a sweep of the sprints, but with an unspectacular 1:04.29 in the 400.

El Paso County Small Schools Championship

This would be the conflict already on the schedule of The Classical Academy and Discovery Canyon. Discovery Canyon brought all the horses and sent them out to gallop. The result? A massively dominating win on the boys side and solid win on the girls side.

Tiffany Kenney continues to impress in the long jump and continues to try her hand in the shot put. Meanwhile, the 100 hurdles go on and CSCS looks to find the right relay for her talents. Kara Slavoski dominates the 800 without close competition.

On the side of the boys, Manitou Springs, Discovery Canyon, and CSCS all showed some signs of significant life in the sprint relays. Christian Fournier of Discovery Canyon enjoyed a huge meet, winning the 100, long jump, and triple jump. Look for DCC to be a major player in 3A Region 1.

Fightin' Red Invitational

Yet another make-up meet. Seems we have a lot of those these days.

Did someone mention wind? It seems to have had a serious dampening performance on most performances at this meet. In spite of the wind, however, Lindsey Hubbard posted the second-best 3A girls 400 time on the season. Will she run it at state? That remains to be seen. Akron's girls gave themselves another two seconds of margin on the 2A field in the 4x400. Kali Wolaver contines to heave the shot put nicely.

Among the boys, Gunnar Haynes of Eaton had a very nice 6-5.25 high jump. Generally speaking, when you see a mark like that, you interpret it as a new school record. Probably 1/4 inch above the old record. Nice job, Mr. Haynes!

Fort Collins City Meet

Big mistake--the Fort Collins folks let Windsor come to the meet. If not for some serious strength on the part of the Fort Collins distance crew, the Windsor girls would have run away with the meet on the strength of their sprint and throws crew. It would, of course, be bad form to let an out-of-city school win a city meet, no?

Caleb Spaulding swept the boys' throws, but it's the winner of the boys 1600 that has me wondering. Ben Larson, hmmm. Could he be any relation to a state cross country champion of a generation ago by the name of Brett Larson? 4:33.39 isn't a bad time, especially with a little wind blowing you around

George Washington Invitational

Okay, they ran the meet, but it may have been a bit of a Pyrrhic victory to hold the meet. The wind blew just about everything around. The throws were canceled on account of flooded venues. The weather was not kind to us this weekend.

The highlights of the meet were most certainly the national elite times in the 400 and 800 listed below. Nice work!

Lady Tiger Relays

La Junta in the springtime can be a windy place. There isn't much to stop the wind when it decides to blow. It decided to blow. It blew the (mens) Tiger Relays clean into Monday! And, how about a girls 100 meter final into a -5.1 wind? Would you believe 13.80 won it?

Ray Headley Invitational

Most of you know what the wind was like on the Front Range on Saturday. If you think it was any better at Swink, you have little familiary with the lower Arkansas valley in the spring. On a calm day, Swink is a nice place to have a track meet. I know--been there, done that. On not-so-calm days you begin to understand why southeastern Colorado is as populated as it is.

Garrett Smith of Eads sweeps the boys throws. No surprise there. Kyle Moore of Rocky Ford tries his hand at a few new events and dominates those. Lori Weirich (of Eads, of course) wins the girls' discus, but takes second to Megan Patterson in the shot put. Amber Lowther takes the jumps trifecta.

And the sun will rise tomorrow morning.

Rifle Invitational

The Bears are prowling. If you aren't ready to take Rifle's boys' track and field team seriously, consider this: a 23.26 200 (-2.7), a 1:30.43 4x200, a 3:23.74 4x400, a 13-1 pole vault, and a 6-2 high jump. All this from a team that's coming down to 3A next year. 'Ware the Bears!

Jamie Bair of Eagle Valley continues to endanger spectators hanging out at the far end of the throwing venues.

Terry Alley Invitational

Myra Dean is hands-down the most consistent high jumper in 3A this year--and quite possibly in the entire state. In an event this is as fickle as they come, Dean is as close to a state favorite as they come.

Nikki (or is it Nicki?) DeSouchet of Alamosa had a very nice 5:20.75 1600. Before you point out to me that several girls have run faster this year, go look up the elevation of Pagosa Springs.

And, finally Nick Trujillo of Del Norte had a nice 6-4 high jump. It's worth mentioning that Del Norte's enrollment almost puts them into 1A territory when that classfication opens up next spring.