Freshman Ben Goodman nips brother Andrew Goodman at the finish of the Ray Campbell Invitational 800 meters. Photo by Mark Weeks.
By Alan Versaw and Mark Weeks
If you haven't taken notice yet, this year's freshman class in Colorado is putting up some spectacular marks. You may be accustomed to freshman girls putting up solid marks, but the contributions are coming from both genders and are not at all limited to distance events.
If you take a look at the MileSplit national rankings (fairly thorough coverage in roughly half of the states, spotty coverage but including most of the big meets in the other half), several Colorado freshmen rank in the top 50 in the nation right now.
At the top of the list is Ben Goodman of Palmer HS, who currently owns the nation's best 400 meter time for a freshman. When his 800 meter time from last night posts to the national rankings, it will be a top-20 time nationally. His 200 meter time ranks in the top 40 in the nation for freshmen.
Pretty cool, you say? Wait, there's more!
Marcus Harris of Eaglecrest, as you might have expected is at the top of the class, so to speak, as well. Harris's 100 and 200 meter times both place him in the top five in the nation.
Daniel Weirich of Eads (enrollment 66) ranks an impressive #8 in the nation among freshmen in the discus.
Okay, that wraps up the top ten entries among freshmen from Colorado, but there's a boatload of top 50s right behind them. All of the following currently rank within the top 50 freshmen in the nation in their respective events (also note that distance times are not altitude adjusted for Colorado performances):
Jordan Medina, Rangeview - 400 meters
Grayson Bundick, Faith Christian - shot put and discus
Collin Scheer, TCA - high jump
Max Dixon, Erie - triple jump
Sam Rhoton, University - 400
Kailie Hartman, Loveland - 800 and 1600 meters
Koree Willer, Fossil Ridge - high jump and triple jump
Julia Thurston, Castle View - high jump
Ana Holland, Regis - 200 meters
Heather Bates, Pine Creek - 1600 and 3200 meters
Toni Stoll, Pagosa Springs - triple jump
Rachel Pott, Poudre - discus
Not bad for a state and a season that's having all sorts of difficulties getting meets in due to adverse weather.