Brandon Parson's victory in the 400 meters was one of several essential elements in Fountain-Fort Carson's drive toward the state championship. Photo by Alan Versaw.
For several years running, Fountain-Fort Carson has had a quality boy's track and field program. On several occasions, they have looked like a serious title contender early in the season, but have been unable to put the pieces together at the end of the season. No more. 2010 was the year the Trojans put it all together at the state meet.
The Trojans did it the conventional way, piling up big enough points in enough events that nobody else could match their total. There were individual state titles for Jamarius Mathis in the shot put and Brandon Parson in the 400. There were several second-place finishes for FFC in the form of seconds in the 100 and 200 for Markesh Woodson, a second for Jamarius Mathis in the discus, and seconds for the 4x100 and 4x200 relays.
The 4x100 may well have gone into the win column for the Trojans but for a botched exchange in finals that allowed Cherokee Trail to win what might otherwise have been a very tight race.
Multiple winners in the 5A boys classification included Kenny Chambers (Doherty - 100, 200) , Connor Winter (Arapahoe - 800, 1600, 3200), and Casey Young (Regis Jesuit - 110 hurdles, 300 hurdles).
Neither Winter nor Young came in as favorites to sweep the events they did, but they clearly brought the right ingredients to the state meet.
Like their female counterparts, the boys from Cherry Creek finished second, adding to the years of championship drought for a school that has zero state track and field championships to accompany their legions of state championship trophies from other sports. Cherry Creek's lone individual title was a bit of a longshot--going to Andre Bowman in the long jump with a wind legal leap of 23-0.5.