In what may have been the finest race of the entire 4A state meet, Wasson's Trevor Brown beats Longmont's Aaron Praska in Saturday's 4A 300 hurdles finals. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Explain to me how this happens.
Longmont wins the meet, but wins no individual titles. They get shut out in the triple jump--an event that figured to produce some decent points for them. They had nobody in the long jump or high jump. And, they get a mere half-point out of the pole vault. Each of these are traditionally huge point sources for this program steeped in the explosive events.
It happens on the strength of an amazing year for hurdles and throws. Most notably, Aaron Praska, though failing to win either hurdle event, comes through with two seconds. Longmont adds 13 more points in the hurdles from lower places.
In the throws, Scotland Coyle got a surprising second in the discus and helped to contribute an additional seven points in the shot put.
Add in a handful of points from two relays and you have a state championship in a year where the talent is very evenly distributed across the top contenders.
And, if Longmont bled a few points here and there, Mullen, Sierra, and Valor Christian bled still more. Both Wasson and Widefield exceeded pre-meet projections but, in the end, neither Wasson and Widefield had quite enough weapons to win the overall title.
Wasson did, however, enjoy a spectacular weekend from Trevor Brown. Brown won both hurdle events, including setting a new state meet record of 36.81 in the 300 hurdles. Brown also added a second with a 45-2.5 in the triple jump.
For Widefield, Boris Berian did most of the damage, winning both the 400 and 800, a double that nobody used to attempt but a feat that is much more manageable with the new three-day format.
Also of note were David Perry and Scott Fauble, who traded off first and second in the 1600 and 3200. Perry schooled Fauble on the final lap of Friday's 3200 but Fauble proved to be a fast learner and returned the favor in Saturday's 1600.