There may never have been a bigger day in Simplot history, but Colorado has seen bigger days at Simplot.
Any way you look at it, the big news out of Pocatello, Idaho, today was Ryan Crouser's jaw-dropping heave of 77-2.75. That's an enormous advancement of the national high school indoor shot record, including even the high school record he set on an earlier throw in the series.
And maybe a little of that record-smashing energy rubbed off on Jake Schneeberger, who tossed a personal best of 52-10 in the shot to finish sixth.
Using top-six finishes as the criterion for including results, here are the other Colorado results of note from today's Simplot finals:
Connor Winter finished third in the 800 with a 1:58.64, essentially matching his time from prelims. Nowlan Savage went 22.36 to claim fifth in the 200. Things were perhaps brightest for Colorado's boys individuals in the 60, where Marcus Harris finished second in 6.88 and Dan Summers third in 6.92.
In field events, it was a nice set of results for the Colorado triple jumpers with Trey Richardson grabbing second at 47-2.5 and Tony Carodine fourth at 46-9.
The Fort Collins Track Club entry went second in the 1600 medley with the Warrior Express (Arapahoe) team taking third, and Cougar Track out of Parker finishing fourth (corrected 2/20). And, in the 4x800, the Ric Rojas entry placed third.
Moving to girls results, the individual finishers were headlined by Christine Scott winning the 200 in 24.75. Scott was Colorado's lone individual event titleist on the day.
Elsewhere, Danielle Williams went second in the triple jump at 38-8.5. Rikki Gonzales was third in the 1600 with a 5:09.45 clocking. Sam Berggren was sixth in the 400 at 57.38. My hunch would be that Ms. Berggren is itching to run another 400 on a track with a little wider turns. It can't be easy doing a Simplot turn (on wood) when you're as tall as Berggren is. Kami Mendez (8.70) scored a third in the 60 hurdles while Dior Hall was sixth (8.83), reversing their usual order of finish for this indoor season. Annie Kunz took second in the high jump at 5-4. Brittany Lewis's 18-7.5 was good enough for a third in the long jump. Marybeth Sant tied a season-best mark at 7.50 to finish third in the 60.
In relays, Real Training had a first and Warrior Express a third in the 1600 medley.
In coaches events, things were a little brighter for the Colorado contingent. Erik Stevens, the Arapahoe distance coach had a 4:47.14 to take fifth in the 1600. The Colorado roar was deafening, however, in the coaches' 200. Johnny Bertrand of the Durango Track Club took it all in 25.25. Kelli Kunz and Laura Knapp were the top-finishing females in 27.42 and 27.91, respectively. Also of note was Kevin Clark's 25.82, good enough for third.
Kevin, I had no idea you still had that kind of wheels!
And, speaking of wheels, may everyone have a safe trip home through the weather event that has pinpointed the Rocky Mountains.
