Class 5A
The sprint events are wide open: There are a handful of names that could win the individual titles in the 100m, 200m, and 400m with really no clear favorite for any of the events going into the championship this weekend. Brandon Veasley Jr. of Cherry Creek High School has been #1 for the 100m for a good part of the season, running a time of 10.40, and he also recently ran a wind-aided time of 21.05 in the 200m. Though his 200m time was wind-aided, it shows the potential of what he could run, making him a candidate to win one or maybe two sprint titles.
Then there is DJ Ruff of Fort Collins High School, who spent a fair amount of time at #1 in the 100m and recently ran 20.92 in the 200m to lead the state of Colorado in the event. He is the top returner from the state meet last season in the 100m and has a PR of 10.52, putting him right in the mix to win the 100m title. In terms of the 200m, he definitely feels like the strong favorite considering the lead he has on some of the other names on the list.
Speaking of the 200m list, Fort Collins High School has two other names in the top 5 for Class 5A in the 200m, including Preston Mozer at #3 with a time of 21.35 and Jackson Ruff at #5 with a time of 21.53, showing the dominance of this team this season. Mozer is also ranked very well in the 400m running a time of 48.00 for #4 in the Class 5A rankings. Both Mozer and Jackson are sophomores, so the future is looking very bright for Fort Collins.
Sitting just below Jackson in the 200m rankings is Marcello Jaramillo of Arapahoe High School, who has a personal best time of 21.54, but his 100m time of 10.49 may be his better personal best, considering he is ranked #3 in that event. He also has potential to win that 100m title since the times are so tight.
Finally, another name to consider for the 400m title is Micah Sheehan of Northfield High School with a personal best time of 47.66 this season. He has the best time in the whole state of Colorado and has been fairly consistent this season, but could be challenged by teammate Elian Oliva, who also is one of the top seeds in the 300m hurdles but has a PR of 47.84 in the 400m. With how the state meet is scheduled, Oliva definitely could pull off the double if he chooses to.
Cadel Ruthven (Fort Collins High School) vs. Ben Lee (ThunderRidge High School) vs. Benjamin Adams (Mountain Vista High School) in the distance events: Though there are still a handful of other names that could take any of the titles in the distance events, it seems it might come down to Ruthven, Lee, and Adams for most of them based on their seasons thus far. Starting with the 800m, Lee has the fastest time, running 1:52.91 and has the history, considering he won the state title last season in the event. Ruthven sits at #4 in the rankings with a PR of 1:53, but he will be very busy doing all three distance events, so we will have to see who comes out on top in that event. However, things get more interesting with the 1600m and the 3200m.
Starting with the 1600m, Adams may have the fastest time in the event so far this season of 4:08 from the HOKA St. Vrain Invitational, but Ruthven does have the win over Adams earlier in the season at the Stutler Twilight, where Ruthven ran 4:10 for the victory. On top of beating Adams, Ruthven defeated a slew of Niwot boys en route to that victory.
For Lee, his best time of 4:12 came at a smaller meet, where he ran all by himself and considering he is also the returning state champion in the 1600m as well, he is not a name to sleep on and has the potential to squeeze out the victory.
In terms of the 3200m, Adams has the fastest time of 8:57, with Lee sitting at 9:01 and Ruthven at 9:10. Lee is #2 in the event and Ruthven is a little lower on the list at #7, but considering how well Ruthven has competed all season, he has the potential to pull out a victory even against names on this list who have run faster than him in this event.
Can Jackson Conroy (Loveland High School) beat the state record in the 110m hurdles? Conroy is very close to the state record in the 110m hurdles of 13.43, with a personal best time of 13.50 ran earlier this season. Conroy does have a wind-aided mark of 13.40 definitely showing potential to break that state record, and he has gone undefeated all season, making him an easy favorite to win back-to-back state titles.
Eaglecrest High School's dominance in the horizontal jumps: Both Cameron Bell and Bryson States from Eaglecrest High School have the top spots in the long jump and the triple jump. For Bell, he jumped a state record of 24-8.25, making him the easy favorite to win the title! For States, he has a mark of 47-8, which is the top mark in the triple jump for all of Colorado and not just Class 5A, also putting him as the easy favorite to win that event.
Can Ashton Daly (Loveland High School) win double titles in the throws? Daly has personal best throws of 59-3 in the shot put and 174-4 in the discus, which are the top marks in Class 5A. He currently has a lead of almost 4 feet on the next best thrower in the shot put and a lead of over 10 feet in the discus, making him the favorite to win both titles in the throwing events!
Fort Collins vs. Northfield vs. Cherry Creek in the relays: The relays are looking very exciting, especially among these three teams. Fort Collins has been at the top of the sprint relays almost all season, but Cherry Creek High School does have the fastest time in the 4x100m relay, running 40.92 as opposed to 40.97 run by Fort Collins. That battle will come down to hand offs and Fort Collins has been consistent all season, so they may be the ones to beat.
In terms of the 4x200m relay it is hard once again to bet against Fort Collins when they have three names in the top 5 for the Class 5A 200m rankings. Their season best time is 1:26.00, putting them a little bit ahead of the next best teams. Fort Collins also has one of the top 4x400m relay teams running 3:15. However, Northfield High School is only about one second behind with a season best time of 3:16 and considering who they have in their line up, including Sheehan and Oliva, they will definitely give Fort Collins a challenge for the title. However, if Fort Collins can pull off the win in all three sprint relays, that will definitely do wonders for their quest to win the team state title.