Class 4A
How many individual distance titles can Niwot High School win? Niwot High School has one of the strongest distance crews in the nation, proven by their national title they won in cross country. The real question is, how many points can they win in the distance events and who will challenge them for those titles? Starting with the Niwot boys, Rocco Culpepper is the back-to-back state champion in the 800m and the 1600m, so he has the most experience when it comes to winning titles. His personal best times this season are 1:51 in the 800m and 4:09 in the 1600m, but he also has two sea level times of 1:50 and 4:05 for the full mile, so he is definitely in good shape going into this weekend.
Quinn Sullivan is also looking to be in good form with times of 1:49 in the 800m and 4:08 in the 1600m. He also ran 4:05 at the same meet as Culpepper in the mile at sea level, making him just as tough of a challenge in either the 800m and the 1600m. Though he is not competing in the 3200m, he also has a sea level time of 8:41, showing a lot of versatility in terms of speed and endurance, making him very well-rounded.
For the 3200m, Hunter Robbie has a huge chance to win the title with his personal best time of 8:56 in the race, but also a sea level time of 8:45. On top of that, he has decent speed with a time of 4:08 in the full mile and 4:12 for the 1600m at altitude. Looking at the rest of the squad, Niwot has potential to score even more points in the distance events from names like Jude Ritzenhein, Ryder Keeton, Gabriel Marshall, and Garrett Sherrard, making them one of the most competitive distance squad in the nation.
What other names could challenge for the distance individual titles? Though Niwot High School is looking strong, there are still a ton of other names that could challenge this group, considering Class 4A may be the most competitive class on the distance side. First, there is Oliver Horton of Coronado High School, who has the top time in the 3200m of 8:56, just edging out Robbie at the Niwot Invitational. He then went on to run 8:38 at Arcadia, running the fastest time in that event compared to others on this list who also ran at sea level races. Horton also won the 1600m at the Pueblo Twilight in a time of 4:09.00, putting him right in the mix with the other Niwot boys.
Speaking of the Pueblo Twilight, Horton was pushed by Aiden Le Roux of Cheyenne Mountain High School, who ran 4:09.06, just losing to Horton. Le Roux had a tough fall season, but has slowly come back to form and his almost victory over Horton in the 1600m definitely bodes well for Le Roux and his potential to do well not just in the 1600m, but also in the 3200m. Currently, Le Roux has a season best time of 9:10, but that time was run at the beginning of the season, so he has so much room for improvement and may be a sleeper pick to challenge for that victory in the 3200m.
Going back to the 1600m, Jay McDonald of Summit High School ran one of the fastest races in the whole state, winning the HOKA St. Vrain Invitational in a time of 4:06! He was only two seconds away from the Colorado high school record, making him the favorite to win the 1600m. McDonald is also ranked #2 in the 800m going into the state meet with a PR of 1:51, just a little bit ahead of Culpepper.
Finally, Xzavier Campos of Coronado High School is ranked well in both the 800m and the 1600m with PRs of 4:09 and 1:52, so he also has all the chances in the world to finish within the top three or even better in these events. With times as close as they are in Class 4A, almost anything can happen in these events and they may be the events to watch out of everything at the state meet.
How many events will Owen Hays (Roosevelt High School) do and how many will he finish on the podium? Owen Hays is slated to compete in the 110m hurdles, the 300m hurdles, the 100m, and the 200m, and he is ranked in the top 9 in all of the events, showing potential to stand on the podium in all four. The real question is, how many state titles can he win? He is clearly the favorite for the hurdles events with personal best times of 13.70 and 36.14. He is over a half a second ahead of the next best time in the 110m hurdles and one second ahead in the 300m hurdles! In terms of the 100m and the 200m, Hays is #5 and #6 respectively and maybe winning these two titles is a little far-fetched, but his PRs of 10.73 and 21.84 are really not that far off of the names ahead of him in the rankings.
Isaac Baca (Grand Junction High School) vs. the Palmer Ridge boys in the throwing events: The boys from Palmer Ridge High School have put on quite a show this season in the throwing events. They have four boys that have qualified for the shot put and the discus and their athletes are ranked #2-4 in the discus. First, Samuel Inama is ranked #2 in the discus with a throw of 170-1, and he also has a throw of 49-4.5 in the shot put. Next, Owen Twesme has been #1 in shot put all season and his best throw is 61-9 is the top throw in all of Colorado! He is also ranked #3 in discus with a throw of 167-11. Finally, Tyler Himebauch is ranked #4 in discus with a throw of 164-3.
Though Palmer Ridge looks very dominant with their throwers, Baca has been at the top of the discus ranking all season long! He started off the year with a huge throw of 180-7 and has been very consistent throwing over 170 feet with a personal best of 184-3! He is also ranked #2 in shot put with a PR of 57-6.25, making him a tough competitor for the rest of Palmer Ridge's squad.
How high can Quinn Pascual (Discovery Canyon High School) go in the pole vault? Pascual has consistently been at the top of the pole vault rankings or near the top for all of Colorado this whole season. He hit a personal best vault of 16-9 at the Pueblo Twilight and has been over 16-5 multiple times this season. After a tough go last year at the state meet, Pascual will look to not only win the Class 4A title, but to see how high he can go and see if he can break the Class 4A state meet record set a year ago.
Gavin Reddick's (Canon City High School) quest for a double state title in the sprint events: Though the 100m and the 200m are a little wide open, Reddick is the leading candidate to try and pull of the victory in the two events with personal best times of 10.57 and 21.62! For those who have declared, he is the top seed for both of those events, and he is the returning state champion in the 100m, so he has the history to win state titles. He finished 3rd in the 200m last season at the state meet, but clearly he has improved on his longer sprints, but he will be challenged by a handful of people, who are only a couple tenths of a second away from his personal best.