Week In Review: Whispers of Showdowns to Come

Eagle Valley Invitational

Into a 3A thrower's derby that needed a take-charge leader, Joey Kuheim of Rifle tossed a steel ball. She tossed it 38-9.25, to be precise. And that would make her the classification's hands-down leader at this point in the season.

Overall, however, the wind wasn't too friendly to this meet. Other notable marks were few but included Jennifer Celis going 2:20.68 to win the 800 and looking very much like the most serious competition for Samantha Berggren at state.

I'd mention Zach and Taylor Browning again, but they need to secure their own publicist if they're going to do a highlight show every weekend that they show up at a meet.

Under the general header of sleeper teams among 3A boys, write down Rifle. This team is better than their heretofore low profile would suggest.

Frank Woodburn Invitational

They didn't actually burn any wood at this meet, but Sierra Williams did scorch some polyurethane. Williams won the 100 in 12.36, but a +3.0 wind kept the mark from counting.

Brandi Krieg of Grand Valley matched the 2:20 posted by Jennifer Celis at the Eagle Valley Invitational. This would have been an interesting regional match-up back in the days of regionals. Maybe a league meet match-up for this year? Krieg came back in the 3200 (and that's not a lot of time to stage a recovery) and won that event, too.

On the boys' side, the small schools had a big day of it. Meeker's Toby Casias won both the 100 (11.40) and 200 (23.31), though only the 100 was wind-legal. Paonia laid down a 44.27 to win the 4x100. Generally speaking, it's my observation that the western slope small schools cede just about nothing to the 4A and 5A schools west of the Continental Divide.

Glenn Peterson Invitational

They're still trying to figure out how to host this meet without inviting the wind. A few years back a very impressive gust sent the pole vault pit over a fence. The meet was promptly canceled. The winds on Saturday weren't that epic, but they were annoying. Venerable Mr. Peterson deserves better than this.

Between wind gusts, Tiffany Kenney managed to win four events, but only the 5-5 mark in the high jump goes onto the rankings board. For those trying to figure out available points at state after Kenney takes her plunder, it looks as if she's aiming at 100 hurdles, high jump, long jump, and 200 meters. But don't be betting the inheritance on that yet. She's been known to show up in the shot put and relays, too. If we had a state javelin event, that would probably keep her gainfully occupied, too.

Boris Berian got a nice +8.8 assist from the wind to win the 200. His 400 of 48.67 counted for the rankings, however. Teammates Chris Ashe and Tony Carodine ruled the long jump and triple jump, respectively. In that dogpile at the top of 4A, the team wearing dark blue speed suits is Widefield. Don't be discounting their chances.

John Tate Challenge Cup

Fountain-Fort Carson continues to deal with the luxury of trying to figure out how to maximize points from their sprint, hurdle, and horizontal jump talent. Check out the meet results for the latest iteration of event assignments. Coach Ben Montoya should take up chess if he hasn't already.

David Krumland had a very nice 14-3 in the pole vault while his Rampart teammates were distributed elsewhere. Pole vaulters sometimes show up in the strangest places.

Littleton/Fort Collins City Challenge

In case you hadn't figured this one out yet, the strategy of the Littleton schools is to go to six or seven school meets and post unbelievable marks. The strategy, from all outward appearances, is working rather well. Heritage did break ranks this weekend, however, and showed up at Mullen.

While there would be the little matter of Nolan Mayhew's 1:53+ to consider, Connor Winter did take over the 5A 800 meter leadership with a 1:54.82 at this meet. Raymond Bozmans and Jake Schneeberger continue to impress.

Longmont Invitational

Saturday's winds seemed to move south to north up the I-25 corridor. The meets farther north had very little in the way of wind issues to deal with, and Longmont would be among those meets.

Kaylee Packham took advantage of the conditions to post some very nice times in both hurdle events. Loveland wasn't among the 5A girls teams that unveiled some new talent this weekend, but they did show that, new talent or no, they will be no pushover when the state meet rolls around. For the record, the Loveland relays were impressive on Saturday. And, for those wondering about Kailie Hartman, wonder no longer. Hartman got herself back into the mix of things with a 2:19.81 800. Hartman also won the 1600 in 5:26.

Meanwhile, Thompson Valley's Karina Ernst pulled a surprise on Colorado's track and field intelligentsia by entering and winning the 400 in 1:00.16. You don't run 2:15 800s with bad wheels. She came back a little later to win the 800 in 2:17. Once again, Coach Norton demonstrates that 400s and 800s can be done reasonably well in close succession.

Whatever was ailing Forrest Donnell of Lyons earlier in the season seems to have righted itself. Donnell won the 100 (11.38) and 200 (23.01), both in wind-legal conditions. Teammate Ryan Boucher smoked a 49.80 400. The Lions also posted a 3:28+ 4x400. I, for one, am pleased that Lyons moved down to 2A this year. I can think of a few folks, however, who likely aren't nearly as happy about that situation as I am.

Mullen Runners Roost Invitational

I'm not sure how the thumbnail for the Mullen Runners Roost article got mixed up with a thumbnail for a national article, but the MRR was certainly a national level meet once again.

If you have time to view only a few of the videos below, watch these: Girls 100 Meters, Girls 100 Hurdles, Boys 400 Meters, and Boys 200 Meters. All heats show up in the videos, but the final heats tell you a great deal that you'll want to know about what to look for at next month's state meet.

For more in-depth coverage on the meet, click on the article link below.

Palmer Terror Freshman/Sophomore Meet

You probably can't make too much out of a freshman-sophomore meet that wasn't even a rankings meet, but there was at least one performance here worth filing away for future reference. And that would be the 1:00.70 400 posted by Madison Weigand-Brown. Weigand-Brown is apparently a mild-mannered soccer player on normal days, but the transformation wrought by donning a speed suit might be worth the Palmer coaching staff exploring further.

Palmer Terror Invitational

Under less than completely favorable conditions, Spencer Wenck lowered his 4A 3200 season best mark a few seconds.

Doherty's girls generally pounded the competition, but marks seemed consistently a bit off of expectations for the schools and athletes assembled at the meet--and that would apply to a lot more than just the Doherty entries. Certainly, windy conditions had much to do with that.

Tuck away the name of Elbert's Logan Franek. She could be a dominant force at the 1A state meet this spring.

Poudre Invitational

It won't get as much notice this time, but Kaela Edwards managed to better her state-leading 800 meter mark at this meet. Teammate Johnny Edmunds had a nice little meet as well. His 22-7.75 (-0.8) was good enough to win the long jump, but he also showed up as the high jump winner and as part of the winning 4x100 meter relay. It may just be that my Johnny Edmunds detector was not sufficiently tuned to pick that sort of thing up before now, but I'm not accustomed to seeing his name in those results.

Rod Card/Regis Jesuit Invitational

If there was a meet this weekend that ran a close second to the Mullen Runners Roost, this would be the meet.

And it would have been nice to see Ana Holland mixing it up with the female sprinters at the Mullen meet. As it was, she simply tore up the competition, winning the 100, 200, and 400. At this point, I can't verify whether the 100 mark of 12.31 was wind legal, but the 200 mark of 24.20 was.

It takes some doing to bury Stephanie Gerber by more than a full second in the 300 hurdles, but Amoni Ashby did exactly that. Post a mental sticky note on that performance.

Raymond Bozmans joined the sub-49 400 club on Saturday. Coach Conrad Crist joins the club of coaches with the luxury of trying to figure out state events for athletes who haven't found a way to limit themselves to four events on their own. And, yes, that time for Emily Elliott in the 400 would indicate she is back on the track and rapidly making up lost time.

Sabercat Invitational

Prior to this weekend, I had no idea who Amanda Lark was. I'm guessing most of you were in the same boat. The 5A girls 400, already way too tough for this early in the season, just got a little tougher. She runs a pretty mean (and I don't mean average) 200 as well.

Valhalla Classic

If you don't know where Gilcrest is, you'd have had a tough time finding this meet. And that would have been a shame because this meet showcased a developing 3A showdown between Berthoud and Eaton. Berthoud definitely got out of the gate a little quicker this season, but Eaton is doing a very nice job of closing the gap. We haven't seen the last of these two schools knocking heads.

Berthoud's Colby Schultz is another of those coaches with the dilemma of narrowing down an athlete's events to four. In this case, the culprit is Courtney Mills. She sprints, she jumps, she relays. And where will the best four events fall? I'm not sure I know the answer to that question even though she is ranked #1 in 3A in three events and #2 in another.

For whatever reason(s), Lakewood is mostly avoiding big meets, but they certainly have the talent to make some serious noise in 5A girls. Haley Brogan's 300 hurdles mark may have mostly missed the radar screen in coming from a mostly 3A meet, but it's eventually going to be impossible to keep ignoring her marks.

It was nice to see Mead's Alex Mead back on the track after a brief hiatus. It should be fun when he meets a couple of brothers from Roaring Fork.

Warren Mitchell Invitational

Ah, yes, the grand rendezvous on the plains. It never disappoints.

Landry Cogburn is up to old tricks, but this time the wind kind of stifled the possibilities. He remains the one to beat in 1A hurdles. Speaking of 1A, Stratton's Colin Simon had a nice set of hurdle marks punctuated by a win in the long jump.

Daniel Weirich of Eads kept the state lead in the shot put in his hands by pushing his season-best mark out to 54-10.

Custer County's Sierra Geroux dominated the girls jumping events. My nomination for her best mark of the meet goes to the 5-3 high jump.

In team scoring, Limon dominates the girls and Wray takes a fairly close one over 1A Walsh.