Week in Review: The Gift of a Glorious Saturday

Alexis Cooks won two more meet titles at Saturday's Dakota Ridge Invitational. Photo by Alan Versaw.

Week in Review

There are those who would argue that conditions at Saturday's Front Range meets were less than ideal. The temperatures were not quite as warm as the sprinters, throwers, and jumpers would have liked. While that much is true, it's also true that what we got on Saturday was a gift. When the weather forecast has you parked under overcast conditions all day long with a high of about 50 and you get an afternoon full of sunshine with temperatures reaching into the 60s and negligible wind, you practice a little gratitude. And, hopefully, we all did.

Abel Velasquez Invitational

This was Bayfield's third meet in six days, and the second on their own track. The entry lists and results would seem to indicate the coaches present were going into caution mode. Few or no events for the top athletes and a few more opportunities for those who don't always get a lot of opportunities in rankings meets.

Akron Invitational

Dakota Ridge Invitational

This was the big meet of the weekend, and it did not disappoint.

Connor Winter took a mighty swing at the all-classification 3200 record, but failed to clear the fence. If Winter and Kincaid meet under the right conditions, we just might see the record go down yet. We can all hope.

Quietly, Alexis Cooks continues to dominate the 5A girls throws. This is one year she would find more competition in 4A.

Raymond Bozmans of Fort Collins is showing some serious range this season, taking his 400 marks in the 48s. While the Fort Collins coaching staff has some decisions to make about where Bozmans fits into the state picture, the boys' 400 field this year is looking very good. There are going to be some very fast quarters holding 4th and 5th place medals on the scoring stand at the state meet (both 4A and 5A).

Eaton Twilight Qualifier

Except for the 6-6 high jump by Gunnar Haynes, this was a fairly small and quiet meet.

Fort Collins City Meet

A nice little duel between Erika Musante and Monica Franco in the high jump highlighted this meet. Otherwise, it looks like the assembled schools had bigger meets later in the week on their minds.

George Washington Patriot Invitational

In case you missed it, Denver South's Sydney Scott posted the best 3200 mark of the season to day. And she has wheels at the end of the race. 4A girls, take notice.

We're still awaiting the return of Brittany Lewis and this meet wasn't it. George Washington, however, is a serious 5A contender with or without Lewis. There's a lot of sprint, jump, and hurdle talent in the lineup. But, it's going to take a lot of points to win it this year.

While explosive event marks were a little subdued in this meet, the 46-10 posted by Trey Richardson in the triple jump was a season-best distance.

Gunnison Invitational

Put this one on your radar screen--Jenny DeSouchet of Alamosa is on her way back. After missing the first few meets of the season, DeSouchet is on a steep trajectory toward returning to the form she showed in 2010. If that's where she ends up in four weeks, it makes the already tough 800 and 1600 3A girls fields even tougher.

Don't look now, but Paonia's Adrian Penny is starting to look like the guy to beat in the 2A boys 100. His 200 isn't bad either, but not quite at the same level as his 100.

And Gunnison's Bryce Johnston will be heard from in 3A boys middle distance. Right now, his 800 is the class of the classification.

High Country Pole Vault Meet

It's interesting to think of coming to Kremmling to do nothing but pole vault, but they do it. The best vault of the day? That would belong to Zach Guida of Battle Mountain who cleared 13-1.

Horizon Hawk Invitational

It may be that the Monarch girls we're out to make a statement in the 1600. If so, mission accomplished. Claire Green at 5:10, Taylor Floming at 5:16, and Mariel Fulton at 5:17. I don't care who you are, that would be a nice lineup to put on the track.

Eleanor Fulton starts to breathe down the back of Kaela Edwards in the 5A girls 800 with a 2:12 clocking. Greeley Central's Addy Neibauer went 11-3 in the pole vault. That mark has her in some very nice pole vault company.

Elsewhere, Jake Schneeberger uncorcked a 56-9.5 in the shot put and Pomona posted a very nice 3:22 4x400. For the most part, however, the meet marks seemed just slightly subdued.

La Junta Tiger Relays

Nobody else seems to be able to draw the big schools out onto the plains like La Junta. The spiffy new facility on the south side of town certainly doesn't hurt. In any case, everyone from Pueblo and a big chunk of Colorado Springs was there. And that helped to produce some big performances.

The biggest of the big would be Megan Patterson's 45-11 in the shot put. Welcome back, Megan! And, Pueblo is kind of Girls Throws, Inc. these days. Krystel Martinez continues to advance her state-best mark in the discus.

Otherwise, you should know that Liberty's girls have a fine team and more or less dominated the girls' side of the meet. Cody Roberts of Hoehne left the meet with first places in the 100 and 200, and Hunter Warwick of Palmer Ridge had some very nice hurdle races.

Phil Wertman Invitational

Alfredo Lebron needs to find some more serious competition. He's been putting a lot of hurt on the western slope competition in the distance events this spring. It's doubtful he will find much this weekend, however, outside of cross country teammate Chris Zirkle. Not many teams travel to the Clint Wells Invitational. Such are the perks of living in an isolated corner of the state.

While 4A girls throws promise to be brutal this spring (see comments above on the La Junta Tiger Relays), Laura Heaton's 37-4.5 was a nice heave of the shot put.

Platte Valley Bronco Stampede

Sydney Harris of St. Mary's put together a nice pair of races with her 1600 and 800 efforts. The bad news for Harris (and a few others) is that the 3A girls 1600 is about as competitive as 4A girls throws. Still, Harris ranks as one of the top contenders.

It's too bad Lisa Fraser's 36-10 in the triple wasn't wind legal. A mark like that would add to an already interesting 3A girls triple jump field--one which has a distinctively Berthoud flavor to this point.

R2-J Invite

If you've seen Karina Ernst, you know that she doesn't have much of a wind profile. That said, she was obviously ready to run on Friday evening. Low wind profile or not, the wind was blowing. To which Ernst responded with a 2:19 800 and a 5:07 1600. Put her on the list of 4A favorites.

And at a meet with a few good relay programs, nobody had an answer for the Loveland girls' relays. Five-for-five with room to spare. The 5A girls contenders all figure to run some great relays, but nobody is running as many as well as Loveland at this point in the season.

Ray Campbell Invitational

Colorado Springs is probably too big for only one local meet on a given weekend. But, that's what there was last weekend. That's partly why a large chunk of COS programs were out in La Junta on Thursday and up in Denver of Saturday.

With several solid teams concentrated here, it's not suprising that a few good marks came out of the day. The best of those marks may have been the 21.85 by Markesh Woodson in the 200. Earlier in the day, Woodson lost to Marcus Harris in the 100 by .03 second.

GinAsia Hamilton swept the 100, 200, and 400, but the best of the times was easily the 400.

Tiffany Kenney of CSCS won the 100 hurdles, long jump, and high jump as she begins to make more and more of a mark on the season.

Rifle Invitational

It was chilly in Rifle on Saturday, but chilly apparently doesn't bother Natalie Anderson. Anderson beat Brandi Krieg in the 3200, 11:10 to 11:22. While Krieg kept up the fight for almost six laps, Anderson owned the final chapter.

It's probably not terribly surprising that there's news about the Browning brothers. But the news has a twist this time. Taylor did his thing, winning the 200 in a wind-legal 21.96 (you read that correctly). You would think that Zach did his thing, too, by running a 49.42 in the 400. Only one problem, Andrew Proebstle of hometown Rifle won the event in 49.23. The Front Range 3A programs have some serious catching up to do in the 200 and 400 and very little time to do it.

Rock Canyon Jaguar Invitational

As I scan the results for this meet, there is a serious head-scratcher in the boys' 100 and 200. If the name of the winner had read "Trent Ireland," I would understand. But I don't recognize the name of Harrison Einspahr. If Broomfield really does have a second sprint ace in the deck, this could bring a rapid change in the face of the 4A boys race. Insights from the gallery? Anyone?

Smoky Hills' boys had an excellent day in the events from 800 meters and up. Be concerned when they package a 4x800 relay.

Wray Invitational

They made this one up from last week. With Akron running on Saturday, it made for a tight turnaround for a lot of teams. It looks like a bit of a toss-up with respect to which meet produced the better results.

What you should pay attention to out of this meet, however, is the Merino girls and Larissa Conger, in particular. Conger won the long jump at 16-0 (+1.5) and helped out on three relays for the Rams. If you're reading state meet tea leaves, Merino is starting to look like a big team favorite in 1A girls. If you know anything about the history of athletics at Merino High School, that revelation isn't going to come as a huge surprise.