Boulder Running Company/Colorado Track XC Athletes of the Week
Annie Kunz - Wheat Ridge
Markesh Woodson - Fountain-Fort Carson
Special to Colorado Track XC by Jessica Foreman
Week 11
Drive. Stay low. Go hard. Drive. Stay low. Go hard.
As Wheat Ridge High School senior, Annie Kunz, climbs into the blocks and stares down the asphalt runway at the hurdles ahead, the last obstacles to overcome in her high school track career, this is the mantra she recites seconds before the starting gun fires. Kunz has experienced countless victories, overcome last season’s injuries, and it all adds up to what she must do to gain her last state title of the day. Drive. Go hard. Stay low.
All of the state’s top athletes competed last weekend in the Colorado State Track and Field Championships at Jeffco Stadium in Lakewood to see who would be named the best of the best in Colorado. The four-year track athlete was no newcomer to the stresses of the long weekend, and this time around, Kunz triumphed over the steepest competition in the state. Four times.
“It feels so good when your hard work finally pays off,” said Kunz. “When you cross the finish line, so much pressure drops. To have it happen four times was absolutely incredible.”
Kunz, a third-generation hurdler state champion (her dad and her grandfather hold 100 hurdle state titles), also helped her soccer team win the semi-finals and the quarter finals on top of running prelims and finals at the Jeffco meet. Kunz said that she had a six-day span where she was constantly active, which made her tired and a little bit nervous from the difficulty of the tasks ahead and the pressure to win.
“I knew that she could get the job done because we have so much confidence in her,” said Wheat Ridge Track and Field coach, Scott Chamberlin. “But you always have a little doubt because it’s just such an enormous task to maintain all that has to be done in the meet. A lot of her events are high-technical events.”
Chamberlin said Kunz scratched her first jump, and that is a risk that always has to be taken into consideration. He said Kunz maintained her cool and kept going with intensity.
Ice baths, visualization, and tips from her older sister and sprint/jump coach, Kelli, helped Kunz overcome fatigue to run two personal records in the 100H (14.09) and the Triple Jump (38-2), as well as two other first place finishes in the high jump (5-2) and the 300H (43.30).
Kunz has a multitalented background in track, which testifies to her remarkable athletic ability. She has not only competed in heptathlons, the open 200 m dash, and long jump, but had strong performances in all track events she has tried.
Kunz will compete in the annual state pentathlon competition at Brighton Stadium this Thursday. Chamberlin said that because Kunz is so versatile in her abilities, if she was solely a track runner, the heptathlon would be her strong suit. Kunz will continue running and playing soccer on scholarship at Texas A&M in the fall where she plans to study communications.
“If you were going to sit down and design a kid to be an athlete you need and a person you like to see, there aren’t many places where you could improve her,” said Chamberlin. “She’s maintained her sweet, charming, gracious personality.”
Kunz wasn’t the only success story from the weekend. Markesh Woodson, a junior from Fountain-Fort Carson High School, left Jeffco Stadium with two personal records and state championship titles in the 100m (10.45) and the 200m (21.09). Woodson admitted to feeling the nerves in full force on race day, but his regular routine before each race calmed him down.
“I get on my knees and pray to God that he will calm my heart, calm my mind, and He will let me do the best I can do,” said Woodson.
And the two-year track athlete did just that, and better.
“My goal at the state meet was to at least place in the top two,” said Woodson. “I wanted first but I just wanted to do my best to get us enough points to win the state meet. I put all of my faith in God and I ran to compete and I ended up getting first.”
Woodson was unable to run track his freshman year, but after some convincing from his mother, Stacy Woodson, he finally decided to run his sophomore year impressing coaches and everyone who saw him perform. Earlier this season, Woodson ran a personal record in the 400m (49.60), and has plans to compete in that race more during his senior year.
“He has demonstrated amazing potential throughout the season by never complaining about how difficult or intense the workouts will be for him and works extremely hard to please the coaches,” said Wheat Ridge Track and Field Coach, Ben Montoya. “His greatest attribute is that he does set goals for himself and then has the tenacity to follow through with those goals.”
Montoya describes Woodson as a very humble athlete with a deep desire to win and be successful, but also as a person who constantly jokes around with the team and keeps the atmosphere enjoyable and fun.
“We have always stressed the concept that Track and Field is a team sport for us first and the individual is second,” said Montoya. “With this in mind everyone will experience success at different levels but team success is what our athletes remember the most later in life.”
With Woodson leading the team in sprint events and this unified mindset, the Fountain-Fort Carson team boasted a first-place 5A State Championship victory. Kunz racked up the points for Wheat Ridge, and they received second place in the 4A division. Congratulations to both of these athletes for their well-earned state championship titles!