3A: What Marks Made it to State?

In 3A, where Berthoud's girls were dominant in sprint relays, state scratches from relays were few and far between. Photo by Jeff McCoy.

The 3A pattern of scratches the Sunday before state mostly followed the other classifications. Almost no scratches in relays, throws, or jumps. Distance had more scratches than the three preceding categories, but still small numbers.

Where 3A deviated from the norms of the other classifications was in the sheer number of scratches in the sprints. Most notably, no less than 11 scratches were recorded in the 3A girls 400. Five boys scratched the 3A boys 400. Was it due to the presence of names like Browning, Proebstle, Berggren, and Celis? Or did it owe to some other factor? Whatever the case, neither 400 was the field a lot of people were expecting.

Following is a breakdown of times needed to make top 18, to qualify for state, and a breakdown of the scratches by event:

* - One of these "scratches" involves Tiffany Confer, a wheelchair athlete from Buena Vista. Confer's scratch was more or less automatic as her participation was limited to invitational meets.