As always, Colorado will be well represented at the HOKA Festival of Miles with a handful of runners from Colorado in almost every section of the meet! Here are some of the names that will represent the state and try to bring home some hardware!
Final Surge HS Girls 800m
Madeline Clark, Mountain View High School: Clark will represent Colorado in the 800m, and she was the top ranked athlete in the event for the state with a personal best time of 2:08! She showed a lot of strength in both the 400m with a PR of 56.08 and the 1600m with a personal best time of 4:51, demonstrating her strength, endurance, and speed. She also won the Class 4A state title in the 800m in a time of 2:09.
Final Surge HS Boys 800m
Nolan Thackwell, Air Academy High School: Thackwell was part of one of the fastest 800m races ever in Colorado, competing in Class 4A at the state meet. He ended up placing a strong 4th place overall in a new personal best time of 1:50! He has also run 4:11 in the 1600m, demonstrating a lot of strength and endurance in that event as well.
Spewak Training HS Girls Elite Mile
Delaney Reuter, Eaton High School: Reuter once again won multiple state titles this season, winning both the 1600m and the 3200m for Class 3A and almost pulling off the triple, finishing 2nd overall in the 800m. She ended the season with personal best times of 4:53 in the 1600m and 10:06 in the 3200m at sea level and an altitude PR of 10:20. Reuter is used to running solo but will be pushed in this field and hopefully to a brand new personal best!
Elise Hagen, Niwot High School: Hagen recently ran a huge personal best in the 1600m at the RunningLane Track Championships, finishing the race in 4:47! Earlier in the season, she ran 4:54 for her altitude PR in the 1600m and finished a strong 3rd overall at the state meet for Class 4A. She also ran 10:13 in the 3200m for her sea level PR.
Spewak Training HS Boys Elite Mile
Benjamin Adams, Mountain Vista High School: Adams won this race a year ago in an impressive time of 4:02! Though he had a quieter track season, with season best times of 4:08 for the 1600m and 8:57 for the 3200m, Adams still pulled off the victory at the Class 5A state meet in the 3200m and placed 2nd overall in the 1600m with a time of 4:10, which was five seconds faster than what he ran last year.
Ryder Keeton, Niwot High School: Keeton ran a handful of PRs this season, running a new sea level personal best of 8:47 in the 3200m and a new altitude PR of 4:09 in the 1600m! He also placed 2nd overall in the 3200m at the Class 4A state meet and finished 5th in the 1600m in the most competitive classification for distance running in Colorado.
Quinn Sullivan, Niwot High School: Last season, Sullivan was seen as more of an 800m runner, but this year he improved in every area of running, hitting personal best times of 1:49 in the 800m, 4:08 in the 1600m and 4:05 for the mile at sea level, and 8:41 for the 3200m also at sea level! He placed 2nd overall in the 800m at the state meet and 4th in the 1600m.
Cadel Ruthven, Fort Collins High School: Ruthven also hit some big personal bests this season, including a sea level PR of 4:06 for the 1600m and an individual win at the Arcadia Invitational! He also ran 9:10 for the 3200m and placed 4th overall in the event for Class 5A at the state meet and took the victory in the 1600m and 2nd overall in the 800m.
Aiden Le Roux, Cheyenne Mountain High School: Le Roux has been plagued by injuries this season, but still hit some impressive times, including a new PR of 4:09 in the 1600m! He also ran 9:10 early on in the season in the 3200m and ran a new personal best in the 800m of 1:55! Clearly Le Roux has been working on his turnover and as long as he is healthy should be able to be in the mix for this race.
Jude Ritzenhein, Niwot High School: Ritzenhein is the freshman and the young one in this field, but has run 4:10 for the 1600m at altitude! He was also able to get on the podium in Class 4A at the state meet for the 1600m, placing 7th overall! Finally, he ran a personal best time of 1:55 in the 800m, placing 13th overall at the state meet.
HOKA HS Girls Championship Mile
Addison Ritzenhein, Niwot High School: Rtizenhein ran a new PR in the 1600m of 4:43 earlier in the season, but was less than a second from that personal best at the state meet, where she ran 4:44 and at altitude! She ran a brand new Class 4A state meet record with that time, showing that Ritzenhein is riding a lot of momentum going in to this meet, especially in the mile distance.
HOKA HS Boys Championship Mile
Jay McDonald, Summit High School: McDonald has run some of the fastest times in Colorado the last part of the season, running 4:06 for the 1600m at altitude and running 1:48 in the 800m! He placed 2nd overall for Class 4A in the 1600m and won the 800m title with that impressive time, breaking the Class 4A state meet record.
Abdinasir Hassan, Northfield High School: Though Hassan has not been able to compete for Northfield High School yet, he has been incredibly successful out of state, running 4:04 for the full mile and most recently winning the RunningLane Track Championship in the 3200m with a time of 8:43! He also paced 3rd overall in the 1600m at the same meet, where he ran his PR.
Rocco Culpepper, Niwot High School: Culpepper pulled off a tough win at the Class 4A state meet in the 1600m, winning his 3rd consecutive title in the event! He also ran 4:05 earlier this season for the full mile and ran 1:50 for the 800m, finishing 3rd overall at the state meet with that time, which was also a new personal best.
