Chyna Ries, shown here at last year's state meet, extended the national sophomore record for the indoor long jump by a little over four inches. Photo by Jeff McCoy.
It's a record that's been on the mind of a few folks for a while now. It was a record that was awaiting the convergence of all the right elements: take-off position, take-off speed, rise, and, no doubt, confidence. All those factors came together Saturday in Boulder when Chyna Ries shattered the national high school indoor record for sophomore girls with a leap of 20-5.75. That mark also has her, at least for the moment, atop the national indoor rankings for the girls' long jump.
Ries narrowly missed a double on the day, finishing a hair's breadth behind MaryBeth Sant in the 60, 7.47 to 7.48. That whoosh of wind you felt as the girls 60 meter final went by wasn't just Sant and Ries. No less than five girls ran 7.80 or faster. The others go by the names of Gillespie, Sanni, and Holland.
And, while Ries's mark was undisputably the highlight of the day's action, the day wasn't exactly short on action. The number of superior marks posted is all the more remarkable in light of the fact that a large contingent of Colorado's top indoor talent had headed down to Albuquerque for the Great Southwest Indoor meet.
Tabor Scholl put in her first indoor appearance and wasted no time serving notice to 2A track and field that she will have to be dealt with this spring. Scholl doubled up the 800 and mile titles with times of 2:20.04 and 5:12.30. It's not difficult to imagine a Scholl-Robinson showdown in the 1600 when May rolls around.
Poudre was well represented with Rachel Pott winning the shot put at 37-1.75 and Carly Paul taking the high jump at a modest (for her) 5-3.75. Keep a mental sticky note on these two names for the spring.
Scott Carter posted some nice marks on the boys' side, going 8.35 for second in the 60 hurdles, 21-5.25 for second in the long jump, and 47-9 for first in the triple jump. Jace Horak (8.33) edged Carter in the 60H, while Lorne Jenkins (21-10.75) did the deed in the long jump.
Jaylyn Mars and Alex Mead grabbed the 60 and 200 titles, respectively. Mead, for one, has to be yearning for tracks with a little wider turns than the indoor oval at Balch.
Frontier Academy's Chris Baker was a surprise winner in the boys mile with a time of 4:49.07. Perhaps Baker has even bigger things in store for the spring.
For most of Colorado's indoor contingent, the season ends next weekend in beautiful Pocatello, Idaho, at the Simplot games. Colorado also sends a large contingent and this year figures to be no exception. A few Colorado athletes may continue to the indoor national championships in March, but doing so does carry a conflict with the opening weekends of the outdoor season.