State Meet Wrap-Up

Christina Stathakis: Castle View's Class 5A Pole Vault State Champion!

Most people would feel a little daunted after missing their first 2 jumps at opening height. Not Christina Stathakis. Even fewer can then string together 4 perfect jumps in a row. That is exactly what Christina did today on the pole vault runway at Jefferson County Stadium. Christina missed her first 2 jumps at her opening height, and did not miss again until she had set a new PR and won herself a championship. At the end of the day Christina cleared 11ft 9in, also a school record. This was Christina's 4th state meet pole vault appearance, and her last was definitely her best. This is the first time a CV girl has won a state championship. One for the record books for sure, and for anyone watching not one to be soon forgotten!

Speaking of first-time, record breaking occurrences: a girls relay team has both made finals and placed in the state meet. On paper our girls 4x100m relay team came into the meet not even predicted to make finals. That's why you run the race! Our four girls (Stathakis to Pettit to Mackin to Cooley) qualified for finals on Friday with a new school record time of 48.85s. In the final on Saturday they were seeded 7th, but were un-phased by the odds. The team got the baton around the track, and crossed the finish line with another school record of 48.61s, placing 5th. No team had a greater time improvement between prelims and finals than did the Sabercats. Great job ladies.

Notice Christina Stathakis in the picture above? Yes, she ran in this relay, and, yes, it was during her pole vaulting competition. She would not have wanted it any different. Heart of a champion.

Other very noteworthy mentionables from the last two days (forgive my bullet points--I'm exhausted and incredibly dehydrated after the last 3 days. The first two paragraphs of this post were a real labor)

• Two boy pole vaulters, Christian Mueller and Riley Chase, reached the podium. This is a first as well. Riley scored an 8th place finish, while an ailing Christian Mueller bolstered his immune system up enough to clear 14ft and earn a 3rd place finish.
• Two girls discus throwers made it onto the podium as well, a pair of sensational sophomores nonetheless. Sierra Suazo achieved a 6th place finish, and Michaela Kelly earned team points in 9th with a PR throw of 112ft 11in 
• Savanna Dalton on Friday romped around the track in the 3200m on her way to a 6th place finish. She returned on Saturday to run the 1600m. This time she found herself out of the points, but did run a new PR and school record of 5:14.11. 
• Forrest Barton on Friday was a hurting unit. He ran the 3200m to the best of his ability, but the illness he was facing was just a little too much to overcome. However, Forrest returned to the track today and was apparently feeling significantly better. He ran a gutsy race and finished in the points at 7th. A healthy Forrest Barton would have made already exciting races even better. Nice job Forrest!
• Chris Linnin wrapped up his competition on Friday, but before he was done he followed his triple jump state championship with a 2nd place finish in the high jump and a 4th place finish in the long jump. Chris earned 24 points for the team with his three events. A terrific state meet without any doubt.
• Julie Mackin completed another first for the lady Sabercats: on Friday she became the first female jumper (long or triple) to make it to finals. She did not end up scoring in the event, but these milestones are important for both her and the team. With a lot of hard work, she'll return next year with some invaluable experience.

Most importantly, here are the team scores from this weekend...

 Some interesting notes on the boys scores...

• This is the 2nd best finish ever for the CV boys team. In 2009 that boys team finished 3rd, but that was in 4A, so...
• This is the best finish ever for the boys in 5A
• In the last seven seasons the boys have finished in the top 10 five times
• We had the best finish of any Continental League team (Heritage, Highlands Ranch, ThunderRidge, Mountain Vista, Rock Canyon, Regis, Chaparral, Legend, Ponderosa, and Douglas County)
• If you don't know, you should know that we beat some powerhouses in team scoring: Cherokee Trail, Chaparral, Regis, Arapahoe, and ThunderRidge to name just a few

Some interesting notes on the girls scores...

• This is the first time the girls have finished in the top 10
• This is the most points the girls team has ever scored...
• In fact, if you add up all the other scores for the CV girls track teams at state they do not equal what we scored this weekend (I'll spare you the research: 28.5 is the total number of points scored previously from 2007 to 2014).
• Once again, we beat a very talented ThunderRidge team, and once again it was by the narrowest of margins
• We had the best finish of any Continental League team (Heritage, Highlands Ranch, ThunderRidge, Mountain Vista, Rock Canyon, Regis, Chaparral, Legend, Ponderosa, and Douglas County)
• Some of the teams we did finish ahead of is sort of a who's-who in CO track: Arapahoe, Regis, Fountain-Ft. Carson, Poudre, GW, and Rocky Mountain just to name a few.

Looking forward

I would love to just celebrate what we've done, but my mind gets turning when I spend three days at this meet. We've done some great things, but that is no guarantee for the future. Here is a partial list of focuses we should have to continue the success we had this weekend and all of this season...

• Give our seniors a fitting send-off with our banquet on Monday (5pm, Bison Park)
• Find athletes to fill some of the spaces our seniors leave open
• Lift weights! Lift weights!! Lift weights!!! (summer lifting would be a great start, and then Coach Pfeiffer's strength classes during the school year)
• Get more athletes, coaches, and fans out to the state meet making a scene by screaming like an insane person whenever a CV kid is competing
• As always, enhance the professional development of our staff
• Fill holes left open on our coaching staff
• Improve our abilities in races between 200m and 800m. Coach Baker has made some fantastic progress this year with a quality group of athletes. More is needed.
• Our goals in the 400m need to be recalibrated. We aim for 60s on the girls side, and 50 on the boys. Our goals need to be set for more around 57.5s for girls, and 48.0 seconds for boys. (winning girls 4x400 from FoCo HS today had splits of 57-57-59-55)
• Pole Vaulters need to communicate with Coach Munoz about off-season training he is doing. He is doing incredible things with our vaulters, so if you are interested in improving your vaulting use this tremendous resource. All track & field events need to be worked on more than just during the 3 months of the seasons, perhaps none more so than PV
• More hurdlers. Anyone?....Anyone?
• Participation in other sports, or working out year-round is a must
• Joining winter track if not in a winter sport
• Expanding our winter track program with more coaches and event offerings
• That's not all, but that is all for now...

Thanks for reading. I'm going to go start my recovery process now. The first few days without track are a little tough on me--I feel like a little kid on the day after Christmas.

Coach Nack

2015 First day of state wrap-up

Christopher Linnin: Castle View's 2015 Class 5A Triple Jump State Champion!

A slightly better version of the video can be seen by clicking here

You know you're having a good day when your worst measured jump is a 1/2 inch over your PR. This was Chistropher Linnin's day. He set a new personal record, school record, and notched the track team's 4th individual state champion title with a jump of 46ft 9.5in. Chris has some goals he still wants to accomplish in the next couple of days, so we'll leave the congratulatory comments to that, but it's a great start!

I really like starting these posts off on a good note, and the above allowed me to do that. However, I do want to address something that was on the mind of all of our athletes and coaches that were at the state competition today, I'm sure as well a lot of students and athletes at CV. One of our senior athletes and members of the 4x200m team that ran today, had what could unmistakably be called a medical emergency. I won't post details here about what happened, but please be reassured that Blake is recovering. Blake: we missed you today man! You were on all of our minds. We hope all the reports of your recovery are true and that you might be able to come out to the meet tomorrow and Saturday.

Speaking of the boys 4x200m relay... We had a freshmen, Kyle Brock (aka YoungBuck, a la Coach Pfeiffer) stepped in to fill the emergency-mandated role. Kyle, and the rest of the team ran great. Unfortunately they did not make it to finals, but the team ran our best 4x200m of the season by almost a second. That team was (in order) Strahler to Brock to Stroz to Russel. Bad news: we say goodbye to two of these runners as seniors. Good news: we get two of them back next year.

Another highlight on the day: the girls shot put and Sierra Suazo. Sierra returned to an event in which she surprised the field last year, starting as a low seed and finishing 7th...as a freshman. Well, she completed a similar act today. Sierra started as the 15th seed and finished 4th with a PR of more than 3ft! That is spectacular. Sierra, like Mr. Linnin above, also has some unfinished business to see to on Saturday. You can catch her, and teammate Michaela Kelly, in the discus at 1:30pm on Saturday.

I couldn't quite get a read on how our girls 4x800m team felt about their race. They finished better than they had the year before, which is good, but they didn't notch a school record or place in the top 9. Knowing how competitive these girls are, I'm guessing that doesn't sit well. Despite that, nice job this season ladies. It took lots of hard work to get to today and the coaches appreciate what you've done.

We had some other athletes that competed today in other events (namely Mackenzie Pettit in 3[!!!] events), that did not go exactly as they had wished. Because of that I think they prefer I not publicly associate them with their performances. I'll just say this...you guys were put into some tough positions today that I respect you for taking on. I learned a lot about you guys and the state meet today. Thanks, and despite what you may or may not be currently feeling, nice job.

Coming up tomorrow (Friday):

   Linnin in the LJ at 8:30am
   Girls 4x100m at 9:50
   Dalton in the 3200m at 10:10
   Barton in the 3200m at 10:30
   Linnin in the HJ at 1:30
   Mackin in the LJ at 2pm
   Or just see the full schedule here

If you're competing, be there 1.5 - 2 hours before your event. If you're coming to the meet to watch, our tent is in the lawn on the southwest corner. Come by and visit.


Coach Nack

Castle View's 2015 Colorado State Track & Field State Qualifiers

EDIT: State meet heat sheets link: http://chsaanow.com/2015-05-10/state-track-and-field-boys-and-girls-heat-sheets-2015/#5A

The following athletes have earned themselves one more week of track and field competition. Qualifying for state in Colorado track & field is no easy task. The competition throughout the state is stiff, and with athletes being abled to check standings on a weekly basis it makes it all the more competitive. Athletes know that while they are gunning for marks better than their own that there are also athletes behind them taking aim at their marks. Everyone's aim are the top 18 positions in the state. The positions and rankings change every week. The system has it's detractors, but I personally love it. It's wonderfully competitive.

Here are CV Track & Field's State Qualifiers:

EDIT: I got some wonderful news from CHSAA on Monday morning and it included this athlete at the top. It is a long explanation for how she got put in, and I'm not sure I even completely understand how it happened. Whatever the case, we're happy she is in.

Kendall Cooley- Kendall, a junior, is in her first year with CV track. She's added a lot to the team this season, and the future looks even better. As anyone that knows Kendall is aware, she is a standout volleyball player, but her budding track skills are reason to fetch her great attention going forward. She will compete on Thursday in the 5A girls 100m dash Congratulations Kendall

Forrest Barton- Forrest is ranked 7th in the 1600m Run with a time of 4:23.04. Forrest also qualified for state in the 3200m run with a time of 9:41.36, which ranks him 11th in class 5A. This is Forrest's second time in the State Meet. Last year he competed in the 3200m run and finished 12th; a strong performance, yet I know Forrest is aiming for and primed for more this year. Congratulations Forrest

Savanna Dalton- Savanna will be running as the 16th seeded runner in the 1600m runner with a season best time of 5:14.16. Her time of 11:24.45 in the 3200m run was also enough to earn her the 15th seeded spot. Savanna will also be an integral member of the 4x800m team that will be running on Thursday morning. This is Savanna's second trip to the State meet. She competed in the 3200m run and 4x800m relay last year, finishing 10th and 13th respectively, and setting a school record in both. Congratulation Savanna

Parker Strahler- Parker makes his 3rd appearance at the state track meet having gone his Sophomore year for the 4x200m relay, and his Junior year for the 110m and 300m hurdle races. This year he'll make a return appearance in the 110m hurdles as the 8th seeded runner with a school record time of 14.86s. Parker will also be a part of our boys 4x200m relay, and with a little help help perhaps our boys 4x100m team. Congratulations Parker

Mackenzie Pettit- UNC bound Mackenzie finds herself in her 3rd state meet, having competed in the high jump in 2013, the high jump and triple jump in 2014, and in 2015 she adds a 3rd event by competing in the 100m Hurdles along with the aforementioned high jump and triple jump. Seeded 2nd in the high jump, 14th in the triple jump, and 16th in the hurdles Mackenzie has her sights set on some big performances. Congratulations Mackenzie

Julie Mackin- Julie makes her second appearance at State having run her freshman year (2013) in the qualifying 4x200m relay. This year she will return with two events: the long jump and the 4x100m relay. The soccer/track standout comes in ranked as 10th in the LJ having notched a jump of 17-6.5 in the Continental League meet, which earned her a personal League title, helped spur the team to victory, and a school record. Congratulations Julie

Christopher Linnin- Christopher is perhaps our most abundantly occurring name at this year's state meet. He makes his third appearance at the State track meet ranked third in all three of his jumps: long jump (22-5.5), triple jump 45-9.75), and high jump (6-10). His marks in those three events are our school records. Having competed twice before in the high jump, Chris is very familiar with the high jump apron at JeffCo stadium and is poised for a big performance. Congratulations Chris

Christian Mueller- Three years in Colorado, three years at the state meet...not a bad statistic for this pole vaulter to carry into this year's meet. Christian enters the meet as the second seeded vaulter, and is aiming for that top spot. Coach Munoz has this University of Sioux Falls vaulter ready to go big! His seed mark of 15-7 is our school record, which looks to be in danger of falling again on the runway of JeffCo Stadium. Congratulations Christian

Christina Stathakis- Christina is our only athlete to have qualified for state all four years of her high school track career. The swimmer turned trackster qualifies as the 3rd ranked female pole vaulter in the state. Christina's best finish at the State meet is 3rd, but I have a hunch that might change this week. Christina also looks to play a role with the 10th ranked 4x100m relay team. Congratulations Christina

Riley Chase- Riley looks to continue the lineage of pole vaulters we've had at CV over the years. What better way than going to his first state meet as a Sophomore? His Sophomore record vault of 13-7 (formerly the property of Mr. Mueller), makes him the 12th seeded jumper in the competition. Congratulations Riley

Ryan Hardin- (edited Monday night) Ryan qualified for State in the shot put just under the cuff in the 18th position. His mark of 48-4.25 is our school record. Ryan will not be able to compete, and the field of athletes should be grateful, because Ryan was going to eat them up. He qualified for the spot, and he should be extremely proud. Congratulations Ryan 

Michaela Kelly- Michaela qualifies for state in the discus as the 16th seeded thrower with a season best mark of 111-10. Michaela has proven she is more than a one-trick pony by adding "State qualifying thrower" to her resumè alongside softball player extraordinaire. If Michaela gets a good week of practice in she just might find herself with a podium position on Saturday afternoon. Congratulations Michaela

Sierra Suazo- Sierra was the Cinderella of last year's female state qualifiers. As a Freshman in 2014 she placed herself 7th with a throw of 34-6.25 in the shot put. Sierra returns to state in 2015, but this time she'll throw both implements being the 4th ranked discus thrower, and 15th ranked shot putter. Congratulations Sierra

Kelly Albers- Kelly, our school record holder in the shot put, makes her first State meet appearance. The senior, with a mark of 36-0.5, enters competition as the 10th seed and aims to get herself a podium finish. Kelly also figures to be a part of our girls 4x100m relay team. Congratulations Kelly

Girls 4x100m relay- (the relay team I have here are who ran them this past weekend at Continental League Championships--Coach Pfeiffer may make changes, and will appoint alternates) In alphabetical order: Kelly Albers, 12th;  Kendall Cooley, 11th; Julie Mackin, 11th; Christina Stathakis, 12th. This is the highest ranking girls sprint relay CV has ever had. Look for them speeding through lane 3 at 9:50am on Friday.

Boys 4x200m relay- (the relay team I have here are who ran them this past weekend at Continental League Championships--Coach Pfeiffer may make changes, and will appoint alternates)  In alphabetical order: Kaden Russell, 12th; Parker Strahler, 12th; Ryan Stroz, 11th; Blake Wessbecker, 12th. Three of these 4 athletes will be making attending their first State meet. I can almost guarantee that the experience will make Russell and Wessbecker wish they had taken up the sport earlier. The boys come in ranked 17th, but with tough competition and the comfort of a couple weeks of working hand-offs together they can compete with almost anyone. 

Girls 4x800m relay- (the relay team I have here are who ran them this past weekend at Continental League Championships--Coach Kuhn may make changes, and will appoint alternates)  In alphabetical order: Melissa Anderson, 12th; Savanna Dalton, 11th; Kylie Johnson, 12th; Calysta McKinney, 10th. Three of these 4 girls ran this race last year at the State meet and finished 13th. This year's mix has a great promise for a higher finish. Podium anyone?

   

One last note on State meet entries: We had a few close calls on athletes/relays making it in to the meet. Most notably is the boys 4x100m relay who was ranked 19th. I'm shocked that team didn't get in, but there is still a chance it can get in. One of the teams 1-18 will have to drop out. We will not know for sure until heat sheets are released which might not be until Monday afternoon. Hope for the best.

Entry sheet

Schedule

If you've been to the meet before you'll notice a change in the time schedule for this year, particularly with the field events. The 3200m has also changed days from Thursday to Friday for 5A.

If you've never been before, the state meet is a jam-packed feast for the senses. There are a ton of people there to both watch and compete. If this is your first time going I highly recommend showing up early, or if you don't compete until Friday or Saturday you might want to think about going on Thursday to take everything in and get your mind calibrated to what it will look like during competition. If you are on the team, but are not competing at the state meet I highly suggest you come to the meet especially on Thursday or Friday. I know that is during school, and, no, I cannot excuse you. However, you can ask your parents to excuse you, and heck maybe even ask them to come with you. They'd love to do that just to get the chance to spend time with you. Parents are suckers for that stuff these days. 

Anyways, click here to see the schedule. (pink highlights are events a CV athletes is guaranteed to be in, blue highlights are events the athletes would have to qualify for in prelims)

This has taken me an insanely long time. It's Mother's Day--Go spend some time your mothers.

Coach Nack

League Championships entries, heat sheets and schedule

Athletes in pink are predicted to score in the top 8 in their respective event.


Heat sheets can be found from this article on MileSplit

Below are the schedules for Thursday and Saturday. Weather is bound to have an impact at some point. I will keep you up to date of any changes.

MEET SCHEDULE

THURSDAY, MAY 7^TH

RUNNING EVENTS:

           

            4:00     800m Medley             Girls    Finals

            4:10     4 X 800m Relay          Girls    Finals

            4:25     4 X 800m Relay          Boys   Finals

            4:40     100m Hurdles             Girls    Prelims

            4:50     110m Hurdles             Boys   Prelims

            5:00     100m Dash                  Girls    Prelims

            5:20     100m Dash                  Boys   Prelims

            5:40     3200m Run                 Girls    Faster Heat

            6:00     3200m Run                 Boys   Faster Heat

            6:20     200m Dash                  Girls    Prelims

            6:40     200m Dash                  Boys   Prelims

FIELD EVENTS:

            4:00     Triple Jump    Girls

                        Long Jump      Boys

                        Shot Put          Girls

                        High Jump      Boys

                        Pole Vault       Girls

                        Discus             Boys

SATURDAY, MAY 9^TH

RUNNING EVENTS:

                                    *ALL EVENTS ARE FINALS*

            9:00     100m Hurdles             Girls   

            9:05     110m Hurdles             Boys  

            9:15     100m Dash                  Girls   

            9:20     100m Dash                  Boys  

            9:30     4 X 200 Relay             Girls   

            9:40     4 X 200 Relay             Boys  

            9:50     1600m Run                 Girls   

            10:05   1600m Run                 Boys

            10:25   4 X 100 Relay             Girls

            10:35   4 X 100 Relay             Boys

            10:45   400m Dash                  Girls

            11:00   400m Dash                  Boys

            11:15   300m Hurdles             Girls

            11:25   300m Hurdles             Boys

            11:40   800m Run                   Girls

            11:50   800m Run                   Boys  

            12:00   200m Dash                  Girls

            12:15   200m Dash                  Boys

            12:30   3200m Run                 Girls    Slower Heat

            12:50   3200m Run                 Boys   Slower Heat

            1:10     4 X 400 Relay             Girls

            1:20     4 X 400 Relay             Boys

FIELD EVENTS:

            9:00     Long Jump      Girls

                        Triple Jump    Boys

                        Discus             Girls

                        Pole Vault       Boys

                        High Jump      Girls

                        Shot Put          Boys

MileSplit post: Chipping Away at Qualifying Marks

Get yourself a MileSplit login and read this article, peppered with many mentions of CV Track athletes.

http://co.milesplit.com/articles/153262/chipping-away-at-qualifying-marks