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...
- 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
