At pretty much the same time, Koby Dudley was competing in the high jump. Koby ended up tied for 5th with a jump of 6-2. His finish earns the boys team 4.5 pts (not to mention his fantasy team 18pts). Koby's clearance at 6-2 was huge, which had me imagining big PRs for him on the day, but unfortunately it just wasn't in the cards. The best news: all of the athletes that finished ahead of Koby are Seniors, which means Koby has a fresh slate of competitors to go against next year, of which he is the leader.
Savanna Dalton stormed onto the track at 9:20am to run the first of her three races this weekend, the 3200m run. This race had some excellent performances in it, the least of which not being Savanna's run. Savanna ran patiently and consistently, yet very competitively. She finished the race in 6th place, narrowly edging last year's champion, and earning the same number of points she did for the team last season, 4. The highlight of this race for Savanna: her time of 11:15.96 was not only her season best, but also her all time best, AND our school's all time best. Congratulations to Savanna on her new school record.
(not to steal Savanna's sunshine, but I do like to point out highlights of the meet overall where I can. In this same race, Grandview HS's Brie Oakley ran a CO State Meet record of 10:33.16, beating a record which had stood for 26 years)
Simultaneously with Mackin and Dudley, Riley Chase was competing in the PV. Riley had a nice day by recording a Personal Record not just once (14-1) but twice (14-7). Riley's efforts were good enough to notch him a 6th place finish, two spots ahead of where he finished last year. His finish earns the boys team 4 points (that's a total of 8.5 for those of you adding at home). Riley's going to get used to some higher bars and poles in the offseason, and you'll see him clearing heights far past his current PR.
Just prior to Julie Mackin's finals in the Long Jump, her and the other members of the 4x200m girls team (Abbie Cooley, Kendall Cooley, Kori Baker) took to the track for their preliminary race. These girls ran in lane 1 and raced really well against a tough field. They came up short of finals, but they finished as the 12th seed after entering as the 16th seed. The biggest news for this group of girls: their time of 1:44.75 is Castle View's new school record (by the slimmest of margins, btw, .01 seconds).
Garren Hoffman-Maroney took to the track 50 minutes after the our girls 4x200m. Garren was in lane 1, pitted against the fastest times in the state. He ran a tough race finishing at 15.43s, but came up a little short of the finals (by the way, the top 3 finishers in each of two flights, plus the next three best times make it to finals), but he ran really well. Speaking with him after the race, I got the feeling that he was happy with his performance, and sometimes that is enough. I'm sure he has his sights set on bigger things for next year. This first performance for him at the state meet serves as an invaluable learning experience.
Our Girls 4x800m relay team did not quite have the performance they were looking for, but there efforts gained them some great experience for the seasons to come. Calysta McKinney has one season left. Erin Krauss has two. Madi Boekes has 3 (not to mention a slate of alternates with the same number of years and great potential). Unfortunately, Savanna Dalton has no more years left, and she has huge shoes to fill, but she did a great job of leading this squad, and they'll be better off for it.
Sierra Suazo had nothing much exciting happening in her life prior to the state meet, so yesterday at practice she decided to sprain her ankle to make things a little more interesting. She might say otherwise, but I think we all woke up this morning a little unsure of whether or not she would compete today. After extensive icing, and warming up Sierra entered the ring to compete. On her first throw, and from a full spin (!) she threw a 132-2! Due to the injury, Sierra took less than the full number of throws, but she still finished in 4th place earning the team 6 pts. Sierra now turns her focus to taking care of her ankle in order to be prepared for Saturday morning's shot put competition.
Brooke Walker wrapped up her first season of pole vaulting with a PR height of 10-4. She was just out of scoring position. In year's past, this height would have for sure earned Brooke and the team some points. She has nothing to be disappointed about. Not bad for anyone, much less a first year pole vaulter.
Onto tomorrow...Only one race, but it is the best one! The girls 4x100m takes the track at 9am shooting for a spot in the finals.
On Saturday we have 4 times the number of events that we do Friday, with Zander in the Triple Jump, Suazo in the shot put, Colton Homuth in the Shot Put, and Dalton putting a bow on her high school running career when she runs the 1600m.
