SPORTS EL PASO COUNTY SHINES AT STATE TRACK MEET

Fountain-Fort Carson, Pine Creek take boys’ 5A, 4A championships in 4x200 relay races

One El Paso County high school made a statement, and another reaffirmed its dominance, in the big-school 4×200-meter relays Friday at the state track meet at Jeffco Stadium.

First, the Pine Creek collective of senior Daniel Fuhr, senior Wyatt Wieland, junior DJ Armstead and sophomore anchor Maxwell Lofy dashed to the Class 4A crown in the event, giving the school its first relay title since the Eagles’ girls captured the 5A 4×200 in 2015.

Then, about 20 minutes later, defending boys team champion Fountain-Fort Carson — holders of 18 team titles overall — put another historic performance in the program’s books as its 4×200 erased a late deficit to Cherry Creek to capture the 5A championship.

For the Eagles, the 4×200 title came from the same exact foursome that finished eighth at last year’s snow-shortened, two-day state meet in which the finals for the relay were run across two heats.

“In the offseason, we knew we had a young team, and in order to win a state championship like this, we had to put in some extra work,” Lofy said. “We got in the gym and on the track as much as we could, and this was the result.”

Pine Creek’s finals time didn’t quite match its season best of 1:27.49, set in Thursday’s preliminaries, but it made no matter to the Eagles. With a 10-point first-place finish, they had nearly equaled their average team score from the past two state meets

combined (10.5).

“To be honest, the past couple years, our track team really hasn’t been known for anything and we really haven’t been very good,” said Wieland, who’s committed to Wyoming to play football. “To come out here this year, have a chance with the best seed time and then to make a statement feels good.”

But as Lofy pointed out shortly before the Trojans’ Jalen Lyon closed a last-second gap to edge Kyle Hanlan and the Bruins (1:26.65), “Fountain’s going to get their respects and deservedly so,” and the overall team leaders heading into the final day did just that in the 4×200.

The Trojans’ quartet of sophomore Michael Jones and seniors D’Ante Giles, Farrell and anchor Jalen Lyon erased the bad taste left in the team’s mouth after last year’s race, when Farrell and Lyon were among the foursome who lost the crown by .14 seconds to Hinkley.

“Honestly, I wanted to win it for these boys beside me and to go out with a bang my senior year,” said Lyon, who is running in the 200-meter and 400-meter finals tomorrow. “Coming into the last half, though, I knew we were going to have to earn this feeling.”

Lyon said the comeback win epitomized the culture within Fountain-Fort Carson boys track overall.

“We stay humble, we keep each other in check, and a big part of our culture is believing in each other — even when, like today, we were down in the last leg,” Lyon said. “I don’t think any one of my boys ever thought I wasn’t going to catch him.”