More to come
Bocopreps.com
LAKEWOOD — With one attempt remaining in the boys triple jump on Thursday, Longmont’s Caleb Johnson knew he had more to give.
After a pep talk from coaches and friends, he found another gear and won the Class 4A state title at Jeffco Stadium. Johnson, a senior, matched his personal record — and the school record — with a leap of 46 feet, 9 inches on the first day of the state meet.
“I had a few people talk to me, just telling me I could do it,” Johnson said. “I believed that in my head I could do it. I knew this was gonna be my last jump of high school and I had to give it my all, so I just put my best foot forward and I ended up getting it.”
Johnson knocked off Grand Junction’s Miller Jones, who came in as the favorite and finished second at 46-4.5. Johnson was 6 1/4 inches off the lead before his final leap. Jones had one more attempt, but couldn’t top Johnson’s mark.
“It was super surreal,” Johnson said. “Last year was pretty disappointing (finishing 11th). I didn’t get the marks I wanted, so to improve this year to eventually be a state champion means a lot. I have a great coach and I’ve been getting better every week, so I just was trusting the process and I knew I could beat him if I gave a good jump.”
Longmont also had a great performance in the boys 3,200-meter relay, placing second behind Cheyenne Mountain. The team of Cooper Hixson, Andreas O’malley, Dominic Warner and Connor Mccormick posted a time of 7 minutes, 52.34 seconds — breaking the school record.
“We’re very excited,” Mccormick said. “Last year we got second at this race, too, but I believe we had an 8:03 for that. We were a quarter of a second off from our school record last year. … We just blew out our school record by about 10 seconds so we’re really happy with it even though we didn’t get that win.”
Centaurus placed third in the boys 3,200-meter relay (7:59.53), while Mead was sixth (8:02.84).
On the girls side for the Trojans, Ella Pears placed second in the 4A triple jump with a leap of 36 feet, 7 inches. Pears led a trio of local athletes in the triple jump, as Niwot’s Kathryn Carroll was eighth (34-9) and Erie’s Kiara Welch was ninth (34-0.75). really feel it. We all really confident with
While that was the only relay final of the day, the Cougars also posted the top qualifying time in the 800 sprint medley preliminaries and the second-best time in the 800 relay prelims. On Friday, the Cougars will run in the 400 relay and 1,600 relay prelims.
“We definitely really prioritize the relays and especially the team aspect of relays,” Klingbeil said. “It’s just really important to us.” feel ourselves.”
When Peak to Peak sophomore Kourtney Rathke reenters the fold for the Class 3A state track and field competition on Friday, she’ll already have quite the accomplishment under her belt.
Rathke, who’s expected to contend for a state title in the pole vault with her No. 2 seed height of 13 feet, 1 inch, finished third in the triple jump on Thursday after blowing past her former personal record of 36-9. She earned her bronze medal with a third hop of 37-3.25.
“It’s so exciting. I love trying new events during high school season,” Rathke said. “That’s kind of what I do because pole vault’s my main event, so just throughout the high school season, I get to do other events. It’s just a really fun time.”
When Rathke returns to the runway for pole vault on what’s expected to be a very rainy Friday, she’ll already be surpassing her personal best from her freshman season by a wide margin, which saw her take the silver with a 12-3 clearance.
On the final day of the track meet, she’ll throw her name into the pool of competitors in the long jump and 100-meter hurdles as well. She finished fifth in the 100 hurdles prelims at 16.10 seconds.
“I just love to compete,” she said. “I love the environment and it’s always fun just to show how hard you’ve
Cliff Grassmick worked over the season, so it’s always a good opportunity. Today was such nice weather against the forecast and so I’m just taking advantage of the opportunity for sure.”
Cliff Grassmick