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Class 3A track: Titans surprised by finish in 4×800 relay

Jon Mitchell
jmitchell@postindependent.com
Coal Ridge High School senior Enrique Bucio, left, is consoled by teammate Jake Morgan the 4x800-meter final at the Class 3A State Championships at Jefferson County Stadium in Lakewood on Thursday. The Titans finished third in the race.
Jon Mitchell / Post Independent |

Colorado 3A High School Track Results

LAKEWOOD — Here are Thursday’s results in the finals of the Colorado Class 3A state track and field championships at Jefferson County Stadium. (Running events in meters):

BOYS

Team scores — Platte Valley 22; Alamosa 16; Bayfield 15; Salida 11; Lamar 10; Eaton 9; Vanguard 8; Coal Ridge 7; Sterling 7; Colorado Springs Christian 6; Frontier Academy 5; Manitou Springs 5; Buena Vista 4; Lutheran 4; La Junta 3; Bennett 2; Faith Christian 2; Gunnison 1; Machebeuf 1.

3200-meter relay — 1, Alamosa, 8:05.22; 2, Vanguard, 8:07.56; 3, Coal Ridge, 8:16.12; 4, Colorado Springs Christian, 8:20.89; 5, Frontier Academy, 8:24.31; 6, Buena Vista, 8:25.29; 7, Salida, 8:26.43; 8, Lamar, 8:26.86; 9, Machebeuf, 8:28.86.

Long jump — 1, Conner Kennedy, Bayfield, 23-0; 2, Gallian Roberts, Salida, 22-3.5; 3, Dane Corliss, Platte Valley, 21-11.75; 4, Jahlil Plant, Alamosa, 21-8.5; 5, Bryce Coop, Manitou Springs, 21-6.5; 6, Kharon Hall, Lutheran, 21-6; 7, Dalton Waln, Eaton, 21-6; 8, Danny Warner, Bennett, 20-9.75; 9, Jack Murphy, Gunnison, 20-9.75.

Shot put — 1, Parker Joens, Platte Valley, 51-6.25; 2, Santana Salazar, Lamar, 49-5.75; 3, Brent Gilliland, Sterling, 49-1.75; 4, Garrett Coalson, Eaton, 49-1; 5, James Baladez, Platte Valley, 48-8.25; 6, Aubry Brown, Bayfield, 47-11; 7, Vicente Ramirez, La Junta, 45-9.75; 8, Zac Schulstad, Faith Christian, 45-5.25; 9, Blane Barnes, Bayfield, 45-4.5.

GIRLS

Team scores — Eaton 15; Peak to Peak 10; University 10; Alamosa 8; Sterling 8; Kent Denver 6; Lutheran 6; Bayfield 5; Salida 5; Buena Vista 4; Moffat County 4; Middle Park 3; SkyView Academy 3; Aspen 2; Basalt 2; Colorado Springs Christian 1.

3200-meter relay — 1, Peak to Peak, 9:43.90; 2, Alamosa, 9:43.94; 3, Eaton, 9:51.38; 4, Kent Denver, 9:58.29; 5, Salida, 10:01.72; 6, Moffat County, 10:01.78; 7, SkyView Academy, 10:05.11; 8, Aspen, 10:08.14; 9, Colorado Springs Christian, 10:19.87.

High jump — 1, McKayla Bauer, University, 5-6.5; 2, Kylie Chavez, Sterling, 5-4.5; 3, Kortney Lockey, Eaton, 5-2.5; 4, Morgan Barone, Lutheran, 5-2.5; 5, Jessie Roukema, Bayfield, 5-2.5; 6, Arden Bardol, Buena Vista, 5-0.5; 7, Ellis Linke, Middle Park, 5-0.5; 8, Morgan Ash, Basalt, 4-10.5; 9, Ana Scott, Eaton, 4-10.5.

LAKEWOOD — As happy as Coal Ridge High School’s boys 4×800-meter relay team was to surpass their previous season-best time by a substantial margin, the Titans were still shocked at where they finished — and who finished in front of them.

“There’s no way we could have predicted that,” said Noah Crisler, the third leg of the Titans’ relay team that ran the final at the Class 3A State Championships on Thursday. “That team came out of nowhere.”

That team was Alamosa, which had never run a 4×800 race together until that state meet. That team blew away everyone, however, winning in 8 minutes, 5.22 seconds while dashing the hopes Coal Ridge had of standing atop the podium.



“Wow,” Crisler continued. “That was like a 25-second PR.”

Prior to Thursday’s race, the Vanguard School held the classification’s top time in the distance relay at 8:20.05. When Alamosa’s Jerico Ullibari, Isaiah DeLaCerda, Tanner Martin and Oscar Martinez got on the track Thursday, their time smashed Alamosa’s previous best of 8:34.74.



Vanguard wound up finishing second in 8:07.56. Meanwhile, the Titans finished third in 8:16.12, which beat that team’s previous top time of 8:23.75.

Despite the huge improvement for Coal Ridge, it wasn’t enough to overcome Alamosa’s huge lead.

“It was about 30 meters,” said anchorman Enrique Bucio about the distance he had to make up when Crisler got him the baton. “You always think you can catch up no matter how far behind you are. I was too far back. We did our best, though.”

Jake Morgan ran the lead leg of the relay, and Roman Plano ran the second leg.

The Titans got seven points in the team standings out of the third-place finish. Platte Valley leads with 22 points, with Alamosa (15) and Bayfield (14) following.

The Coal Ridge boys had a good day in preliminaries. Junior Sergio Valentin reached the final in the 100 meters, crossing the finish line in an against-the-wind time of 11.54. Also making it into the finals was the Titans’ 4×200 relay team, which finished in 1:31.87.

Roaring Fork’s Jose Lopez posted the second-best qualifying time of the 110 hurdles prelims with a 15.37, just one-hundredth of a second slower than Lutheran’s Matt Hansen. Also making the final in that race was Ben Coleman of Grand Valley, who clocked in at 15.41. Coleman was unable to make the finals in the long jump.

On the girls side, Coal Ridge made it through prelims in almost every event it ran. Among them was Mariela Martinez qualifying fifth in the 200 meters (26.75), with Moffat County’s Kayla Pinnt (25.07) easily leading the way. Amber Bowles made the finals in the 100 hurdles, and the Titans’ 4×200 and sprint medley relays each made finals.

Competition continues beginning at 8:10 a.m. today with the Class 3A boys and girls 3,200 meters.


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