LAKEWOOD — For many athletes through the years, the state track and field meet can be viewed as a source of pain. The hurt in the body, of course, is nothing compared to memories of missed opportunity.
Longmont coach Scott Dickinson says he lives with the latter. Back when he was senior hurdler at Broomfield in 2012 and the Eagles fell short of team gold, finishing second — funnily enough — to the Trojans.
“It’s interesting to see how things have come full circle,” he said as his smile grew inside Jefferson County Stadium Sunday.
The Trojans, with him leading the way this time around, were victorious at the state track and field meet for the first time in a decade. They finished with 76 points, all accumulated by seniors except for freshman Miles Miller in the 3,200 relay.
Connor McCormick scored a 4A record in the mile Sunday and had another title in the two-mile Saturday. Caleb Johnson added surprising results in the triple and long jumps, winning both. The Trojans won the meet by 16 points, outscoring Cheyenne Mountain and defending champ Niwot in second place
“They had an outstanding meet,” Niwot coach Maurice Henriques said. “I thought 75 would win it. So, even if we did that, we’d have lost by a point. So, kudos to them.”
Henriques’ girls team, meanwhile, delivered the biggest domination of the meet — making it a clean sweep of Class 4A for the St. Vrain Valley School District. The Cougars scored 170 points and won their third straight title by 109.
Madison Shults won three golds, taking the 400 and 800 before closing the meet as the anchor of the winning 4×400. Eva Klingbeil had wins in the 3,200 and 1,600 and was the anchor to the victorious 4×800. Kimora Northrup won the 100 hurdles and was the last leg on the winning sprint medley.
“We just wanted to score as many points as we could,” said Northrup, who shined Sunday despite knowing her team had locked things up the day before. “That was my goal coming into every race today.”
The Trojans came into the day in a strong position in the boys’ race, and McCormick’s 1,600 win early on only solidified things. Following his narrow win over Niwot’s Zane Bergen in the 3,200 Saturday, the Princeton commit again edged the Stanford commit, winning the mile in 4A record time of 4:06.79. Both runners had eclipsed Bergen’s record mark from the season before.
“I don’t think I’ve ever beat him in a workout,” McCormick said of his training buddy. “He’s someone who never lets you go half-(effort) in any reps because he’s always there giving his full effort.”
Before it, Johnson’s wins in the triple jump Thursday and long jump Saturday gave the Trojans points they weren’t expecting, Dickinson said. The senior won the triple with a leap of 46-feet, 9 inches and the long jump at 22-00.50.
“I haven’t won a state championship in high school,” Johnson said. “It was an amazing feeling seeing my teammates perform their best and just see all of us come together and see that win.”
The Niwot girls, meanwhile, celebrated its second three-peat under Henriques in runaway fashion. Already with the team title in hand Sunday, the Cougars won the 100 hurdles, 1,600, 400 and 4×400.
Shults’ celebration after winning the 400 was short-lived as she quickly checked on teammate Stella Vieth, who’d fallen but still took second. Hours later, though, nothing got in the way of glee as she embraced her relay after crossing the final event (4×400) in 3:55.18.
“You can’t count anyone out in any race or in any team race,” Shults said, even as she knew the team race was long decided. “You have to have the trophy in hand before you know the work is done.”
Elsewhere in 4A, Erie finished fifth in boys and 11th in girls. Mead was ninth in boys, 33rd in girls, while Silver Creek was 15th in girls and 36th in boys.
Centaurus and Longmont, in the meantime, went 20th in girls and the Warriors were 21st in boys. Skyline was 29th in boys and the Frederick girls were 44th.
In 5A, Fairview and Monarch tied for 12th in the girls’ team standings, while Legacy was 14th, Broomfield 15th and Boulder 40th. In the boys, Fairview was 27th and Boulder was 31st.
In 3A, Holy Family was seventh in girls, led by Skylar Hawk, and eighth in boys thanks in part to Grayson Arnold. Jefferson Academy was eighth in girls and 14th in boys. Peak to Peak was ninth in girls. Prospect Ridge was 23rd in girls, 28th in boys.
In 2A, Lyons was fourth in boys and 21st in girls. Twin Peaks, behind a second-place finish from Yannis Diby in the high jump, took 27th in boys.
