LAKEWOOD – Last year, an injury contributed to Tavon Underwood being unable to realize his full potential.
This year, nothing could slow down the Mead star.
At the state track and field championships on Saturday at Jefferson County Stadium, Underwood completed a remarkable senior season by winning the Class 4A boys 200-meter dash and 400-meter dash in record-setting fashion, while also placing second in the 100 meters.
Overall, Underwood won three of his four events, as he claimed the 800-meter championship on Friday.
“I was dealing with a little bit of injury (this spring), but I got over that,” he said. “Overall it’s been a great weekend and everything I’ve really ever wanted out of a state meet.”
The highlight of Underwood’s day was in running the fastest 400 time in Colorado prep history, a blazing 45.36 seconds. Northfield’s Zach Ryan was 1.43 seconds behind him for second place.
Underwood smashed the old record of 46.23 by Littleton’s JT Scheuerman in 2006 and he posted the fastest prep 400 in the nation this year. His time was just .17 seconds shy of the national record (45.19).
“It means that everything I’ve worked towards finally meant something,” he said of his record run. “I’ve been wanting to show this to everybody for so long and I’m finally glad I got to do it on a big stage.”
Underwood’s day began with a second-place finish in the 100, but he couldn’t find much reason to be upset. Lutheran’s Joseph Ciccio set a 4A meet record (10.53) and Underwood posted his personal best of 10.67.
“He’s a great runner and I wouldn’t want to lose to anyone else,” Underwood said. “We both had great runs and we can respect each other in our own right.”
After his 400 win, Underwood took the 200 title in a 4A meet-record time of 20.93 (Ryan was second, in 21.59). The previous record was the 20.99 Underwood posted in Thursday’s preliminaries.
A year ago, Underwood won three medals at state, including fourth in the 400, fifth in the 100 and seventh in the 200. It was a solid year, but not the great year he had this spring.
“Last year I was injured; that was a big thing that put a damper on things,” he said. “But, I started just re-committing to it and figured I really enjoy track and put all my time and energy into it and the results started to pay off.”
The Kansas State-bound Underwood fell short of his goal to win all four of his races, but he left Jeffco Stadium with no complaints.
“It was (the goal to go 4-for-4), but I’d say I achieved that to the best of my abilities,” he said.
While Underwood was putting a cap on his career, Mead freshman Rylee Klatt is just getting started.
Based on seeding, Klatt wasn’t projected to make the finals in either of her individual events (100 and 200), but blew away expectations. She was fourth in the 100 (12.39) and seventh in the 200 (25.80). She also helped the Mavericks to a sixth-place finish in the 1,600-meter relay (4:04.19).
“I’m very happy with it,” Klatt said of her weekend. “I’m just thankful for my coaches and my teammates, who have supported me through it. They just encouraged me to keep going and whatever happens, happens. It was a really fun season.”
