LAKEWOOD - Taking second place a year ago as a freshman gave Carly Paul plenty of motivation this spring.
On Friday, the Poudre (Fort Collins) sophomore won the Class 5A girls high jump at the state track and field championships at Jefferson County Stadium.
Poudre sophomore Carly Paul won
the Class 5A high jump Friday.
Photo by Brian Howell
"I've been working for this all season and all last year," said Paul, who jumped 5 feet, 8 inches. "It's everything I've wanted. I put in all the work and it finally paid off, so I'm really happy. It feels really good."
Paul came up an inch short of her personal record, but her leap was a season-best.
"I'm only a sophomore but I knew I could do it," she said. "I went out there and did what I could."
With two years to go, Paul is hoping for a three-peat, but said that pressure will only come from within.
"My biggest competitor is myself, so I'll go out there and do what I can and just get better and better and better," she said.
Friday was a light day for Class 5A, as only four titles in girls and three in boys were awarded.
Loveland had a big day for the girls, winning two relays, the 800-meter relay and the 800 sprint medley relay.
Devan Foster of
Arapahoe (Centennial) won the girls 800 meters.
In 5A boys,
Kirk Webb of
Monarch (Louisville) set a new meet record in the 800 meters. He finished the race in 1 minute, 51.75 seconds, just ahead of the previous mark of 1:51.88..
Chaparral (Parker) standout
Curtis Ray won the long jump and
Fountain-Fort Carson (Fountain) won the 800 relay.
Class 4APueblo South (Pueblo) senior Megan Patterson already owned a state record and two state titles before this weekend. She added to her achievements Friday.
Patterson won the girls shot put for the third year in a row, and she did it by breaking her own state-meet record. Patterson threw 47 feet, 2.5 inches, topping her mark from last year (45-11.75).
"Getting a solid mark my last time at Jeffco was a huge thing for me," the Central Florida-bound Patterson said. "I wasn't really worried about distance. I just wanted a throw I felt good with and could go off to college and be comfortable with."
Friday was also a big day for Thompson Valley (Loveland), which took home two titles. Karina Ernst won the girls 800 meters, while Gus Waneka won the boys 3,200.
Heather Bates of Discovery Canyon (Colorado Springs) (3,200 meters) and Rachael Jackson of Mesa Ridge (Colorado Springs) (long jump) also won individual girls titles. Cheyenne Mountain (Colorado Springs) (800 sprint medley) and Valor Christian (Highlands Ranch) (800) were relay winners on the girls side.
Moffat County (Craig)'s Alfredo Lebron (800), Tony Carodine of Widefield (Colorado Springs) (long jump) and Colt Sessions of Cheyenne Mountain (Colorado Springs) (high jump) won individual boys titles. Vista Ridge (Colorado Springs) (800) won the only relay of the day for 4A boys.
Class 3A
Karli Jelden knew exactly what she wanted to do Friday. The Eaton senior then went out and did it.
Eaton's Karli Jelden set a Class 3A
meet record in the pole vault Friday.
Photo by Brian Howell
Jelden won the girls pole vault with a 3A meet-record jump of 11 feet, 2 inches.
"I had my goal set at the beginning of this year to beat the state record and it's just awesome to be able to say I achieved my goal," she said.
Jelden also set a personal record and school record while winning her third title.
"It's awesome," she said. "It's the third one that I've won, so it's really cool to go out my senior year with a state championship."
Jelden's record was one of four in 3A girls.
Courtney Mills of
Berthoud set a new mark in the triple jump, winning with a leap of 39 feet, 8.5 inches, beating the former distance of 38-9.75 set last year.
The Classical Academy (Colorado Springs) girls set a new record in the 800 sprint medley relay (1:48.25).
Cedaredge set a meet record in the 800 relay in Thursday's prelims (1:42.91) and came up short of that Friday, but still won the title in 1:43.52.
Jennifer Celis of
Hotchkiss (800) and
Keri Ruff of Eaton (discus) were other winners.
In 3A boys,
Evan Fortney of
Faith Christian (Arvada) won title in the 800 meters, adding to the 3,200 title he won Thursday.
Miguel Barajas of
Cedaredge won the only other individual event contested, the shot put.
Coal Ridge (New Castle) on the 800 relay.
Class 2ALyons is going for a second straight boys team title and got a boost with a win in the 800-meter relay.
"First place, that gets 10 points; that's a huge asset when we're going for a team title," senior Forrest Donnell said.
The Lions dominated the finals, winning pretty much wire-to-wire. They clocked in at 1 minute, 30.46. The foursome - Donnell and juniors Justin Boldt, Ryan Boucher and Matt Radich - came up just short of the meet record.
Individually, five state champions were crowned on Friday in 2A boys: Crested Butte's Matt Galley (800), Telluride's Ty Williams (3,200), Akron's Jourdan Hottinger (pole vault), Burlington's Coley David (triple jump) and Eads' Daniel Weirich (discus).
Akron got a pair of first-place finishes on the girls side. Sidney Merrill won the pole vault, while the Rams' 800-meter relay team also took first.
Kelley Robinson of Nederland won the 3,200 and Tabor Scholl of West Grand (Kremmling) won the 800. Vanguard Charter (Colorado Springs) won the 800 sprint medley.
Class 1A
In just the second year of the 1A meet, several meet records were broken.
The Merino girls had a big day, winning two relays and breaking records in both. The Rams won the 800 relay (1:51.04) and the 800 sprint medley (1:54.50).
Vail Christian (Edwards) standout Ashlyn Gruber set a new mark in the 800 (2:17.16), Cheyenne Wells' Morgan Howard got a new record in the high jump (5-2.5) and Codi Baller of North Park (Walden) set a new record in the shot put (33-11).
Jenna Zink of Caliche (Iliff) won the triple jump and Hanover (Colorado Springs) won the 3,200 relay.
Robert Ryland of Sierra Grande (Blanca) established a new standard in the 1A boys 800 (2:00.53). He edged Holly's Stetson Rushton, who also broke the old mark.
Andrew Perry of Otis broke the discus record (170-7), while Holly broke the mark in the 3,200 relay (8:35.51).
In other events, Terrell Stafford of Walsh won the triple jump and Springfield won the 800 relay.
