LAKEWOOD – Opportunity knocked for Alamosa’s Sarah DeLaCerda this weekend, and she ready.
On Saturday, the junior won the Class 3A girls 1,600-meter title at the state track and field championships at Jefferson County Stadium. She paired that win the 3,200-meter title she ran on Friday.
“I’m very excited,” she said. “I came in a little sick. I don’t know if it was nerves or something else but I wasn’t feeling 100%, but coming out with two wins makes it all worth it. You just put it aside and hammer it every time.”
DeLaCerda, who also finished fourth in the 800 meters on Friday, then capped her weekend by helping the Mean Moose to a win in the 1,600 relay.
All of that contributed to Alamosa winning its first team title since taking the 4A crown in 1991. The Mean Moose finished with 98.2 points to top second-place Classical Academy (77) and third-place Coal Ridge (71).
For DeLaCerda, opportunity came when Liberty Common junior Isabel Allori had to back out of the meet with an injury. Allori was the heavy favorite to win the 800, 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs.
“Obviously, you seize the opportunity,” DeLaCerda said. “I decided that it was probably my best chance to go and get a couple state championships.”
In the 1,600 on Saturday, she posted a winning time of 4 minutes, 55.95 seconds to cruise past second-place Mikayla Cheney of Coal Ridge (4:58.89).
A strong kick on the final lap of Friday’s 3,200-meter win motivated DeLaCerda.
“Confidence wise, definitely,” she said. “I knew the way that I finished my 3,200, if I did the same thing with the 1,600 that it would have been hopefully the same outcome. So it gave me a lot of confidence in the last little bit.”
Alamosa finished the 1,600-meter relay in 3:58.53 seconds, to knock off two-time defending champion Coal Ridge (3:59.53), which was second.
Alamosa was also boosted by senior Aani Hardesty, who won state titles in both hurdles events. She posted a time of 15.38 seconds in the 100 hurdles and 44.56 seconds in the 300 hurdles. Jefferson Academy’s Jessica Schaffer was second in both events (15.60 in the 100 and 46.30 in the 300).
Holy Family’s Julia Hodell had a remarkable weekend, capped by three state titles on Saturday. Individually, she won the 100 meters (12.12 seconds) and the 200 (24.56 seconds), while also helping Holy Family to a win in the 400-meter relay with a 3A meet-record time of 48.72 seconds. Jefferson Academy was second, in 50.14.
In the 400 meters, Eaton’s Andie Rasmussen won the title in 56.05 seconds, edging Harrison’s Michaela Cruickshank (56.59). Cruickshank was also second in the 100 (12.26) and 200 (24.75) after finishing runner-up in Friday’s long jump.
Woodland Park’s Jaedyn Kohn won the discus with a throw of 125 feet, 7 inches, while La Junta’s Jaylin Springer was second (117-6). And, in the triple jump, Northridge’s Savanna Amack won her first state title with a leap of 37 feet, 3 inches to edge Peak to Peak’s Kourtney Rathke (37-0.75).