3A state track: Garrison sweeps the sprints and more highlights from the final day

LAKEWOOD – There are certainly no guarantees of success in track and field, but nobody in Class 3A has been able to touch Coal Ridge senior Peyton Garrison all year in the sprints.

Nobody really came close on Sunday, either, as she completed a second consecutive sweep at the 3A state meet at Jeffco Stadium.

Garrison finished her remarkable career with four state titles overall, matching her feat of a year ago.

“I felt a little pressure, just because last year I was a four-time state champ also,” she said. “This year, I was like, ‘I need to really work hard to get this again.’”

Garrison cruised to wins in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters on Sunday. She also helped the Titans win the 800 medley relay on Saturday.

In the 100, Garrison’s time of 12.41 won the title by .36 of a second. In the 200, she posted a time of 24.72 to win by 1.37 seconds. And in the 400, she had a blistering time of 54.97 to win by 3.16 seconds.

She set personal records in the 100 and 400.

“I’m really impressed with what I got in a 54,” she said. “To me that’s amazing because I couldn’t break 57 last year. I’m really impressed with myself.”

Garrison has been one of the better sprinters in Class 3A in recent years, but she said he doesn’t view herself in that way.

“I definitely think it’s a great accomplishment,” she said. “I don’t like giving myself too much credit.”

After her win in the 400, Garrison was able to watch her teammates win the 1,600 relay.

Senior Nathalie Smythe and juniors Jackie Camunez, Mikayla Cheney and Rilyn Krueger posted a time of 4:01.66 to win the event for the second year in a row.

Lutheran, Liberty Common win team titles

For the fifth time since 2015, the Lutheran boys won the 3A team title.

Although Lutheran won just one event, the Lions were deep and racked up 83 team points throughout the meet. They edged The Classical Academy (75), while Liberty Common (65) was in third. Lutheran’s last title came in 2019.

Junior Trey Ciccio gave Lutheran its lone win, taking the title in the 300-meter hurdles. He posted a time of 39.02 to win his first individual title. He was also second in the 110-meter hurdles.

Liberty Common, meanwhile, won its first-ever team title in track, as the girls piled up 98 points. Coal Ridge was second (86) and Berthoud placed third (52).

Liberty Common was led by sophomore Isabel Allori, who won the 1,600 meters on Sunday in a 3A meet-record time of 4 minutes, 55.12 seconds. Allison Pippert of Stargate was second (4:57.46). Allori also won the 3,200 meters on Thursday.

The Eagles also won the 400-meter relay in 49.35 seconds. Seniors Gigi Jurgens and Katie Wrona and juniors Grace Williams and Logan Haugestuen teamed for the win. That group set a meet record in the prelims (48.82).

Hawk sweeps hurdles

Holy Family senior Skylar Hawk repeated as champion in the 3A girls 300-meter hurdles and also won the 100-meter hurdles.

Hawk opened her day Sunday with a win in the 100 hurdles, posting a time of 16.06 seconds to beat Peak to Peak’s Kourtney Rathke (16.29). She then won a great race in the 300-meter hurdles. Hawk finish in 45.11 seconds to barely defeat Aani Hardesty of Alamosa (45.19).

Rathke rebounded from her loss in the hurdles to win the long jump. The sophomore had a season-best jump of 18 feet, 5 inches to easily win the competition. Sterling’s Emerie Rios was second (17-1.75). Rathke won the pole vault with a meet record on Saturday and was third in the triple jump on Thursday.

Also on Sunday, Lamar’s Alexandria Tice won her second consecutive state title in the girls shot put. She had a throw of 40 feet, 10.25 inches to beat second-place Amanda Licht of Kent Denver (36-2).

Records set

A few meet records were set in 3A boys competition on Saturday.

In the 200 meters, Platte Valley’s Devyn Lauer-Duarte broke the meet record with a time of 21.31 seconds to defeat Grayson Arnold of Holy Family. Arnold, who set the record of 21.53 in Thursday’s prelims, went even lower in the finals, with a time of 21.44.

Lauer-Duarte was the defending champion in the 200. He also won the 100 meters, defeating Arnold, 10.74 to 10.92.

In the 400 meters, Liberty Commons’ Brandon Bate won his first career state title, coming up just short of the meet record he set in the prelims. Bate had a time of 48.01 in the finals and 47.92 in Thursday’s prelims.

Bate and his Liberty Common teammates closed the meet with a win in the 1,600-meter relay. Bate and fellow senior Maclean Majeski joined freshmen Jack Friesen and Pierce Richardson in running the race in 3:23.77, more than 3 seconds faster than second-place Sierra (3:26.94).

Holy Family posted a meet record in the 3A boys 400-meter relay. Seniors Dominic Neely and Pierce Kunz, junior Conor Byrne and sophomore Griffin Eastman teamed up to run the race in 42.40 seconds to break the previous record of 42.62 by Mead in 2012.

In one of the closest races of the day, Resurrection Christian’s Jackson Fagerlin edged Chadler Wilburn of The Classical Academy in the 1,600 meters. Fagerlin finished in 4:22.79, while Wilburn finished in 4:23.00.

Other winners in 3A boys included Berthoud’s Jayden Nohr in the long jump (22-9); Eaton’s Zac Grable in the high jump (6-5); and Sierra’s Marcus Mills in the 110-meter hurdles (14.90).