1A track and field: Potential multiple state champions get off to strong start on first day

LAKEWOOD – John Hainer accomplished everything he wanted to on the first day of the Class 1A state meet, namely winning a state championship in the discus.

The Granada senior captured the 1A boys title in the shot put last season, but scratched on three of his throws in the discus and came away disappointed with a third-place result.

That disappeared Thursday when he needed to count only his first throw of the day as his effort of 142 feet, 10 inches, put him well in front of runner-up Wyatt Cochran of Lone Star (136-11) and Otis’ Peyton Wells (136-10) to take this season’s crown. He bettered his previous personal best of 138-4 set at the Greeley County Invitational on April 6.

“Winning feels awesome; I’ve been waiting to win a discus title,” Hainer said. “It feels good to actually get the mark that I wanted and PR at the state meet.”
Hainer — who effort put Granada in a tie for first place with Cheraw through the first two scored events with 10 points apiece — is the top seed in the 1A shot put, which is scheduled among the first field events Saturday morning.

Josh Snyder finished third in the 3,200 meter run last season, but the Cheraw junior knew that he would have his opportunity to win gold this year given that the two runners in front of him from Heritage Christian were not in the mix when that program moved up to 2A.

Snyder took full advantage of the chance when he finished with a comfortable victory as he crossed the finish line in 10:28.64 with a good gap in front of South Baca’s Mylo Lovejoy, who finished in 10:34.69.

He stayed with Lovejoy for the majority of the race until he pulled away.

“I personally got out slow just to sit on Mylo and save some energy,” Snyder said. “I do have two more distance races in the next two days. I was just trying to save as much as I could, and then at about 1200 meters out, I dropped like a 73 to try to seal the deal.”

Snyder is the top seed in the 800 meter run Friday afternoon as well as the 1,600 meter run on Saturday afternoon — and he is also qualified in the 300 meter hurdles — but he’s glad to have the first title secured.

“It was kind of expected that I was going to be the state champion this year,” Snyder said, referring to Heritage Christian’s departure from the classification. “It feels good to be able to deliver on people’s expectations and my own.”

The pole vault competition was scheduled for Thursday, but will be completed Friday when weather moved into the evening session.

On the girls side, four different schools — Fleming, Merino, Walsh and Elbert — had state champions on the opening day of the 1A meet.

Sophomore Emily Hume took the championship for Walsh, which came in the long jump when she topped the field with a jump of 16 feet, 2 inches.

It fell short of her season- and personal-best of 16-5 1/2 (set April 8 at the Holly Invitational), but it was enough to push her past Lisa Sutherland of Nucla, who was the top seed with a jump of 16-7. Sutherland’s best effort of 15-8 left her third behind Hume and Hanover’s Valeria Diaz, who jumped 15-8 1/2.

“My expectations coming in were pretty high,” Hume said. “I really wanted to get the school record this year because I’m just a couple of inches away, but we didn’t get it this year. I’m glad I got the gold, though. I’m proud of myself and I’m happy with today.”

Hume is also qualified in the triple jump Friday morning.

Zadie Mackey swept the throwing events at the 2022 state meet and she is halfway to doing it again this season.

The Elbert junior was the top seed in Thursday’s shot put and though she didn’t set a personal best, she won the event by close to a foot with a throw of 39 feet, 3 1/2 inches, which was 3 1/2 feet better than her winning throw last season.

Mackey set the meet record of 137-7 in the discus last season and that could be in jeopardy as she had a regular season throw of 144-9, which puts her as the top seed in the Friday afternoon final.

Freshman Kya Piel of Merino came into the meet as a massive favorite in the 3,200 meter run and she won the championship, all while running a time that was 10 seconds slower than her seed time. She crossed the finish line in 12:18.61, which gave her a 41-second cushion over runner-up Alaina Ripple of Evangelical Christian.

Piel had hoped to better the 12:08.81 she ran last week at the St. Vrain Invitational, but will take the gold regardless.

“I’m happy for my teammates, they ran really well,” Piel said referring to her teammates, which included fifth-place finisher Ashly Hutt.

“I came in here wanting to PR, which I did not do, but I’m really excited and honestly just honored to be up here,” she added.

The other title went to Fleming, which won the championship of the 800 meter sprint medley relay, the same event it finished ninth in last season. The Wildcats took the crown this time with a time of 1:53.35 to finish in front of Sanford (1:54.94) and Merino (1:57.87).

The results of 3,200 helped put Merino into the lead in the team standings after the first day with 22 points, while Fleming and Evangelical Christian sit tied for second with 13 apiece, followed by Dove Creek with 11 and Walsh and Elbert with 10 apiece.