3A Boys Track and Field: Whyrick, Fagerlin Add to Collection of State Medals

LAKEWOOD – After moving to Colorado from Nebraska two years ago, Johnny Whyrick told his father, Doug, he wanted to win four state titles before he graduated from high school.

On Friday, the second day of the state track and field championships at Jefferson County Stadium, the University senior completed his goal.

Whyrick won the Class 3A boys state title in the shot put on Friday morning to go with the discus title he won on Thursday. He won both events in 2023, as well.

“I told him, ‘I’m gonna go for four. I’m gonna try to win both years,’ and it happened,” Whyrick said. “It’s just really special to share that moment with him and my family.”

Also on Friday, Jackson Fagerlin of Resurrection Christian won the 800 meters and Elizabeth set a state meet record in winning the 800-meter relay.

Whyrick had a personal-best throw of 54 feet, 9.5 inches on Friday. That came after watching video of two-time Olympic gold medalist Ryan Crouser and making a tweak to his technique on Friday.

“I was talking to my dad – he’s my coach – and I was like, ‘I think I should do this and this,’” Whyrick said. “He’s like, ‘OK, go do it if you think it’s gonna work.’ It did.

Just some tweak in my technique and it just helped me stay more balanced.”

Whyrick said he felt a little pressure to repeat as champion, but more so in the shot put because Rifle’s Troy Mataia had been the state leader for much of the year. Mataia finished as runner-up for the second year in a row with a throw of 51-2.75.

“Troy’s been working his butt off,” Whyrick said. “We’ve been battling all year, so it was really nice to compete against him one last time.”

Fagerlin, meanwhile, added to his impressive collection of state medals. The junior won the 800 meters in a time of 1:53.18 to claim the third state title of his career (he also won the 1,600m in 2022 and the 4x400m relay in 2023).

Fagerlin was seventh in the 800m as a freshman in 2022, but didn’t run in that event last year.

“It’s definitely one of my better events,” he said. “After talking to my coach, we decided let’s focus on the 800m and work on that speed. I didn’t get the state record today (1:52.75) and that’s totally fine. I had that in mind but I got the state title, which feels good obviously, especially after not running it last year.”

Fagerlin, who still has two events this weekend (1,600 and 1,600 relay), has won nine state medals, including five in individual events and four in relays.

“It’s been really exciting,” he said of his career to this point. “After watching my brothers run since I was little and then watching them compete and to be able to go on the same stage that they were to compete is kind of surreal sometimes. But it’s definitely super incredible.”

Elizabeth posted a time of 1:27.81 to cruise to the title in the 800-meter relay, ahead of University, which came in second at 1:28.64. The Cardinals’ Caleb Dunn, Malachi Mariscal, Andrew Brown and Cooper Connelley teamed up to break the previous 3A state meet record of 1:27.86 set by Holy Family in 2022.

Going into Saturday, Classical Academy leads the team race, with 58 points. Resurrection Christian is second with 41, followed by University with 36.5.