Jarrius Ward subscribes to the belief that records aren’t mean to last forever.

The Overland junior will have himself to chase next year, as he put himself atop the Colorado Class 5A record books in the boys discus competition with his performance Thursday on the opening day of the state track meet at Jefferson County Stadium.

Ward launched his third throw of the prelims 203 feet, 4 inches, which not only earned him the state championship, but it also marked the furthest throw the 5A meet had seen in the discus. Ward unseated Westminster's Todd Austin, who set the classification’s meet record of 192-5 in 1977.

“Records are meant to be broken and today was the day for me to do it,” Ward said to taking down the 47-year standard. “I’ve seen what I can do now, and I can definitely break it again next year.”

The next record Ward might take aim at (besides his own) is the Colorado all-classification standard set by former Buena Vista star Mason Finley, who had a throw of 214-1 back in 2009.

Ward — a multisport athlete — loves to compete and he was driven by the need to try to surpass the showing of Chatfield’s Charles Lafore, the defending state champion in the event and his club teammate.

Lafore unleashed a throw of 193-6 on his second throw of prelims and that led the competition for just a short time until Ward bettered that on his next attempt.

“Definitely thanks to Charles because if he hadn’t thrown that 193, I definitely wouldn’t have gone 203,” Ward said. “I couldn’t let him get it (the state championship) two times in a row.”

The two throwers are likely to vie for the 5A shot put title, as well.

Overland has just three individual qualifiers, but the Aurora school sits tied for second place in the 5A standings after the first day of competition thanks to the championships of Ward in the discus and senior Wondame Davis Jr. in the long jump.

Davis Jr.’s top jump of 22 feet, 11 1/4 inches, came on his first attempt of the finals and he had to sweat it out while others tried to better it. Fossil Ridge’s Marcus Mozer came close, but his 22-11 kept him in second place with Cherokee Trail's Cayden Sweets (22-9 1/2) third.

In other significant 5A boys field events, Monarch’s Tyler Rowan captured the state championship in the pole vault with a personal-best of 16 feet, 9 inches.

On the track, the 4x800 meter relay — one of only two championship races on the opening day — came with a significant amount of drama at the end.

Defending champion Mountain Vista switched up its order for the state meet and it paid off with a victory over ThunderRidge that came down to a photo finish.

The anchor legs for both teams — Alex Fowler for the Golden Eagles and Landon Twiss of the Grizzlies — engaged in a battle in the final straightaway that ended with both stumbling and falling across the finish line with an audible gasp from the crowd.

Fowler got there first by 0.03 of a second, as he delivered a win for himself and teammates Benjamin Anderson, William Wachter and Jameson Tokle in 7 minutes, 46.16 seconds, to the Grizzlies' 7:46.19.

“It was amazing, I’m just so happy the team put me in a spot to help out the team and get a win,” Fowler said. “The entire season we’ve been mixing up the order, so this is the first time we ended up with this lineup. It worked out perfectly I feel like. Everybody did their parts and we had a great day out there.”

Anderson — who finished third in the 3,200 meter run a short time earlier — led off and was followed by Wachter and Tokle, who got it to Fowler, who ran stride for stride with Twiss until both went down in a heap at the end of the race.

“I was just trying to focus on my form and staying strong,” Fowler said. “I was hoping I was able to hold him (Twiss) off, but it was very close. …The feeling of winning is unmatched.”

Mountain Vista repeated as state champions in the event, while an individual defended his state title as well in Valor Christian’s Dane Eike in the 3,200 meters.

Eike held off a challenge from Cherry Creek’s Daniel Hruska early and from Denver East’s Jonas Scudamore late to win his second straight title in the event. He clocked a time of 9 minutes, 7.42 seconds, with Scudamore (9:12.70) second and Anderson (9:15.57) third.
Mountain Vista holds the 5A team lead with 23 points, followed by Overland and defending champion Cherokee Trail, which also earned 20.