Lilly Nichols’ emotions ran wild Thursday at Jefferson County Stadium.
The Broomfield senior spent a lot of time up in the air during her long run in the Class 5A girls pole vault competition but she also frequently fell to her knees in tears — of joy — as she became the standard by which all other Colorado female pole vaulters will be measured.
Nichols broke the existing Colorado all-classification record and then went on to clear 14 feet to put herself into the state's record books in addition to securing her third state championship in four seasons.
“I was like ‘oh my gosh, what is happening?’” Nichols said. “I’m still shaking. I was like ‘this can’t be real’ and then I made 14 (feet). I’m super excited.”
Nichols won state titles as a freshman and sophomore, but finished second last season — with a top height of 12-7 — and admitted that she had some struggles with the event.
But things came around in her final prep campaign.
At her final state meet, the Arkansas State recruit bettered the 5A state meet record of 13-1 of Rampart’s Kelli Ehardt from 2008, while she also surpassed the all-classification state record set just last year by Silver Creek’s Megan Kelleghan of 13-5.
Nichols then cleared 14 feet on her third try.
“Something just clicked after my junior year and I just went up; I flew,” said Nichols, who credited her mom as her inspiration and for getting her into pole vault in the first place.
Air Academy’s Bethany Michalak also claimed a gold medal on the opening day of the state meet, as she won the 5A girls 3,200 meters by six seconds.
“This was super fulfilling,” she said. “I’ve worked for this every single year and I’ve fallen short, so it’s good to finally get it my senior year.”
Michalak was further back than she would have liked early in the eight-lap race, but eventually gained the position she wanted and pulled away from her challengers — Mountain Vista’s Keeghan Edwards and Claire Guiberson — with a little assist from the public address announcer.
As she got closer to victory, the announcer kept referencing her senior year and that it was her last chance in the race, which gave her the motivation to finish the race.
“There were definitely points in that race where it was really hard,” she said. “About three laps in, my legs were on fire and I thought ‘this is great,’ but I was super aware of what the announcer was saying.
“Hearing it was my senior year, it was like ‘OK, Bethany, you want this, let’s keep pushing and not give up.’ It was helpful.”
Michalak later put her Air Academy team in the lead midway through the 4x800 meter relay, but the Mountain Vista team of Edwards, Guiberson, Juliet Frum and Peyton Adams (a holdover from last season’s winning team) took control and went on to win.
Frum ran the anchor leg and brought the Golden Eagles across the line with a time of 9 minutes, 9.83 seconds with Fossil Ridge next in 9:11.37.
“I was a little nervous coming off the 3200m, so I just wanted to stay in it mentally,” said Edwards, who ran the opening leg with a short turnaround from her runner-up finish in the two-mile. “I knew we were really prepared for it, so I was just trying to trust my training and not worry about what I did previously and just focus on the team and knowing that with what we’ve done all year, we could go out and compete hard.”
The distance efforts helped Mountain Vista take the 5A girls team lead after one day with 27 points, while Michalak and Air Academy are second with 23 and Fossil Ridge sits third with 21.
In other field events on the opening day of the meet, Eaglecrest freshman Zenobia Witt used the last jump of the finals to win the long jump with a leap of 19 feet, 9 1/2 inches, while Ralston Valley’s Mary Ella Brooks claimed the discus championship.
Brooks’ winning throw of 128 feet, 11 inches, came on her second-to-last finals attempt and put her in front of ThunderRidge’s Ben Kayser-Cochran (127-8) in the final standings.