LAKEWOOD – This year’s Colorado track and field state championships brought with it a special moment for the Cheyenne Wells track program.
At Jefferson County Stadium on Saturday, the Tigers boys team finished with 64 team points at the end of the three-day meet. That total was enough to win the Class 1A team championship and secure the first boys title in program history.
“It’s just so great because these boys come off a state basketball championship and they were second in the state football championship this year,” Cheyenne Wells coach Sammy Chadwick said. “This is just the cherry on top of the cake and shows what these boys can do. With only seven boys, I thought that was pretty great. The highest we’ve ever gotten for boys was third place, so this is quite an accomplishment today.”
Haxtun was second with 51 points and South Baca was third with 50.5 points.
There were a number of exceptional individual performances on Saturday as well.
Akron senior Ryan McCaffrey stole the show in a loaded 1A boys pole vault field, setting a 1A state meet record of 14 feet, 1 inch. In the same event, McCaffrey’s teammate Brandon Hellyer also broke the previous record, clearing 13 feet, 7 inches, as did Lone Star’s Anderson Weathers.
“I remember freshman year watching Brady Kuntz (Lone Star) break it,” McCaffrey said. “That was just awesome. I was always telling him, ‘I’m chasing you.’ My buddy Brandon and me, our goal this year was to break the meet record this year. And his dad holds our school record at 14 feet, so we were trying to break his school record too.”
In the high jump, De Beque’s Scottie Vines Jr., who already broke the state’s fifth-oldest record by clearing 7-4.25 earlier in the season and qualified for the US Olympic Trials, cleared 7 feet to break his own 1A state meet record.
“It means a lot,” Vines said. “I never thought I’d be in this position, but I’m glad I am. There’s not much to say, just thank you for all the support and everyone that stayed with me through the last four years.”
South Baca’s Callas Calzonetti won the 1A boys 110 hurdles with a time of 16.11 seconds.
Sanford’s Lincoln Reynolds won the 1A boys 100-meter dash with a time of 11.19 seconds. Later in the day, the senior claimed a second title with a 22.90-second victory in the 200.
Cheyenne Wells’ Perry Chadwick won the 1A boys 400-meter run with a time of 50.45 seconds.
In the 1A boys 1,600-meter run, Primero’s Anthony Pena won the 1A boys 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:37.04.
Cheyenne Wells’ Carson Noe won the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 41.83 seconds.
Haxtun – Zach Statz, Ryland Wolff, Grant Statz and Joshua Wright – won the 400-meter relay in 44.36 seconds.
Kim – Acoya Bartlett, David Gamez, Kolter Cranson and Brock Doherty – won the 1,600-meter relay with a time of 3:35.45.