5A Boys Track and Field: Cherokee Trail Defends State Title

LAKEWOOD - There were several incredibly close races on the final day of the Class 5A boys state track meet, but the team chase definitely wasn’t one of them.

Cherokee Trail not only defended last season's state championship, but piled up a whopping 111 points to go back-to-back in style. The Cougars became the second straight 5A boys team to win consecutive titles, following Grandview in 2021 and 2022.

Coach Chris Faust’s Cougars got a triple crown in the sprints from junior Peyton Sommers — who also anchored a gold-winning relay team — but the Cougars piled up points in plenty of places to win handily over runner-up Mountain Vista, which collected 58 points, while Cherry Creek took third with 48.

“On paper, we were scheduled to score 85, but kids just kept outperforming what their seeds were,” Faust said. “Peyton Sommers is, hands down, the best male track athlete in the state of Colorado, but these boys would have won the meet even if he wasn’t on the team.”

Cherokee Trail entered the day trailing by two points, with the knowledge that there were a bunch of points to be had from expected and unexpected places.

Faust said he’s never seen a state meet where a total of 75 points wouldn’t have won a state championship, so he always has that as a target. The Cougars passed that before the lunch hour with Sommers’ championship in the 400 meters, which also saw senior Kahari Wilbon finish second and junior Kaelan Kombo take fifth.

“We had that (75 points) at 11:30 a.m.,” Faust said. “It was just incredible. They scored an incredible amount of points in just about everything.”

Sommers previously had added the 100 meter title (10.54 seconds) — which eluded him last season — while he finished it off with a 200 meter title in 21.13 seconds to hold off a charge from Chaparral’s Wilkins Persichina (21.22).

“We’re all hard working and we push ourselves to get this level,” said Sommers, who anchored the winning 4x200 meter relay team on Friday.

Cherokee Trail was denied a final title in the 4x400 meter relay, when Centennial League rival Eaglecrest — anchored by senior Peace Worah — came from behind to win in a race in which the two teams finished with nearly the same time. The Raptors prevailed by .002 of a second to add a second title to the 4x100 crown they claimed earlier.

That was even closer than the previous photo finish of the day, which came in the 110-meter hurdles with Fountain-Fort Carson senior Kyler Lewis edging Rangeview senior Jaheim Alexander by just .003 of a second, as both clocked times of 14.36 seconds. Alexander was second and Lewis third a year ago, but Lewis jumped to the front — by a hair — in the rematch.

“During the race, I hit a lot of hurdles and I was uneasy, but at the end I thought ‘I have to lock in and show out,” Lewis said. “If I could run it back, I believe I could run a better time — I’ve run faster — but it was a good race overall.”

It was the first of two titles on the day for Lewis, who claimed the 300 event by nearly a half-second.

Another two-event state champion from the meet was Valor Christian’s Dane Eike, who triumphed in the 1,600 meters in a time of 4:13.47 seconds. Eike won the 3,200 on the opening day of the meet and came up just short of chasing down ThunderRidge’s Ben Lee in the 800 meters on Friday.

“I was hoping somebody would try to stay on me to try to help me stay on my toes and not fall asleep,” Eike said. “But I went out in front after the first lap and then just went into lala land and lost a little bit of focus. I shouldn’t have, but it happens, and then I kept the lead that was enough when they started to speed up.”

Chatfield’s Charles Lafore overcame the disappointment of a loss to Overland’s Jarrius Ward in the discus on the opening day with a state championship of his own in the shot put, which he also won in 2023. Lafore threw 62 feet or better four times in six attempts with a winner of 64-6.5.