LAKEWOOD – After coming up a half-point short of a third consecutive Class 2A team title in 2025, the boys track and field team at Peyton came up with a motto.
“This year we came out hungry,” senior Caleb Kearse said. “We had some shirts that said, ‘One half point, unfinished business.’ That was our kind of our motto going into this season. It was really about making up the half point, and we sure did that this year.”
On Saturday at the CHSAA State Championships at Jefferson County Stadium, the Panthers regained the top spot in 2A, finishing with 70.5 points to win for the third time in four years. Last year’s champion, Sedgwick County, was second, with 59 points, while Dayspring Christian was third, with 54.
Peyton had the title secured going into the last event, the 1,600-meter relay, but Kearse made sure the Panthers finished in style. He had a strong kick in the final leg of the relay and leaned past Limon for a second-place finish and eight more team points.
“It was really important,” Kearse said of the title. “It felt like a correlation of four years of work. Coming down that home stretch, I was just grateful for my teammates for putting me in opposition to be able to do that and I wasn’t going to let them down. It was a big deal. This is our last time. Most of us are seniors and we’re going to 3A next year, so winning this year was very important to us.”
Kearse played a big role in the team title, claiming his second straight individual title in the 400 meters earlier in the day. He came up short of the meet record he set last year, but finished at 48.86 seconds. Liberty Tree’s Dallin Wightman was second, at 49.34.
“It was really exciting. I came in wanting to win that 400 again,” said Kearse, who also tied for third in the 100 meters and placed fourth in the 200. “I won it last year and I wanted to do it again. I wanted to break my own record, but it just wasn’t in the cards for me. But I’m still glad I won, so I can be grateful for that.”
In the prelims of the 100 meters on Thursday, Telluride’s Thomas Mahoney (10.85 seconds), Lyons’ Will Dumbauld (10.86) and Kearse (10.91) all broke the previous 2A state meet record of 10.96.
Mahoney then topped that in Saturday’s finals, posting a time of 10.83 seconds to win his first state title. Dumbauld was second, in 11.05.
“It means a lot, you know,” he said. “It just shows how much I’ve come. I finished fifth last year to winning pretty sizably this year, and taking the record means so much to me, and I’m just really grateful for the opportunity.”
Later in the day, Mahoney was third in the 200 meters, with Dumbauld taking the title, in 22.11 seconds. Jonah Ritter of Mancos was second, at 22.13, followed by Mahoney at 22.22.
“I’m super proud of what I did this morning,” Mahoney said. “I didn’t have my race in the (200), but it’s all right. I’m really, really proud of what I’ve done this season.
Dayspring Christian’s Cooper Osmus had never met Max Miller of The Vanguard School until this week. The two of them wound up having a pair of epic battles. After Miller surged to beat Osmus in the 3,200-meter run on Friday, Osmus returned the favor Saturday in the 1,600.
“Just after yesterday, I knew that it was going to probably come down to the two of us again, and so to be able to kick by him in the end and be here in the first place ... just super fun,” said Osmus, who finished in 4 minutes, 22.99 seconds, just ahead of Miller’s 4:23.48.
Quite a difference a year makes, as Osmus didn’t even qualify for state last year in the 1600.
“I didn’t even qualify in the mile last year, so to be here and on top of podium today means a lot,” he said, adding he had iron deficiency and some training issues in 2025. “I got a new distance coach this year, first time I’ve really had a distance coach, so that was super helpful, and then just termination and like bumping up mileage. … I legit had this like race posted above my bed since state last year, looking at it every day.”
In the triple jump, Sedgwick County’ Brady Mollendor capped a great career with a victory in his final event. Sitting in third place going into his last jump, he leaped 44 feet, 8.25 inches to take the crown. Crowley County’s Majestic McNeil was second, at 44-4.5.
Mollendor also won the high jump on Thursday and finished third in the long jump on Friday. He was the long jump champion in 2025, and leaves high school having won all three jumps.
North Fork broke a record in the 400-meter relay, posting a time of 43.10 seconds that just edged the former mark of 43.11, set by Paonia in 2011. Dayspring Christian was second, at 43.48 seconds.
The group of Alex Csere-Bitonio, Diego Debarros, Iain Straub and Gunnar Lee teamed up to lead North Fork to the win.
The Miners then capped the meet with a win in the 1,600-meter relay, posting a time of 3:23.98 to beat Peyton and the rest of the field. Debarros, Csere-Bitonio and Lee teamed with Braeden Flores on that relay. Overall, North Fork won three of the four relays.
In the hurdles, there were a pair of first-time champions.
Ignacio’s Lincoln Dekay won the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.19 seconds, while Heritage Christian senior Alec Lundy won the 300-meter hurdles in 39.42. Wray’s Aaron Tena was second in both races, posting 15.39 seconds in the 110 hurdles and 39.75 in the 300 hurdles.
Sedgwick County’s Josh Palic won the discus in relatively easy fashion to claim his first state title. The junior, who was second last year, had a winning throw of 169-8. Wiggins sophomore Ryken Wadley was second with a throw of 148-8.