LAKEWOOD-It was not heralded properly enough last weekend at state track: The end of the Eva-Lou Era.
Eva-Lou Edwards' 11:06.15 in the Class 3A 3,200-meter race not only won her another state title. It was 5.8 seconds faster than Estes Park senior Kelsi Lasota, and a massive 31.04 ahead of third-place Makayla Santos of Greeley's Frontier Academy.
In fact, Edwards' effort last Thursday-locking up an unbeaten [in both cross-country and the XC-like 3,200] senior year at Bayfield-would have placed her second in the 4A finale. And though her later attempt at winning the 1,600 was unsuccessful, her sixth-place 5:18.12 not only helped the Lady Wolverines to an 11th-place finish in the team standings, but gave her a new school-record as well.
Colorado Springs-based The Classical Academy won an eighth girls' title in nine years, 111 to 82.5 over Eaton. The Classical Academy also topped the boys' table for a fifth time in six years. Bayfield finished a respectable eighth with 26 points.
Leading the Wolverine boys was the 4x200-meter relay. After placing eighth (time of 1:33.17) in 3A in the first day's preliminaries at 1:33.17, the quartet of Preston Hardy, Gabe Kaufmann, Brian Mashak and Nate Tate improved to sixth in Day 2's final with a 1:33.06, again breaking their short-lived school record.
Bayfield's 4x100 (Mashak, Conner Kennedy, Tate, Kaufmann) finished eighth in the finals in 45.17 seconds.
As expected, the Wolverines were strong in the pole vault, but not as much due to the injury-caused scratch of top-seeded senior John Arnold (Kennedy ran his 4x100 leg). Still, junior Michael Voss took second (losing to Eaton senior David Jones by one attempt) at 13 feet, seven inches, and senior Ty Meyers was fourth at 12'7".
Senior Brittany Hunter took fifth on the girls' side with a personal-best 9'8". Clearing 6'8", junior Morgan Allred and sophomore Katie Hawkins finished tied for 16th, while TCA soph Andrea Willis triumphed with a meet-record 11'6".
BHS junior Jessica Cusick's sizzling 1:00.10 in Day 1's 400m heats trimmed down her school-record time, but she was unable to improve upon her ninth-place finals seeding with a 1:01.28, while EHS senior Brittany Pierce won in 56.62 seconds.
Cusick did score a podium finish on Day 2, however, scoring third in the 800 meters with a time of 2:21.43.
Competing against a truly fast field, Bayfield's girls' 800-meter medley (Jessie Roukema, Amy Roach, Hunter, Ashlyn Schulder) laid down 1:55.51 work-faster than BHS' 1984 best (set by Donna Wheat, Marianne McGinnis, Beryl Clark and Tina Prior) of 1:56.00-in the relay's Day 1 prelims, but found themselves sitting in 14th and out of finals contention.
Back on the boys' side, Kennedy took fourth in the high jump (6'0") and also 11th in the long jump (18'10.5") on Day 3. Junior class-mate Aubry Brown finished 13th in the discus-eight inches behind Intermountain League familiar Matt Barnes (junior, Monte Vista)-with a best throw of 136'4".
With time very much on his side, Mashak, a freshman, ended up 15th (23.74 seconds) in the 200's prelims, while Roukema will enter her senior year ready to atone for a Day 1 'no height' in the high jump.
CLASS 3A BOYS' TEAM SCORES: 1. Colorado Springs The Classical Academy 103, 2.New Castle Coal Ridge 90, 3.Greeley Frontier Academy 82, 4.Manitou Springs 75.5, 5.Broomfield Holy Family 52, T-6.Cedaredge/Eaton 29, 8.BAYFIELD 26, 9.Lamar 24, 10.Pagosa Springs 23, 11.CS St. Mary's 21, T-12.Sterling/Trinidad 19, 14.Arvada Faith Christian 18, T-15.CS Christian/CS James Irwin 17, 17.Alamosa 16, T-18.CS Fountain Valley/Parachute Grand Valley 13, 20.Gunnison 12.
T-21.Craig Moffat County/Strasburg 11, 23.Greeley University 10.5, T-24.Basalt/Salida 10, T-26.Lafayette Peak to Peak/Kersey Platte Valley 8.5, T-28.Denver Bishop Machebeuf/Fort Lupton/Denver Manual 7, T-31.Aspen/Estes Park 6, T-33.Centauri/Florence/Jefferson Academy 5, 36.Ellicott 4, 37.La Junta 3, 38.Leadville Lake County 2, 39.Buena Vista 1.
CLASS 3A GIRLS' TEAM SCORES: 1.Colorado Springs The Classical Academy 111, 2.Eaton 82.5, 3.Lamar 68, 4.New Castle Coal Ridge 55.33, 5.Sterling 50.5, 6.Estes Park 47, 7.Craig Moffat County 46, 8.CS Christian 39, 9.Cedaredge 35, 10.Kersey Platte Valley 29, 11.BAYFIELD 27, 12.Arvada Faith Christian 25, 13.Salida 23, 14.CS James Irwin 22.
15.Broomfield Holy Family 21, 16.Greeley Frontier Academy 20, 17.Gunnison 19.5, 18.Bennett 16, T-19.Alamosa/Buena Vista 15, T-21.Manitou Springs/Lafayette Peak to Peak 14, 23.Pagosa Springs 11, 24.Greeley University 10, 25.Florence 9.5, 26.Olathe 9, 27.Carbondale Roaring Fork 8, T-28.Brush/CS Fountain Valley/Trinidad 7, T-31.Bailey Platte Canyon/CS St. Mary's 3, 33.Kent Denver 2, 34.La Junta 1, T-35.Fort Lupton/Granby Middle Park 0.33.
