14 Athletes Qualify for State Track Meet, Martinez Breaks School Record
by Coach Peters:
Last week provided two opportunities for Lake County High School’s track & field athletes to improve their marks before the state-qualifying rankings were finalized. On Tuesday, June 15, the Panthers competed against six other 2A schools at South Park High School in Fairplay. That invitational highlighted the strength and depth of Lake County’s program. The girls team dominated the meet, scoring 201 points to 2nd place Custer County’s 77. The boys team also won easily; they earned 175 points, while the runner up scored 42.
Aurora Marruffo took 1st place in the long jump with a new personal record (PR) of 15’10,” solidifying her spot in the state meet competition. Adele Horning ran the 3200 meter run mostly by herself, but her time of 14 minutes 5 seconds was enough to snatch the final state-qualifying spot.
Keira King and Violet Hill finished 1st and 2nd respectively in both the 800 m and the 1600 m runs, with times of 2:56 and 2:57 in the 800 and 6:16 and 6:30 in the 1600.
Molly Coleman placed 2nd in the triple jump, reaching a PR of 27’8.” Morgan Holm was 3rd with her jump of 27’5,” and Joci Holbrook took 4th by leaping 26’5.” Holbrook also placed 2nd in the discus with a PR of 79’1” and 2nd in the shot put with a throw of 24’3.”
Maya Mendoza cut 4 seconds off her PR in the 400 m to run 1:11 and take 3rd in that event.
The girls 4 x 200 m relay team of Marruffo, Jaycee Windorski, Kaytlin Sprague and Coleman dropped 3 seconds off their season-best time, but they may come up 2 positions short of qualifying for state.
Anthony Martinez improved his long jump mark to 20’10.5” on his way to victory in that event. Obed Tarango reached 3rd place and a PR of 16’11.5” in the long jump.
Javier Lazaro accomplished PR’s in the 200 m (24.58) and the 100 m (12.18), placing 3rd and 4th respectively in those events.
Fabian Jimenez, Jace Peters, Lazaro and Martinez teamed up in the 4 x 100 m relay to finish in 44.97, the fastest that a Lake County team has run in over 12 years.
On Friday, June 18, a smaller contingency of Panthers competed in the St Vrain Invitational, a huge meet that included 84 schools from all divisions participating.
Spurred on by a couple of fast opponents, Martinez finally broke the school record in the 110 m hurdles. The previous record was 15.15 seconds and Martinez finished in 15.06, which was also good enough for 2nd place in the meet. Martinez also set a PR in the 300 m hurdles of 41.80 seconds, moving him up to 4th in the state rankings.
Peters slashed 22 seconds off his 3200 m time to finish in 10:33 and 6th position in the state rankings. Peters also accomplished a PR of 4:50 in the 1600 m and improved his pole vault best to 11’9,” so he is now ranked 9th in that event.
Jimenez ran 51.33 in the 400 m, just off his PR, and placed 6th overall. Lazaro broke through the 12-second barrier in the 100 m, finishing that race in 11.94.
Windorski cleared a personal best 4’10.5” in the high jump and moved into 10th place in the state rankings.
At this point, 14 Lake County athletes have qualified in 23 entries at the State Meet because they finished the regular season ranked in the top 18 of their events. A few more sit just beyond the 18th spot and await news of their possible acceptance on Monday afternoon. The State Meet will be held at Jeffco Stadium in Lakewood from June 24-26.
