George Washington senior Darius Reed smoked the fields in the 110- and 300-meter hurdle events Saturday at Mullen’s Runners Roost track and field meet.
Just wait until he gets in shape.
Reed, who will run on a full scholarship at UCLA next season, clocked a time of 14.41 seconds in the 110 hurdles and 39.18 in the 300 hurdles for two easy victories at Mullen’s ninth annual invitational at Brother Bernard Kinneavy de La Salle Stadium.
“I’m just trying to get in shape, and then I can run even faster….The (300 hurdles) were supposed to be my workout, and it was a workout and a good time, so I’ll take that,” Reed said.
Reed, who said he is trying to adjust from indoor to outdoor track, was one of a number of multiple-event winners at the 55-team meet that featured schools from every classification and corner of the state.
The 6-foot-4 Reed fell in the 110 hurdles at state last season and placed fourth in the 300 hurdles. He said he is hoping to hit times of 13.5 in the 110s and less than 37 seconds in the 300, but first wants to regain his lung power.
“I was feeling the burn going over those last couple of hurdles,” Reed said.
Kirk Cooper of Smoky Hill and Alex Gove of Highlands Ranch earned the Marcus Jackson Award that honors the meet’s top athletes. Cooper broke the only meet record of the day with a height of 15 feet, 2 1/2 inches in the pole vault, and Gove won both of the girls hurdle events.
Cooper, who will be deciding today between attending Wichita State or Colorado State, looked like he could have gone much higher, but he caught the bar coming down on all of his vaults at 15-8 1/2.
“I had three good attempts. I was over the bar on all of them, but I just came down on it,” Cooper said. “I’m ready to pick it up. I’m ready to jump 16 feet.”
Back on the track, Niwot’s Griffin Matthew finished first in the 200 and long jump, and the Stanford-bound senior took a close second place in the 100, by .02 of a second, behind Ashley Cruder of Eaglecrest.
Matthew was winded after the 200, but her assessment of the race was even-headed.
“I expected when I gave my best effort that I would get a result that reflected my performance,” Matthew said. “It was good enough to win.”
Arvada’s Steven Weeks, a Class 5A cross country state champion, won the two long races, the 1,600 and 3,200.
Faith Christian’s Ian Lettow took first place in the shot put and discus, where he launched a throw of 176 feet, 7 inches.
