What makes them different is that no one else did what they accomplished. And they did it at a critical time — in the playoffs or when competing for championships.
It’s what separates exceptional performances from the merely memorable.
Twenty-two years after he set state and national pole-vault marks that still stand, former Aurora Central star Pat Manson said it isn’t uncommon for someone he tutors “to just come over and say: ‘Thanks a lot, man. You put the record out of reach.’ ”
Manson’s records were predictable because of the way he dominated. Jobi Wall’s moment in the sun was not.
This past weekend, Wall, a senior at defending Class 3A champion Faith Christian in Arvada, opened the district baseball playoffs by pitching a perfect game and hitting for the cycle (a single, double, triple and home run). His final hit was a line-drive homer.
“If he hit it inside our building, it would still be rolling,” district athletic director Steve Coon said of the force with which Wall drove the ball.
Wall’s performance will go into Colorado annals under legendary, a folder thick with entries.
Pick a sport, any sport.
In 2004, Arvada West’s Kyle Sand became the first Coloradan to win four wrestling championships and finish his prep career undefeated (125-0).
A year ago, Heritage’s Mark Dylla finished 81-0 in swimming races and earned his seventh and eighth individual titles, the maximum for a prep career.
“It’s cool because no one can ever beat that — they can only tie it,” Dylla said.
In cross country, Boulder’s Melody Fairchild is the only Coloradan to twice win a national championship (1989 and 1990). Doherty’s Adam Goucher is the only Colorado male to do it (1993), also in cross country.
From 2001-03, Columbine’s Sara Anundsen went 50-0 with three big-school tennis championships and likely would have won more except she spent a year at a tennis academy.
A historic performance doesn’t always have to be in the playoff finale. Fairview’s Tom Chambers scored 50 points in a basketball third-place game. His effort continues as a state postseason record, 31 years after his final basket.
High school sports greatness is not exclusive to individuals or streaks, either.
When Columbine won the big- school football title in 1999, seven months after what was the worst school shooting in U.S. history, it was its first prep championship, but it made worldwide news.
Although high school greatness may not require a bunch of stars, it helps when it comes to team accomplishments.
Cherry Creek, which became the only big school to win championships in football, boys basketball and baseball in the same school year (1994-95), capped its Triple Crown by defeating defending state champion Arvada West in a game that featured four future major-leaguers. The winning blow, a sacrifice fly, came against Roy Halladay, who went on to win the American League Cy Young Award.
“It was a huge feat; no one expected us to beat Arvada West,” Bruins coach Marc Johnson said.
And yet, Palisade won five consecutive midrange football titles from 1994-98 without a player who sniffed pro ball.
“That’s what you love about high school sports. It’s that kind of stuff,” Dylla said. “I don’t think I realized it when I was doing it.”
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
