FORT COLLINS — Diego, a Fort Collins High student escorting a visitor to the school gym, brightened when told that the mission was to meet with Lambkins athlete Raymond Bozmans, who two weeks ago broke the state high school record in the 100-meter dash.
“He’s a really good guy,” Diego said.
Outside the gym, Bozmans — a slight 5-foot-10½, 155-pound senior — explained that the “VISITOR” sticker on his Colorado State University T-shirt had nothing to do with the local college, but with his return that morning to his former grade school, the nearby Linton Elementary.
“I got a nice letter from one of my grade school teachers, so I went back to the school,” he said.
The note of congratulations, enclosed with a clipping about his state-record race, had come from Katie Turney. Bozmans explained, a bit self-consciously, that Turney and another of his former Linton teachers, Amanda Baldwin, joked during his visit that they knew he was going to be a star runner someday “because I was always running away from them.” He smiled and added, “I’ve always been pretty fast.”
When Bozmans set the state record of 10.27 seconds on April 21 at the Dakota Ridge Invitational in Lakewood, the outpouring of congratulations from his classmates — and even his former grade school teachers — was heartfelt. “I’m so proud of the well-rounded young man he has become,” Baldwin said. The former record was 10.32, set by Overland’s Jeremy Rankin in 2007.
When he was at Linton last week, the grade school students, not that much younger than Bozmans, lined up for autographs.
“He is mellow and humble and a super nice kid,” said Fort Collins track coach Conrad Crist. “When he gets on the track, he transforms. He can control everything about his life so well, and when he steps into a race, all his focus goes into that race, and that’s where I think he’s an elite kid. He has that ability to put all his energy into one place at one time, no matter what he does, and that’s helped get his speed to the next level.”
With the Lambkins heading into the Front Range League meet Tuesday and Friday, Bozmans is shooting for the 200-meter state record of 20.70, set by George Washington’s Jeremy Dodson in 2005. “I still want to get that, but when we get to the state meet, I don’t really care what my times are as long as I win my events for the team,” he said.
Under the usual age demarcations, Bozmans, 17, would be only a junior this year, but he skipped a grade. He is ticketed to attend Texas Christian University on a track scholarship in the fall, and hopes to become a petroleum engineer.
Before he moves on, he will have a bona fide chance to win the 100, 200 and 400 at the May 17-19 state meet in Lakewood, and going into this weekend’s meets, he had the state’s top times of the season in all three events. He also will run in one of the relays — most likely, the 4 x 200 — in an attempt to lead the Lambkins to a team title.
“I’m definitely going to run all three events,” he said. “We’ve been working toward it all year. We played around with it last year, but I didn’t do enough training at the 400, so we’ve worked a lot more on that this year.”
At the 2011 state meet, Bozmans was third in the 100, behind Markesh Woodson of Fountain-Fort Carson and Gavin McHenry of Chaparral. Woodson also won the 200, with Bozmans second.
“Last year was kind of disappointing,” Bozmans said. “Then, as soon as football ended, Coach Crist and I talked about the goals for the track season. He told me to work hard and not worry about everything else. So that’s what I did. When it came time for the regular season, it’s been incredible. I’ve been rolling and I can’t even explain it.”
The attention picked up when he broke the 100 record. “I was in dis- belief,” he said. “I thought maybe I’d get the 200 record at some point, but I never thought I’d touch the 100 record. My coaches were telling me it was a 10-flat hand time, so I knew it was pretty good if that was the hand time, and once they told me 10.27, I sat there with my head in my hands.”
Crist said his star is ready to move on after this spring. “Would I love to have him another year? Sure I would. But as far as his academic situation and getting out into the world and becoming a man, it’s a good time for him. He’ll do just fine.”
Bozmans has lived his whole life in Fort Collins, and he doesn’t consider his college choice as an escape. “I love Fort Collins,” he said. “If I go somewhere for jobs, I definitely want to come back here someday, even if it’s retirement.”
His mother, Crystal, is from Denver, and his father, Jade, is a native Californian. Crystal works for the community corrections center, and Jade owns Bozmans Insurance and Finance in Fort Collins. Early on, their son was an athletic prodigy, especially in football. At Linton Elementary, Baldwin was struck by his math aptitude, and she recalled that he was “bright and determined.” She added, “He taught me to play chess when he was 9 and beat me every time.”
Turney glowingly recalled taking breaks from working with Bozmans and being amazed by his speed as they tossed around the football outside or played basketball. She added: “School came easy for him. He was always in accelerated math classes and had good grades. We would set goals for him to achieve, and he would always achieve them. It’s no surprise to me that he has become a very succcessful student-athlete.”
As a 16-year-old senior wide receiver for the Lambkins last fall, Raymond made the Front Range League’s all-conference first team.
“I still love football, but I know my calling is in track,” he said. “And at college, there won’t be enough hours in the day to try to play football too, and also run track and get a petroleum engineering major done.”
Ultimately, he decided TCU was the best combination for track and petroleum engineering. “I wanted to get my feet wet in the world,” he said. “TCU is a perfect fit. It’s only 9,000 students. Instead of being one kid among 30,000 at some schools, I’m one of 9,000 and I still get good athletics. And we also have some family down in Fort Worth, so that will be good, too.”
Bozmans likely will accept an invitation to run in the Adidas “Dream 100” for high school runners in New York in early June, and there also is a chance he could compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore. His 100-meter time meets the “B” standard for the Trials, meaning that if there is room after all the “A” standard sprinters are in the field, Bozmans could run.
“Besides that, I haven’t planned to do any running over the summer,” he said. “I want to enjoy my last time here, the rest of the school year and over the summer.”
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
Colorado’s best
The state’s fastest high school times in the 100 meters:
1. Raymond Bozmans, Fort Collins: 10.27 (2012, Dakota Ridge Invitational)
2. Jeremy Rankin, Overland: 10.32 (2007, State 5A meet)
3. Jeremy Dodson, G. Washington: 10.41 (2005, Regional 5A meet)
4. Albert Ransom, Montbello: 10.43 (1988, Meet of Champions)
Wind-aided times.
Lennis Campbell, Widefield (10.35, 1995 State meet 5A final)
Jacob Scheuerman, Littleton: 10.39 (2006, Nike Littleton)
