LAKEWOOD — Cedaredge senior Sierra Williams and Mead junior Alex Mead successfully defended their 100-meter titles Saturday during the state track championships at Jefferson County Stadium.
Despite steady rain and a soggy track, both set 3A state meet records.
Williams, who has signed to run for Florida State, clocked 11.82 to break the former 3A state meet record of 12.07 set in 2004 by Dimma Kalu of University High.
Mead established a new 3A state meet record with a personal best 10.62, breaking his mark of 10.78 set Thursday during prelims. Prior to that, the 3A record was 10.98 set in 2009 by AJ Melillo of Platte Canyon. Tom Kensler, The Denver Post
Bozmans wins first individual 5A title. Despite a steady downpour, the pressure of being the favorite and the lingering taunting controversy surrounding him here at the state track and field meet, Raymond Bozmans said he felt a sense of calm as he stepped into the blocks for the 100 meter dash.
“I remember this time last year, I was a nervous wreck, but this time I was actually pretty calm,” Bozmans said. “I just tried to hold on.”
Bozmans, the senior sprinter from Ft. Collins High, followed through by winning his first individual title in 10.51. Bozmans was third in the 100 meters last year as a junior.
Bozmans’ time was slower than the 10.27 he ran earlier this season when he set a new Colorado state record, but to Bozmans, it was the 10-points he received to Ft. Collins’ team total that mattered most.
As soon as Bozmans crossed the finish line after winning the 400-meter dash (47.56), he spun around and pointed to his Ft. Collins coaches, Conrad Crist and Laurie Rice, who in the bleachers.
The coaches, it seemed, were even more excited than Bozmans was.
Bozmans said it was Crist who pushed Bozmans to start running the 400, and Rice (along with her sister, Megan Fox) who told him what it felt like to be a 400-meter state champion. The Fox sisters each won quarter-mile titles for the Lambkins.
“Now I know what it feels like, and it’s a bond we have now that I’ve won it,” Bozmans said. Lindsay Jones, The Denver Post
Two-sport star. Fossil Ridge’s Rhianna Williams won her third individual state title Saturday, but her first one on dry land.
Williams won the girls 5A 400 meters in 55.36, there months after she won two individual titles (as well as a relay title and a team championship) at the 5A swim meet.
Running has been Williams’ secondary sport – she didn’t start running track seriously until last year – and she said her swimming coaches have been supportive of her running endeavors in the spring.
“It’s been exciting,” Williams said. “I feel a lot more prepared than I did last year because last year was my first year running track and I didn’t know what I was doing.” Lindsay Jones, The Denver Post
Freshman champ. Pine Creek freshman Alleandra Watt outran a heat of older sprinters to win the Class 5A 100 meter dash.
Watt, who had qualified with the third-fastest time out of the preliminaries, said she knew she would have a chance to win if she could pull of a perfect start.
“It feels great, just to be able to do this as a freshman. Now I see what it could be like if I could do it for four years or something,” Watt said. Lindsay Jones, The Denver Post
Fantastic finish. Three one-hundreths of a second separated the top three finishers in the boys 5A 110-meter hurdles, won by Littleton’s Cody Billings in 14.68. Billings, racing in lane 9, edged Doherty’s Ryne Chavez (14.69) and Fossil Ridge’s Jace Horack (14.71).
“I looked over and I could see them in peripheral, so I knew I had to lean them out, that’s the only way I’d win,” Billings said.
The hurdles events kicked off Saturday’s running finals, as puddles began to form on the track. Billings, though, took the weather as a blessing.
“I like running in the rain, it’s my kind of element,” Billings said. “I was a football player, so I like playing in the nitty gritty.” Lindsay Jones, The Denver Post
