It’s Day 1 of the Colorado high school state track and field meet at Jeffco Stadium in Lakewood. The Denver Post is there throughout the weekend providing live coverage. Refresh this page for the latest updates and results, in addition to the daily schedule of events, which is at the bottom of this page.

Thursday headlines

Cherokee Trail boys track, fresh off state record in 1600 relay, eyes another Class 5A title this weekend at Jeffco Stadium | Colorado state track meet primer
Windsor’s Cameron Thomas makes lasting impression in short time as state champion pole vaulter
Grand Junction’s Miller Jones overcomes anxiety, wins Class 4A long jump title at Jeffco Stadium
State Track Day 1 Highlights: Heritage Christian’s Jack Nauman, a CU commit, wins 2A 3,200-meter run with crunch-time kick; Kelleghan becomes three-time state champion

Updates

8:15 p.m.: That’s it for Day 1 at state track and field.

We’ll be back blogging and writing bright and early … Now then, time to catch the rest of the Nuggets game. –Brendan Ploen

Heritage Christian has two runners cruise to 3,200-run titles (8:10 p.m.)
While Heritage Christian moved up a classification to 2A, it made no difference as it claimed titles in the 3,200-meter run boys and girls races.

In the boys race, Jack Nauman pulled away with two laps remaining and by the time he crossed the finish line in 9:45.21, he held his hands up in the air in celebration. It was his third title in the 3,200-meter run and the CU commit still has a pair left this weekend.

In the girls race, freshman Mikaela Kendall did enough to separate herself from the field on the last lap and won with a time of 11:46.99.

In other relays earlier in the evening, Estes Park won the 3A 3,200-meter relay with a time of 8:05.14, while The Classical Academy took second (8:10.50). In the girls 3A 3,200-meter relay, Alamosa won in 9:46.61, and TCA took second (9:55.57). — Brendan Ploen

Kelleghan three-peats (5:20 p.m.): Silver Creek’s Meagan Kelleghan is a three-time pole vault champion and the North Carolina-bound senior still has a few more events to go this weekend. She clinched her third title in the last four years.

The senior vaulter broke her own Class 4A state meet record with a winning vault of 13 feet, 5 inches, which was a half-inch higher than her previous best, which came in 2021.

“I came in a little bit lower with the rain delay and everything and didn’t take too many jumps anyways, but just getting one over the bar and getting to (the finals) was good,” Kelleghan said. “I had first-attempts all the way up to 13-9.5, so that felt super great and not to have a lot of missed bars. Being consistent with form and everything was huge.”

Also on Thursday, Kelleghan ran the 4A 800-meter sprint medley, the 100-meter dash preliminaries and she still has the 400-meter relay remaining on Friday. — Brendan Ploen

Back at it (4:05 p.m.): It’s been a really nice afternoon since the weather cleared up. Lots of preliminaries for the Class 1A-3A sprinting events, however, one state title on the track to report: Fleming won the girls Class 1A 800 sprint medley relay with a time of 1 minute, 53.45 seconds while Sanford (1:54.94) and Merino (1:57.47) rounded out the top three. The 100-meter preliminaries just wrapped up and there’s currently a break on the track.

Still to be decided are the 3200-meter relays and the 3,200-meter run in Class 1A-3A. Results to follow in a bit for the field events. — Brendan Ploen

About to return (1:50 p.m.): The public address announcer just conveyed to Jeffco Stadium that we are tentatively set for a 2:10 p.m. restart. It will be the Special Olympics race, followed by the final Class 4A and 5A events: The 400-meter dash.

From there, it will be a rolling start with 1A – 3A events on the track. — Brendan Ploen

12:40 p.m.: Lightning is in the area here at Jeffco Stadium. It could be a long afternoon of delays but we’ll keep you updated throughout. At the time of the delay, the special olympic 100-meter dash was ongoing, while the 4A long jump and 5A shot put were ongoing. — Brendan Ploen

Lightning strike (12:33 p.m.): The meet is being suspended at 12:32 p.m. due to a lightning delay. No timetable yet for resuming meet. — Kyle Newman

Thomas wins Class 4A boys pole vault (11:52 am): Windsor senior Cameron Thomas is a champion even though he didn’t feel like one after claiming the 4A boys pole vault title. Following his performance, Thomas walked around distraught because he couldn’t clear 17 feet as he did in April or top the boys 4A meet record of 16 feet. But his ability to reach 15 feet, 6 inches, was enough to surpass the competition, which was still impressive since he only started pole vaulting last March. — Ryan McFadden 

Baroumbaye sets new standard (11:45 a.m.): Grand Junction Central’s Daniel Baroumbaye is the new standard bearer on the disc. The senior claimed discus gold this morning with a throw of 194 feet, 11 inches, breaking Thomas Jefferson grad Avery Shunneson’s state meet record from 2021 of 192-6. Baroumbaye entered the meet with one of the top 50 marks in the nation (188-1). Thurday’s throw puts him in a tie for 15th nationally, according to MileSplit. — Matt Schubert

Record breaking win (11:26 a.m.): As expected, the Class 5A boys 3200 relay produced a barn burner, with Mountain Vista breaking a Colorado prep record by winning in a time of 7:42.58. Cherokee Trail wasn’t too far behind, finishing second in 7:45.69, but the Mountain Vista foursome led by senior Tyler Downs proved to be too much. — Matt Schubert

And we’re off (9:15 a.m.): The first day of state track is off and running. Outside of a few distance and relay finals, today is a day mostly reserved for field championship events and preliminary races. A few things we’ll have our eye on: 1) Silver Creek’s Megan Kelleghan, a North Carolina commit, is eyeing her third consecutive 4A pole vault title, while Windsor’s Cameron Thomas has a chance to shatter the meet record in the 4A boys pole vault. The boys event is underway, and will be followed by the 4A girls at 11:30 a.m; 2) Valor Christian, Mountain Vista and Rock Canyon boys face off in what could be an epic 3200-meter relay at 10:55 a.m. — Matt Schubert

Championship winners through Thursday

5A boys

3200 relay: Mountain Vista, 7:42.58*. High jump: Kaleb Kimaita (Horizon), 6-6. Triple jump: Micah Dobson (Rangeview), 46-1.5. Shot put: Charlie Lafore (Chatfield), 55-8.75.

5A girls

3200 relay: Mountain Vista, 9:05.05. High jump: Farrah Eike (Valor Christian), 5-5. Triple jump: Joy Nnantah (Pine Creek), 38-5.75. Shot put: Ella Brooks (Ralston Valley), 37-3.75.

4A boys

3200: Will Brunner (Battle Mountain), 9:26.76. 3200 relay: Niwot, 7:53.31. Long jump: Miller Jones (Grand Junction), 23-4. Pole vault: Cameron Thomas (Windsor), 15-6. Discus: Daniel Baroumbaye (Grand Junction Central), 194-11+.

4A girls

3200: Addison Ritzenhein (Niwot), 10:30.05. 3200 relay: Niwot, 9:22.60. Long jump: Brianna Tira (Falcon), 17-11.25. Pole vault: Megan Kelleghan (Silver Creek), 13-5+. Discus: Geneva Gigi (Palmer Ridge), 135-9.

3A boys

3200 relay: Estes Park, 8:05.14. Long jump: Jamison Taylor (Harrison), 22-6.5. Shot put: Johnny Whyrick (University), 52-10.5.

3A girls

3200 relay: Alamosa, 9:46.61. High jump: Addison Alexander (Brush), 5-3.

2A boys

3200: Jack Nauman (Heritage Christian), 9:45.21. 3200 relay: Peyton, 8:16.27. Triple jump: Brady Mollendor (Sedgwick County), 44-3.5. Pole vault: Ron Shay (Wray), 14-1. Discus: Kenyon Cochrane (Rangely), 157-3.

2A girls

3200: Mikaela Kendall (Heritage Christian), 11:46.99. 3200 relay: Timnath, 10:14.83. High jump: Eboselulu Omofoma (Dayspring Christian), 5-1. Triple jump: Eboselulu Omofoma (Dayspring Christian), 36-5.

1A boys

3200: Josh Snyder (Cheraw), 10:28.64. Discus: John Hainer (Granada), 142-10.

1A girls

3200: Kya Piel (Merino), 12:18.61. 800 medley relay: Fleming, 1:53.35. Long jump: Emily Hume (Walsh), 16-2. Shot put: Zadie Mackey (Elbert), 39-3.5.

* Colorado prep record  | + State meet record

Thursday’s schedule

Track

Field