AURORA | City teams and athletes won a combined four team championships and 12 individual events in the final weeks of the 2016 spring prep sports season. Here’s a look at one of Aurora’s individual state event winners in Cherokee Trail sophomore Sydnee Larkin, the Class 5A girls triple jump state champion:
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel
CHEROKEE TRAIL’S SYDNEE LARKIN: 5A GIRLS TRIPLE JUMP STATE CHAMPION
Sophomore Sydnee Larkin, Cherokee Trail’s versatile star, had an outstanding three days of competition at the Class 5A state track meet May 19-21 at Jefferson County Stadium, highlighted by her performance in the triple jump on the final day. The Cougars’ standout led her team in the triple jump for most of last season and had designs on winning the state title, but teammate Amazing Ashby came out of nowhere to win the event, with Larkin ending up in sixth place. A year made a huge difference for Larkin, who not only got her state title this season, but also jumped past Ashby into the school record books with her leap of 39 feet, 8 1/4 inches. According to Colorado Milesplit, the effort stands as the top mark in Colorado in 2016 regardless of classification by a significant margin, with Heidi Beier of 4A Liberty more than a foot and a half behind with the second-best mark of 38-2. Sophomore Aumni Ashby finished second behind Larkin at state to collect significant points for coach Chris Faust’s Cherokee Trail team, which fell short in its bid to defend its 2015 state championship.
Larkin became the fourth Aurora girl to win the 5A triple jump at state in the past five years (joining Amazing Ashby in 2015, Regis Jesuit’s Kelsey Cunningham in 2013 and 2012 champ Danielle Williams of Eaglecrest). In addition, Larkin ran a leg on the Cougars’ state championship-winning 4×100 meter relay team, took third in the long jump and fifth in the 100 meter dash to contribute heavily for Cherokee Trail, which finished a point behind Arapahoe for second place behind winner Fort Collins.
