Jumping off her off-foot due to injury, Grandview junior Kylee Harr soared to new heights and won the Class 5A girls high jump at the 5A state track meet May 20 at Jeffco Stadium. Harr cleared 5 feet, 8 inches, to win the state competition and significantly better her previous season best of 5-4. (Photo by Courtney Oakes/Aurora Sentinel)

AURORA | City teams and athletes won one team state championship and 11 individual titles during the final weeks of the 2017 spring prep sports season. Here’s an in-depth look at Grandview’s Kylee Harr, the Class 5A girls high 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

GRANDVIEW’S KYLEE HARR: 5A GIRLS HIGH JUMP STATE CHAMP

Grandview junior Kylee Harr won the Class 5A state championship in the high jump in her first trip to the state meet. (Photo by Gabriel Christus/Aurora Sentinel)

Among Aurora athletes, the breakout performer of the Class 5A state track meet had to be junior Kylee Harr, who contributed significantly to the Wolves’ push for the first state championship in program history. In order to score 120 points, some of them would undoubtedly come from an unexpected source like Harr, who accounted for several of those in her first trip to Jeffco Stadium for the state meet. A budding standout middle blocker with the Grandview volleyball team in the fall, Harr tried out track and field this season and joined coach John Reyes’ team, which already had a significant number of multi-sport athletes on it. By the time the state meet was over, Harr finished with an individual and relay state championship and a second top-five podium place. The high jump state championship Harr won likely was the most improbable of all given the circumstances that led up to it. An injury to the right ankle she regularly jumped off of hampered her at the Centennial League Championships meet, where she cleared just 5 feet (well below her season-best of 5-4 set back on March 18 at the Aurora City Championships) and finished behind sophomore teammate Alisha Davis. Harr told the Grandview coaching staff that she was ambidextrous and felt like she could jump off her left foot at state. With just a short amount of training on the other foot, Harr entered the state meet in which she came in seeded eighth in a competition that saw all 18 state qualifiers within five inches of each other.

Grandview junior Kylee Harr, center, stands atop the medal podium with her championship medal in the Class 5A girls high jump on May 20, 2017, at Jeffco Stadium. (Photo by Gabriel Christus/Aurora Sentinel)

Qualifiers continued to drop away after the competition until only Harr and Rock Canyon’s Riley Masten were left. Harr cleared 5-6 on her second attempt and then went on to go over 5-8 on her first attempt, with Masten failing to match her. Harr took three attempts at getting over the bar set a 5-10, but her calf knocked it off on one attempt where she had plenty of clearance. Davis finished in a tie for fourth and combined with Harr to deliver 15 points in the event for the Wolves, which racked up a stunning 70 points on the opening day of the state meet. Before the high jump, Harr helped her team gain 10 more points when she teamed with senior Jordyn Moore and freshmen Kameryn Brown and Lily Williams to win the 800 meter sprint medley relay. On the second day of the state meet, Harr captured fifth place in the 5A girls long jump with an effort of 17 feet, 1/4 inches.

MORE WE ARE THE (AURORA) CHAMPIONS

We are the (Aurora) champions: Grandview girls track team (5A state track)

We are the (Aurora) champions: Grandview’s Brie Oakley (5A girls 3,200 meters)

We are the (Aurora) champions: Cherokee Trail’s Sydnee Larkin (5A girls triple jump)

We are the (Aurora) champions: Hinkley’s Darrien Wells (5A boys 400 meters)

We are the (Aurora) champions: Hinkley’s Angel Heredia (5A boys 300 meter hurdles)

We are the (Aurora) champions: Cherokee Trail’s Jaiden Paris, Taylor Watson, Chian DeLoach, Sydnee Larkin (5A girls 4×100 meter relay)

We are the (Aurora) champions: Grandview’s Kennede Brown, Kameryn Brown, Lily Williams and Michaela Onyenwere (5A girls 4×200 meter relay)

We are the (Aurora) champions: Hinkley’s Casey Sharpe, Oscar Sarabia, Angel Heredia and Darrien Wells (5A boys 4×200 meter relay)

We are the (Aurora) champions: Grandview’s Kylee Harr, Jordyn Moore, Kameryn Brown and Lily Williams (5A girls 800 meter sprint medley relay)

We are the (Aurora) champions: Grandview’s Lily Williams, Kaitlyn Mercer, Kennede Brown and Michaela Onyenwere (5A girls 4×400 meter relay)

We are the (Aurora) champions: Grandview’s Amy Chitkoksoong (5A girls golf)

Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor and photographer with Sentinel Colorado. A Denver East High School and University of Colorado alum. He came to the Sentinel in 2001 and since then has received a number...