The Eaglecrest girls track team came up just 3.5 points behind Cherry Creek in the quest for second place at the Class 5A state meet, but earned a significant amount of individual and relay awards in the process.
The Raptors claimed half of the 18 spots available on the 2025 Aurora Sentinel All-Aurora Girls Track Team, which is determined primarily by state meet performances as well as regular season results if necessary.
Cherokee Trail (a top-five team led by senior Kaeli Powe, a state champion) is also represented, as Grandview, Regis Jesuit and Vista PEAK Prep.
Coach Chris Carhart’s Eaglecrest team has become a relay powerhouse in the past few seasons and that remained a strength this season. The Raptors have yet to be beaten in the finals of the state meet in the 4×200 meter relay since way back in 2021, as the group of senior Jaylynn Wilson, junior Tatum Gratrix, sophomore Zenobia Witt and freshman Evangeline Ansah won yet another title in the event.
Wilson has been a key part of all four relay champions, including this one, which clocked a time of 1 minute. 39.88 seconds, that put them just in front of Fossil Ridge (1:40.03). Though it got them the title, Eaglecrest ran faster at the Centennial League championship meet with a 1:38.41.
Witt earned All-Aurora honors in three events, including the long jump, in which she repeated as 5A state champion. It required a leap of 18 feet, 7 1/2 inches, on her final try of finals to get it done. The mark tied her with Powe (who had the top mark in the state in the regular season of 20 feet) for the top spot and she won based on a longer second jump. It was a few inches shy of her season best of 18-10 1/2 achieved at the Niwot Invitational.
Witt also led locals in the 100 meter hurdles, in which she finished in third place behind Ponderosa’s Payton Becker and Fountain-Fort Carson’s Alexa Queen, who finished at the top of both hurdles events. Witt’s fastest time of the season — and fifth-fastest in the state regardless of classification —was a 14.24 in the 5A state prelims.
Ansah also garnered three All-Aurora spots with her part of the 4×200 relay (as anchor) and individually in the 200 meter dash. She ran a 24.52 May 3 at the Fritz Fulton Memorial for her season-best, but she came close to that in the finals at the state meet with a 24.70 that put her in fourth place.
Ansah also teamed with Wilson, Gratrix and sophomore Malanya Gaines for a runner-up finish in the 4×100 meter relay behind Fossil Ridge. The Raptors ran an outstanding 47.35 in the finals, but the same team — with Witt in place of Gaines — dropped a 46.41 a week earlier at the Centennial League championships to set Colorado’s all-classification state record.
Eaglecrest’s third All-Aurora relay honor went to the 4×800 meter team of Gaines, fellow sophomores Mia Silva and Jenna Winn and freshman Jenna Hallman. That group ran 9:50.67 at the state meet and did not make the medal podium, but ran a top time of 9:35.16 at the Centennial League championship meet.
Individually, Winn paced locals in the 800 meters as she just missed the medal podium (top nine) with a 10th-place performance with a season-best time of 2:14.32. Senior Kaitlyn Hendrian did get on the medal podium (for a second straight season) in the 5A girls shot put. Seeded ninth going into the competition, that’s just where Hendrian finished. Her top throw of the season of 36-5 1/2 came at the B-Town Bash back on April 7, while she topped out at 35-6 3/4 at the sate meet.
Coach Chris Faust’s Cherokee Trail team finished fifth in the team standings with a lot of heavy lifting done by Powe, a University of Central Florida signee. In one of the jumping events affected greatly by a consistent and forceful wind, Powe repeated as 5A triple jump state champion. Her jump of 41-4 1/2 on her last finals attempt won her the crown, while a wind-aided 42-1 3/4 at the Broomfield Shootout was a season best.
Joining Powe individually on the All-Aurora team for the Cougars was senior Raziah Hyslop, who was again the area’s top performer in the discus. Hyslop went out on a high note, as she captured third place (from a pre-meet seeding of fifth) with a personal best throw of 133-10. It was an improvement by more than five feet from the toss that earned her the Centennial League championship a week earlier.
Sophomore Jade McDaniel rounds out Cherokee Trail’s All-Aurora presence in the 1,600 and 3,200 meter runs. She did not qualify for state in either event (nor did any other area athlete), but had top times of 5:18.65 in the mile and 11:45.26 in the two-mile.
Grandview had a trio of All-Aurora performers in senior Andrea Davis (high jump), junior Sasha Kennedy (300 meter hurdles) and freshman Alexis Fischer (400 meter dash), who accounted for the entire team total of 11 points that placed 23rd.
The highest placer for coach Charles Moss’ Wolves was Kennedy, who saved her best performance in the hurdles for last. She finished fourth with a personal-best time of 43.95 seconds, which was the sixth-fastest in 5A during the season. Kennedy, the Centennial League champion in the event as well, picked up six points for her performance, while the team’s other five came from Fischer with her fifth-place result.
The only Aurora area qualifier for state in the 400, Fischer clocked a 56.62 in prelims and bettered that with a PR of 56.17 in the finals, which was heavy on seniors. Davis came into state tied for the No. 1 seed with a top effort of 5 feet, 7 inches — which she achieved at Jefferson County Stadium at the Pomona Invitational — but she topped out 5-1 at state and missed the podium.
Rounding out the All-Aurora team are Vista PEAK Prep senior Amaya Rogers in the 100 meters and Regis Jesuit senior Abigail Frei in the pole vault.
Rogers finished in fourth place in the finals of the 100 with a season-best time of 11.97 seconds that was just 0.01 out of third. Frei broke her own Regis Jesuit girls program pole vault record from 2024 with her successful clearance of 10 feet, 10 inches, at the HOKA St. Vrain Invitational May 9. At the state meet, the two-time All-Aurora performer and St. Olaf College signee’s top clearance was 10-1 that left her off the podium.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
