AURORA | Six weeks after she won her second career Class 5A state championship, Cherokee Trail’s Kaeli Powe earned recognition as the state’s top female track & field athlete.
Gatorade named its Colorado Player of the Year June 24 and the nod went to Powe, who capped an outstanding prep career with a second straight Class 5A state championship in the triple jump, reached the medal podium (top 10) individually in two other events and also made it as part of a relay team for coach Chris Faust’s Cougars.
Full list of Aurora’s all-time Colorado Gatorade Players of the Year by sport, here
Powe — who will compete at the University of Central Florida in the fall — successfully defended the state championship in the triple jump in blustery conditions at Jefferson County Stadium May 15. Powe’s last attempt in the finals yielded a winning mark of 41 feet, 4 1/2 inches, which put her well in front of the field despite uncertainty introduced by a minor foot injury. It did not, however, match her season-best, a Colorado-leading 42-1 3/4 (wind-aided) achieved at the Broomfield Shootout.
Her championship landed Powe the spot in the event on the 2025 Aurora Sentinel All-Aurora Girls Track Team (story, here).
A second state title got away from Powe on a tiebreaker, as she led the long jump until club teammate Zenobia Witt of Eaglecrest matched her 18-7 1/2 on her last jump. Witt took the title based on a longer second jump. Powe also earned a medal in the 100 meter hurdles with a sixth-place showing, while she finished fifth in the 4×200 relay along with Cherokee Trail teammates Maliah Watson, Des’rae Burke and Tayah Burton.
Powe is the first Aurora-area girls track athlete to win the Gatorade award since former Regis Jesuit star Ana Holland in 2013. Trina Edmond of Aurora Central won it in 1989, while Smoky Hill’s Megan Kaltenbach earned it in 2001, 2002 and 2003.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
