LAKEWOOD | There’s fast, and then there’s Aurora.
Led primarily by a outstanding core of boys and girls sprinters, city athletes came away with 10 individual state championships from the three-day Class 5A state track meet, which concluded Saturday at Jefferson County Stadium.
Regis Jesuit sprint star Ana Holland wowed the capacity crowd by pulling off a sweep of the 5A girls 100, 200 and 400 meter races — setting two state records in the process — while the Cherokee Trail boys sealed the second team state championship in school history with a determined performance in the meet-concluding 4×400-meter relay.
The Cougars led Cherry Creek by 3.5 points going into the final event of the meet and needed to finish in front of the Bruins to secure the title. Cherry Creek had a runner go down during the race, making the result anticlimactic, but the Cherokee Trail team of Leighton LaFrambois, MarKeith Bailey, Devin Arnold and Brandon Singleton left no doubts with their victory.
Cherokee Trail also won the 4×200 meter relay and got yeoman’s performances in the open sprint events from senior Jaylyn Mars and Singleton in a performance that delivered the program’s first state title since it won 4A in 2007.
The Cougars finished with 74.5 points, with a 10.5-point cushion on Fountain-Fort Carson in the final standings.
Eaglecrest senior Marcus Harris finished a state meet healthy for the first time and claimed the 5A boys 100 meter dash, giving Aurora a sweep as Holland took the girls 100 in a record time of 11.33 seconds.
Joining Holland atop the medal podium in the 100 meters were two more city athletes in Smoky Hill senior Zainab Sanni, the runner-up, and Cherokee Trail sophomore Shayna Yon in third.
Holland tweaked an ankle and nearly scratched out of the 400 final soon after, but gutted it out and finished the race in 52.49 seconds to set another Colorado state mark. The 200 meters, which eluded Holland in 2010 when she was also going for the sprinting triple crown, capped off the meet in style as she collected her sixth career state title.
Grandview senior Jordan Charles finished off a strong season in the 110-meter hurdles with a state title and also placed second in the 300 hurdles as well. Gateway’s Zack Golditch won his second straight 5A discus crown and Regis Jesuit’s Jordan Hatfield won the pole vault on the first day of the meet.
Holland’s Regis Jesuit teammate, senior Kelsey Cunningham, came away with the fourth Aurora girls championship when she took the 5A girls triple jump, the event she’d led the state in for most of the season.
Reach Sports Editor Courtney Oakes at sports@aurorasentinel.com or 303-750-7555
