LAKEWOOD — Peyton Sommers burst across the finish line of the 1,600-meter relay, baton in hand, and pointed to his ring finger. Then he rushed over to the trackside fence at Jeffco Stadium, where he was mobbed by screaming teammates.
With its injured star Sommers as the anchor, Cherokee Trail’s victory in that relay sealed an improbable comeback on Saturday for the Cougars’ third straight title. With that, CT became just the second Class 5A boys program to three-peat, matching Smoky Hill’s feat from 2003-05.
It was only fitting that Sommers, one of the most accomplished sprinters in state history, cemented the Cougars’ gritty effort. The Penn State commit battled a right hamstring injury all season, which kept him from qualifying for state to defend his titles in the 100 and 200 meters. But Sommers gutted out a win in the 400 meters, his third time winning that race, before polishing off CT’s crown.
“I would’ve felt a lot more pressure if we came in on paper as the favorites, but we weren’t,” 22nd-year Cherokee Trail coach Chris Faust said. “Our kids just performed. This year is easily the most gratifying (of the three-peat). Every kid stepped up today, even as we were getting pushed by Eaglecrest, a phenomenal track program.
“We had Peyton get hurt, other kids get banged up. These kids changed my (pressurized outlook) from the start of the season, because their enthusiasm with each other is infectious. We are the most obnoxious team in the state when it comes to meeting their teammates at the finish line when they win.”
Cherokee Trail’s three-peat dreams looked bleak entering Saturday, as the Cougars sat in third place behind No. 1 Mountain Vista and No. 2 Eaglecrest. While breaking down the meet over dinner on Friday, Faust estimated that if all of Saturday’s events went according to seed, Eaglecrest would win by four points and CT would finish in a tie with runner-up Mountain Vista.
But Cherokee Trail overperformed on the pivotal final day, winning the title with 72.5 points as Eaglecrest came in second with 65 and Mountain Vista faded to third with 60.
After the Cougars’ Taylor Waters won the pole vault with a Colorado 2025 top mark of 16 feet, 9 inches, and his fellow senior teammate Sawyer Carr tied for sixth to nab 3.5 more points, Cherokee Trail needed to finish no worse than sixth in the 1,600-meter relay to capture the title. The combination of Nick Hoffsetz, Nurudeen Diallo, Dylan Smith and Sommers cruised to a win in the event, with their mark of 3:17.26 the best in Colorado this season.
The moment Sommers crossed the finish line is one he’ll remember forever, especially amid the injury adversity he encountered this season. Sommers ran on Saturday with a brace wrapped over his hamstring. He came into the year dreaming of state records in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter races and finished feeling like all the roadblocks to individual success were worth it with how the Cougars finished as a team.
“I’ve been embracing the tough, the hurt and the pain of this season, and making the best out of it,” Sommers said. “When I crossed that line to get us the three-peat, I wouldn’t trade that moment with my teammates for the world.”
In addition to Carr’s performance in the pole vault that got the Cougars unexpected points, CT also found scoring in other areas of the meet that the seed times and marks couldn’t predict.
Sophomore Christian Mbamarah got seventh in the 100 despite not being seeded to make the finals. Freshman Joshua Strewart was fifth in the 110 hurdles. Hoffsetz picked up a point in the 200 despite not being seeded to make the finals. Junior Dylan Smith was a surprising seventh in the 400. Junior Prince David Ajibade, seeded 12th in the high jump, placed fourth.
“I just knew I had to contribute, and that was the same mindset all of our (non-event winners) had today,” Carr said. “I was feeling the pressure. I was hyperventilating. Last year, I didn’t clear a single height. I had similar feelings of anxiety coming into this meet, but I was able to lock in and clear some heights to get us key points.”
Add all those contributions up, and the Cougars were able to fend off Centennial League rival Eaglecrest, even though “every time we were hoping (the Raptors) would slip up just a little bit, they didn’t,” Faust said.
“In the state of Colorado, the best track and field is in our little corner of Aurora, within the best track and field league in the state,” Faust asserted.
Perhaps Faust reverting back to his old superstitions helped, too.
On Saturday, he went back to the same outfit he’s worn at every meet for the last two championship seasons — a gray CT jacket with a black CT cross country shirt underneath, along with black sweats — after previously abandoning the get-up down the stretch. And he went back to his ritualistic state meet breakfast on Saturday, too, by eating the Split Decision at IHOP.
Now, there’s the matter of the tattoo. Faust has gotten ink to symbolize each of the Cougars’ titles, which is now five on the boys side and two on the girls. To immortalize the 2024 championship, he got a portrait of the character Clay Davis from the show “The Wire” on the side of his right leg. For the ’23 title, it was the Flying Dutchman from “Spongebob Squarepants” on his left calf.
For his Cougars’ latest feat, he’s already brainstorming an homage to a song by the punk rock band The Transplants called “Tall Cans in the Air.”
“I’m kind of thinking three tall boys — could be PBR, could be Bud Light, whatever — and ’23, ’24 and ’25 on those cans,” Faust said.
In the 5A girls race, Fossil Ridge ran away with its first crown following what Faust deemed “an unbelievable performance for three straight days.”
The SaberCats, runners-up last year to Rock Canyon by a mere 8.5 points, posted 97 points this week to best runner-up Cherry Creek (71.5 points) as well as Eaglecrest (68) and Mountain Vista (65).
Fossil Ridge didn’t win an event until the 400-meter relay on Saturday, but racked up high podium finishes across the board to pull away on Friday and then cement the championship on Saturday. Even junior Addyson Smith getting upset in the 100- and 200-meter races, taking second in both, couldn’t stop the SaberCats.
Senior Mia Williams was third in the 800; senior Tatum Berg was fourth in the 1600, and Williams was sixth; Berg was second in the 3200; sophomore Maggie Hoyer was second in the high jump and sixth in the long jump; senior Addison Hayes was sixth in the triple jump; and Fossil Ridge place second in the 800 relay and 1,600 relay.
“During warm-ups (for the 400-meter relay), I was really anxious and worried that the individual outcomes that I had so far today were going to come into this race,” Smith said. “But the moment my teammates got me the baton, I knew it was over.
“And to win the team title, it’s been our whole goal since the beginning and really since the end of last season, and it’s something we’ve consistently talked about. We achieved it with a well-rounded team performance.”
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