Elizabeth McQuitty is a state champion, but her actions afterward were a true measure of her character.
McQuitty, a senior from Alamosa, was the official winner in the Class 3A girls 3,200-meter final Friday at Jeffco Stadium. She was in tears after the race because five girls were disqualified, including Eaton sophomore Delaney Reuter, who dominated the race and crossed the finish line nearly half a lap before McQuitty.
“It doesn’t feel like a win,” McQuitty said. “I don’t think I’m deserving of it. Delaney ran that so amazingly, and she beat me by so much. That win was completely hers. I just feel like this medal and this title goes to her.”
The five girls, including Reuter, were DQ’d because they began on the outside of the track and cut in one lane too far before the point when everyone is allowed to move to the inside. They were allowed to cut into lane 5, but the quintet of runners ran in lane 4.
Reuter won the 3A girls cross country state title in November, and her seed time for this 3,200 meters for the CHSAA state track and field meet was nearly 49 seconds clear of the field. She went to the front of Friday’s race immediately and was in total control.
One meet official suggested there might have been confusion because this stadium has nine lanes, and some of the girls might be more accustomed to running on eight-lane tracks. Reuter said that wasn’t an issue for her.
“I didn’t even know. It was honestly my bad,” Reuter said. “We lined up, and he pointed and was like, ‘OK, you cut to there.’ In my head, I thought that was weird. I thought he pointed to lane 4.
“I just ran the whole race. I didn’t have any idea until after I took my spikes off and came over here. I’m a little shocked, disappointed. I’m frustrated with myself. I should know better.”
After the conclusion of the race, there were two group photos atop the podium. The first had McQuitty at the top, with the top nine official finishers.
The second, unofficial photo included 14 runners. All five girls who were DQ’d were on the crowded podium, with Reuter at the top holding McQuitty’s medal.
“Honestly, that was so amazing,” Reuter said. “It just shows how classy all the girls are in this division, in this race. It was so cool.”
McQuitty offered her medal to Reuter, but the latter declined to keep it. The Alamosa senior might feel like she didn’t deserve it, but she won plenty of hearts with how she handled the controversial finish.
“It was great to see the team camaraderie. We were all upset,” McQuitty said. “We all offered those girls the podium. It was very nice. Even though I don’t know these girls, I feel like they’re part of my team and my family.”
Football talent on the track. Cherry Creek’s 800-meter relay team won the Class 5A boys title with a time of 1 minute, 25.57 seconds. Two of the Bruins’ football stars, running back Jayden Fox and wideout Maxwell Lovett, ran the first two legs in the victory. Non-footballers Michael Cai and Wachemo Mindlin-Leitner brought the title home over the final two legs. The Bruins beat Fountain-Fort Carson (1:26.09), which was the top seed coming into the final.
The Bruins also have the top-ranked 400 relay team (41.31) heading into Saturday’s finals, where they hope to add another title. That relay is all football players in cornerback Jayden Spencer, wideout Jeremiah Hoffman, Lovett and Fox as the anchor.
“You’ve seen Fox’s speed on the football field, where he sees that hole, he hits it and he’s gone,” Lovett said. “And then me at receiver, catching the ball, I’m dangerous in open space as well. And it’s a lot heavier in pads, so the speed on the field correlates well to the track.”
Fox, who is seeded fourth entering Saturday’s 100-meter finals with a time of 10.74, said the Bruins went into Friday’s relay with something to prove.
“We had a lot of emotions coming in, but we kept those in check and came out, stayed calm, and we saw what happened,” he said.
Beast Mode, one final time: The afternoon Lakewood breeze whipped around Rosie Mucharsky’s frame as she churned around one final bend Friday, willing her arms to slash through a tunnel of wind and toward a goal she’d stamped for a year.
Nobody’s going to beat you the last 150 meters, the Denver East senior assured herself, as Lakewood’s Eliana Angelino rode her tail.
Mucharsky downshifted one final time, enough of a cushion to separate her from Angelino. She crossed the finish line and collapsed onto nearby grass. Exhausted. Jubilant. Officially a three-peat state champion in the 5A girls 800, a mark that’ll long be imprinted on Jeffco.
She’s been known for hitting a self-described “beast mode.” A gear deeper than one’s deepest effort, tapped by pure state of mind. And Mucharsky found it in one last 800 on Friday, off to Notre Dame next year to continue a journey from Colorado.
“I’ve definitely wanted it, and thought about it,” Mucharsky said of the three-peat. “Like, when it gets hard in training and stuff, I’m like, ‘This is what it’s gonna take.’”
Jumping triple crown loading?: Javin Summers made the most of Swink’s move down from 2A to 1A, cruising to the triple jump crown. He jumped 45 feet to win by nearly three feet.
The win atoned for Summers’ second-place finish in the high jump earlier on Friday, when the sophomore lost by an inch. He has the long jump coming up on Saturday, where he is the top-ranked favorite.
All of which points to Summers eying a trifecta of golds as an upperclassman, as his goal is to sweep triple jump, long jump and high jump titles in 1A the next two years.
“I’m planning on putting in a lot of work in the offseason, increase the vertical and the fast-twitch muscles,” Summers said. “My goal is definitely to get that (trifecta) over the next couple of years.”
Witt continues to shine in long jump: Last year, it was a set of tooth gems glinting from Zenobia Witt’s pearly whites. This year, it was a pair of Saturn earrings dangling from her lobes as she leapt into the sand. The Eaglecrest sophomore likes planets. She likes “being blingy,” too, she said, to stand out.
“I just feel like it adds a little razzle to my dazzle,” Witt said.
There was plenty of dazzle already as Witt clinched her second straight 5A long jump title after showing out at Jeffco as a freshman. For a second straight year, too, she was locked in a back-and-forth battle with Cherokee Trail senior Kaeli Powe. And she was stunned, momentarily, when she hit a mark of 18 feet, 7.5 inches on her last jump. An official declared it a tie, as Powe had leapt the same on her fourth attempt.
Witt earned the overall win, though, based on her second-longest jump, which beat Powe’s second-longest by half an inch. And Witt, with two long-jump titles in two years of high school track, has greater plans to keep sparkling.
“Definitely going after the four-peat,” Witt said. “Most of the girls that are giving me comp right now — they’re seniors. It’s time. It’s time for my rising.”
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