Field day: Local athletes excel at hyper-competitive Broomfield Shootout
Mar. 23—BROOMFIELD — Niwot's runners have made themselves one of the most feared programs in all of Colorado over the past few years, but junior Jade West is ensuring that dominance doesn't just end on the track.
On Saturday at the Broomfield Shootout at Broomfield High School, she put on a masterclass in both the shot put and the discus, winning each with tosses of 42 feet, 11 inches and 114-4, respectively.
During her sophomore season, she won every single high school meet she participated in, including at the Class 4A state championships.
"I've been working really hard with offseason and club," West said. "I just got back from Boston for New Balance Nationals and everything that I've been doing the last couple of months and the last two years has been leading up to consistently throwing over 40 (feet in shot put). It's a really good feeling to just come out here in a very competitive area, for sure, and kind of hold my own."
West has spent the past year working on the small details and believes that her rotation will be key to her ability to go the distance this season.
"It's like you're spinning almost twice in the circle, kind of starting facing away from the pit," she said. "Then it's a really slow motion out the back, and then you are kind of, almost, sprinting forward to the front of the circle. That speed really gets the shot going a lot farther."
One giant leap forward
After four years on the high school track and field scene, fans and opponents should have learned by now to never underestimate Peak to Peak senior Kourtney Rathke. Sometimes, she can even surprise herself.
In her usual fashion, Rathke ran from event to event — at times, literally — impressing in each and every one. Her banner moment, however, came in the long jump, which she not only won with a blistering 19 feet, 11 inches, but blew her previous PR to smithereens.
By press time, the event was still running. Broomfield head coach Justin Hazzard said his meet included more long jump competitors than all five classifications at the entire state meet combined.
Prior to Saturday, her best mark, which came during indoor season, maxed out at 19-2.
"I have no idea," she said when asked how she pulled off the feat. "There was definitely, probably, a little bit of tail wind, which is nice — hopefully a legal tailwind. I was just feeling really excited and fast. It was a nice setup, and then I was just really working on jumping up and holding the pike."
She also put her talents on display in the pole vault (second place, 12-10), the triple jump (sixth, 35-10.5) and the 100-meter hurdles (fourth, 15.50 seconds), the latter of which gave her another PR by about 0.2 seconds.
Not a bad day at all.
"Definitely not the (pole vault) jumps I was looking for, but I was definitely feeling a little tired from the three other events I did today," she said. "It's always fun just to watch everyone get to compete with all these girls. I literally ran over from long jump to vault, so my legs are a little gassed."
The cherry on top
Broomfield senior Lilly Nichols entered the meet as a blank canvas, someone who not only served as a work of art for her teammates but as a masterpiece in the pole vault. She wouldn't have expected any less on her birthday, as she went on to win the event at 13-4.
She beat Rathke by 6 inches.
"I don't really think of the competition as much, but going the same as my PR on my birthday felt pretty nice," she said. "My teammates were really nice. They drew on me, so that was fun. I'm kind of trophied up with my drawings. They just did anything they wanted with a marker."
In clearing the 13-4 mark, Nichols easily surpassed the old meet record of 13 feet in the event, which in hindsight seemed like a foregone conclusion. She's been able to hit the 13-foot mark consistently as she prepares to head to Arkansas State next year.
"Knowing that I can get up and jump even after I've been sitting for so long and it's windy and it's getting late, that was really nice," she said.
Shooting his shot
Skyline senior J.J. Davis, who's already become a threat in the javelin at his club meets, doesn't just limit himself to spears. On Saturday at Broomfield, he more than proved that he can flex his muscles in all of the throwing events.
Literally.
Davis, who spent a considerable amount of time in the weight room during the offseason, saw all that hard work pay off when, in his first event of the day, he placed third in the discus with a toss of 153 feet flat. That mark beat his previous personal record by an estimated 6 feet, and at one of the state's toughest regular-season meets, to boot.
"It's always awesome to PR," Davis said. "I mean, I knew I was already in state, so getting a good competition in before state is always fun, especially a PR. This is the most competitive meet until state, most likely. You got kids from 5A. Our top flight was like 140 (feet) plus, so it was a crazy meet."
Davis has spent two hours every day tweaking every little detail in his technique in both shot put and discus. He believes that if he can master his spin, he can improve his momentum and speed and reach 50 feet in shot put by season's end.
He ended that event at eighth place with a throw of 46 feet, 6 inches.
A hop, skip and a jump
Erie senior Marco Martinez was one of the favorites going into the high jump but felt the sting of the meet's talent level when he fell to eighth place with a clearance of 5-10. His other events followed much of the same pattern as he ran back and forth from each all day.
His long jump took him to 16th place (20-5), his 300-meter hurdle race placed him squarely at 14th (42.78 seconds) and his 110 hurdles result, despite being a wind-corrected PR, put him at 10th (15.73).
He took it all in as a positive moving forward, as he sees where he stands among competition from a variety of classifications and knows where he needs to fine-tune his techniques.
"Honestly, it shows me there's so many talented kids out there, because the times that people were posting today, especially for hurdles and stuff — I mean, I was running great times and still getting like 10th place in the 110s," Martinez said. "It just shows a lot about how tough the competition is around here, but it's nice, too, because it helps me be able to realize that I can get pushed a lot by these other kids."