'We proved everyone wrong': History made on the final day of the 2024 CHSAA Track and Field Championships
The final day of the 2024 CHSAA Track and Field state championships from Jeffco Stadium concluded on Saturday. Pueblo sent over 25 athletes to compete in the state championships and after the three-day event, there were many winners and history was made.
Pueblo East’s Reagan Falletta reached the top of the podium as a freshman earning a gold medal in the girls Class 4A 100m hurdles. Pueblo West’s Hayden Golden earned a bronze medal and Pueblo County’s Delaney Pighetti finished the race in fifth place.
Falletta was almost speechless after achieving the gold medal but still managed to say how she felt.
“Amazing,” Falletta said. “I’m so happy to be here and to get the gold as a freshman. It’s been an amazing experience. My coaches are great, I want to give a shout-out to my uncle for helping me train and be in this position.”
As a freshman, Falletta burst onto the scene winning event after event all season long. Regardless, she didn't expect to finish atop the podium.
“(I) didn't expect it at all, I was really nervous, but before the race I prayed and thanked God and put all my effort in and was able to achieve my goal,” Falletta said.
Shortly after, Kaitlyn Pearson of Swallows Charter would add to her impressive totals for her career with a silver medal in the girls Class 2A 100m hurdles and a gold medal in the 100m dash. She added another gold in the girls 200m dash.
Pearson now joins some rare air as she is amongst the top individual medal winners in Pueblo history surpassing track and field legend Freda Hancook who took home nine top-place finishes in the 70s.
Pearson spoke about what it means to accomplish such a feat.
“I am feeling great, I'm super happy, I'm speechless,” Pearson said. “It's been so much fun and I'm just soaking it all in and celebrating. My senior year was my best, and I'm happy. It's unbelievable really. I’ve grown so much from bronze to my silver to my gold, it's been a big part of my track journey. I hope that everyone from my team will take inspiration from that and continue to grow.”
Pearson was shocked to find out she had now set a record that hasn’t been surpassed in five decades.
“I'm just so thankful to my team, my parents, my family, everyone being there to support me throughout the year,” Pearson said. “My coaches, coach Emily, coach Marcus, coach Taylor, coach Zimmerman, coach Baker, all my teachers, everyone has been so supportive, and I don't think I could be here without that support.”
The senior Spartan ended her high school career with three bronze, four gold, and four silver medals, giving her 11 overall. She will continue her athletic career at Colorado Mesa University at Grand Junction as part of the first-ever signing class in Swallows Charter’s history.
The Pueblo West girls 4x100m relay team of Hayden Golden, Nkechi Onyejekwe, Jamie Suazo, and Kiera Kirkpatrick also took home first place with a time of 48.02. With the victory, the Pueblo West girls locked up third place overall in the team score. The team spoke about their win after receiving their gold medals.
“We are feeling good, especially after last year we came in seeded third and had a slight mishap and didn't really get the result we wanted so this year it was personal and we came and got it,” Onyejekwe said.
“The nerves were horrible, coming out of those blocks then sitting there waiting, it's got to be like no other feeling. As much as it is so scary, the adrenaline is crazy,” Golden said.
“I think so many people don’t think highly of us from Pueblo,” Kirkpatrick said. “That was what was going through my mind, how bad do you want it to prove everyone wrong, that we can be here, and we deserve to be here.”
“This whole year we’ve been working towards this goal and it’s finally our year,” Suazo said. “We proved everyone wrong.”
The team thanked their coaches for all their help and support in getting them to this point.
“We couldn't do it without the people behind the scenes who helped us all year long,” Kirkpatrick said.
Just after the girls wrapped up their win, the Pueblo East’s boys 4x100m relay team stepped up to the line and were able to grab the bronze medal in their event with a time of 42.50.
The final event of the day featured the Pueblo West boys 4x400m relay made up of Bruce Hobbs, Luke Ware, Royce Thomas-Quintana, and Gavin Lockett, who finished first overall with a time of 3:19.87.
The team talked about how it felt to be the first 4x400m relay team in school history to take home the gold.
“We are feeling great, glad about how we performed,” Hobbs said.
“I’m really happy with today, and it was a great way to finish the season,” Ware
“It's awesome to come away with the gold,” Lockett said. “I don’t how many teams there are in total, but we are the best out of them.”
“I'm very happy about how we performed,” Thomas-Quintana said. “It was amazing out there.”
In total, Pueblo athletes accumulated 12 top-three finishes across all the events during the 2024 CHSAA track and field state championships.
Here are all the results from the final day of the CHSAA track and field state championships:
More: Live updates from Day 2 of the 2024 CHSAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships
CHSAA Outdoor Track And Field Championships Day 3 Results:
Girls 100m Hurdles 4A Final
Pueblo East's Reagan Falletta finished in first place with a time of 14.42.
Pueblo West's Hayden Golden finished in third place with a time of 14.92.
Pueblo County's Delaney Pighetti finished in fifth place with a time of 15.01.
Girls 100m Hurdles 2A Final
Swallows Charter Academy's Kaitlyn Pearson finished in second place with a time of 15.21.
Girls 100m Dash 4A Final
Pueblo South's Layla Armijo finished in eighth place with a time of 12.50.
Boys 100m Dash 4A Final
Pueblo West's Gavin Lockett finished in fourth place with a time of 10.90.
Girls 100m Dash 2A Final
Swallows Charter Academy's Kaitlyn Pearson finished in first place with a time of 12.35.
Boys Discus Throw 4A Final
Pueblo South's Ryan Lane finished in 13th place with a best throw of 147-08.
Girls Discus Throw 4A
Pueblo East's Julissa Macias finished in 14th with a best throw of 106-02.
Boys 200m Dash 4A
Pueblo West's Gavin Lockett finished in fifth place with a time of 22.11.
Girls 200m Dash 2A
Swallows Charter Academy's Kaitlyn Pearson finished in first place with a time of 25.45.
Girls Triple Jump 2A
Swallows Charter Academy's Brooklyn Kleven finished in 13th with a best jump of 31-05.25.
Girls 300m Hurdles 4A
Pueblo East's Reagan Falletta finished in sixth with a time of 46.90.
Girls 4 X 100m Relay 4A
Pueblo West finished in first place with a time of 48.02.
Boys 4 X 100m Relay 4A
Pueblo East took home third place with a time of 42.50.
Boys 4 X 400m Relay 4A
Pueblo West took home first place with a time of 3:19.87.
Christopher Abdelmalek is a sports reporter for the Pueblo Chieftain and can be reached at cabdelmalek@gannett.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @chowebacca. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Pueblo athletes take home 12 medals from CHSAA track and field finals
