Fossil Ridge ends Fort Collins' city dominance with boys, girls team wins at Randy Yaussi

For more than a decade, the storied Fort Collins track and field program had owned the annual Randy Yaussi City Championships, sweeping boys and girls team titles in every city meet since 2010.

Fossil Ridge upended that run on Tuesday night at French Field, with the SaberCats boys and girls taking home city titles in dominant fashion.

It marked the first city track and field team championships for Fossil Ridge, which opened in 2004.

"It's been nice to have one of the state's premier programs to watch and always compete against," said Fossil Ridge head coach Aaron Waters. "Little by little over the last decade, we crept up. One event got better, then another and another until we finally got here."

The Fossil boys had 273 points to Fort Collins' 192, while the girls tallied a whopping 305.5 to more than double up the Lambkin runners-up at 134.

It started with Alexys Hill and Macy Lathrop's 1-2 finish in the girls 100-meter dash early in the afternoon and never really stopped until a near-9 p.m. finish.

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Overall, Fossil Ridge won 16 events and had 13 runners-up, including clean sweeps of first and second place in six events.

It was well-rounded too, with the SaberCats winning big in sprint, distance and relay runs.

Meanwhile, Mac Busteed swept the boys discus plus shot put events. Fossil girls swept the top-2 triple jump and shot put spots with wins by Addison Hayes and Emma Stalter.

Lathrop also won the 200-meter dash, and Fossil's 4x100 relay squad set a new Class 5A season best time (48.8 seconds) for the second week in a row.

"We knew the team we had and knew if we showed up and put our best forward, it would be hard to keep up with our point total," Waters said.

"We have great athletes across the board and a team full of hungry kids who really want to win."

Waters, in his second season as head coach and eighth in the program, said this was an especially satisfying win given the team's steady ascent.

Plus, the SaberCats had often been runners-up during Fort Collins's city title run. The SaberCats boys finished second five times and the girls were runners-up nine times.

This was one goal checked off the list for Fossil Ridge, which has bigger goals still remaining in postseason competition.

"We still have a goal of winning conference for the first time ever for the boys and third time in a row for the girls," Waters said. "Then, we'll show up to see what happens at state."

Top Fossil Ridge girls finishers

• Macy Lathrop: 1st (200 dash); 2nd (100 dash)

• Alexys Hill: 1st (100 dash)

• Samantha Geraets: 1st (400 dash)

• Tatum Berg: 1st (1,600 run)

• Andrea Walser: 2nd (100-meter hurdles), 2nd (300 hurdles)

• Addison Hayes: 1st (triple jump); 2nd (high jump)

• Madison Zielke: 2nd (400 dash)

• Delaney Voronin: 2nd (800-meter run)

• Mia Williams: 2nd (1,600 run)

• Alaire Serell: 2nd (3200 run)

• Hannah Blonski: 2nd (triple jump)

• Erin Herrmann: 2nd (shot put)

• Ava Wangen: 2nd (discus throw)

• 1st in 4x100-meter, 4x200 and 4x400 girls relays

Top Fossil Ridge boys finishers

• Marcus Mozer: 1st (100-meter dash); 1st (200 dash); 1st (400 dash); 3rd (long jump)

• Carter Brazelton: 1st (1600-meter run); 6th (800 run)

• Connor Vicars: 1st (300-meter hurdles)

• Trevor Bode: 1st (long jump); 7th (100, 200 dash)

• Ethan Pham: 2nd (200 dash); 3rd (400 dash); 4th (boys long jump); 5th (100 dash)

• Joey Souverein: 2nd (800 run); 3rd (1,600 run)

• Harley Schmidt: 2nd (triple jump); 4th (400 dash)

• Cy Teruel: 2nd (1,600 run)

• Won 4x100-meter relay, finished 2nd in 4x200, 4x800 and 800 sprint medley relay

Other Randy Yaussi city meet winners

• Fort Collins: Ella Johns (800-meter girls run); 4x800 girls relay; Christian Groendyk (boys 800 run); Leo Cole (boys 3200 run); Joe Cottingham (boys high jump); Guy Curtis (boys triple jump); boys 4x800 relay; boys 800 sprint medley relay

• Rocky Mountain: Avry Mackenzie (300 girls hurdles and pole vault); Meela Delap (girls high jump); Riley Simpson (girls long jump); boys 4x200 relay

• Poudre: Shirley Weaver (3,200 girls run); Quinn Reublin-Geer (100 girls hurdles); Cate Schelly (girls discus throw)

• Liberty Common: Merek Ranstrom (boys 110 hurdles); Justin Bate (boys pole vault); boys 4x400 relay

• Heritage Christian: 800 girls sprint medley relay

Final Randy Yaussi city meet girls team scores

1. Fossil Ridge: 305.5

2. Fort Collins: 134

3. Poudre: 107

4. Rocky Mountain: 92

5. Heritage Christian: 41.5

6. Liberty Common: 27

7. Timnath: 20

8. Wellington + Poudre Community Academy: 8

Final Randy Yaussi city meet boys team scores

1. Fossil Ridge: 273

2. Fort Collins: 192

3. Rocky Mountain: 108.5

4. Poudre: 62

5. Liberty Common: 50.5

6. Timnath: 21

7. Heritage Christian: 17

8. Wellington: 14

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado track & field: Fossil Ridge ends Fort Collins' run at Randy Yaussi city meet