Jumpers, throwers and a 21-champ salute: A look at Fort Collins' superstar state track show

Kevin Lytle and Kelly Lyell, Fort Collins Coloradoan
·6 min read

LAKEWOOD — Twenty-one events.

Yep, 21!

That's how many individual and relay titles Fort Collins athletes won during a wet, weird and wonky high school state track and field meet at Jeffco Stadium.

The meet started Thursday, took a long pause Friday due to a snowstorm, restarted Saturday as it went late into the night (the last event ended at 11:10 p.m.) and finished Sunday.

But the one consistent thing was Fort Collins athletes winning. In addition to the bevy of individual and relay triumphs, three local teams brought home team titles.

Here's a breakdown of the best in show from Fort Collins.

The megastar performance by Brooke Naughton

No disrespect to any other locals, but this was Brooke Naughton's weekend.

State titles in the Class 5A high jump, long jump and triple jump, plus a seventh-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles. Sensational. Enough said.

Path to titles: How Brooke Naughton became the best girls high school jumper in Colorado

She totaled 33 team points, which would have been a 10th-place score in 5A all on her own. Fort Collins finished third overall as a team.

Jump City, USA

The jumps (long jump, triple jump and high jump) are owned by Fort Collins. Those events in 5A frequently looked like city meets.

Of the six combined 5A titles (boys and girls) in those events, locals won five.

How it happened: A look back at how the state meet unfolded and top locals

Naughton swept the girls side. Poudre's Rhys Travis won the triple jump, and Fort Collins' Dontay Johnson won the long jump in an upset, beating the top seed who had never lost before. And even the high jump had Fort Collins' Joe Cottingham hitting the same mark as the champion and finishing second.

More 5A jumps placers include:

  • Ryan Pollyea (Fossil Ridge), third in triple jump, seventh in long jump

  • Griffin Elshof (Rocky Mountain), fourth in long jump

  • Mateus Gadaleta (Fort Collins), fourth in the high jump and sixth in triple jump

  • Cottingham, eighth in triple jump, second in high jump

  • Luke Garvin (Fossil Ridge), seventh in high jump

  • Travis, ninth in long jump, in addition to triple jump title

  • Katie Rankin (Fossil Ridge), sixth in triple jump

  • Lily Patrick (Fossil Ridge), eighth in long jump

For those who don't want to do the math, that's 16 placers in the 5A jumps.

They can throw it, too

Fort Collins might not have dominated the throws like the jumps, but it wasn't far off, as city athletes were all over the 5A throws as well.

Rocky Mountain's Kevin Bruxvoort won the 5A discus. Fort Collins' Laura Davis won the 5A shot put.

Davis took second in the discus, and teammate Emily Johnson was seventh in discus. Mac Busteed (Fossil Ridge) and Cade Whish (Fort Collins) placed third and fourth in shot put, respectively, while Bruxvoort was sixth. Whish finished third in the discus.

Can't touch Heritage Christian

It's becoming a given, almost an automatic. As certain as inclement weather on state track week.

Heritage Christian will qualify a ton of athletes into the finals, the Eagles will win several events and they will run the rest of the 1A field to death with a combination of depth and top-end excellence.

Double champions, again. It's the second year in a row Heritage Christian has won both the boys and girls 1A titles. Again, it wasn't close. The girls finished with 124 points with second-place Merino at 77. The boys had 128 points with second-place Cheraw and Sanford at 69.

It's the sixth title in a row for the boys team and eighth in the last nine seasons. It's the fourth girls title.

Highlights from the girls side:

  • Ainsley Stanton: The distance star won the 3,200 and was third in the 1,600. She was also part of the second-place 4X800 relay team.

  • Kali Siemers: An all-around effort of second in the high jump, fourth in the 300 hurdles, fifth in the 100 hurdles and part of winning medley relay.

  • Kate Green: Third in both the 200 and 400 and part of winning medley relay.

  • The sprint medley relay team of Harper Siemers, Kayla Cuckler, Kali Siemers and Kate Green took the title.

  • The 4x800 relay team of Staci Brown, Helena Lee, Ainsley Stanton and Juliana Lundy was second.

And from the boys side:

  • Jack Nauman: The distance demon won the 1,600 and 3,200 and was on the first-place 4x800 relay team (which also consisted of Elijah Vigil, Ryan O'Loughlin and Andrey Kutchma).

  • Samuel Lundy: The hurdler finished second in both 110 and 300 hurdles.

  • Ryan O'Loughlin: In addition to being on the 4X800 first-place team, he was second in the 3,200 and third in the 1,600.

Liberty Common the new force

In the 2019 meet, Liberty Common's boys and girls teams combined for zero points. Zip. Zilch.

The 2020 meet didn't happen due to COVID. But all of a sudden, Liberty Common came on strong with a girls second-place and boys seventh-place finish in 3A in 2021.

It was even better this season: Champions.

"That’s been the goal ever since last year. We were really happy to get second last year, but I think we all went home that day and were like, 'Now we’ve got to put in the work to try to get it this year because it’s our big year,'" said two-event champ Isabel Allori. "So it’s really great that we were able to do it."

The Liberty Common girls won the 3A title (the first track title in school history and first girls team title in any sport at the school) with 98 points, to comfortably beat second-place Coal Ridge (86). The boys had a strong performance with a third-place finish.

Check out these top performances from the champion girls team:

  • Allori: Double champion with 1,600 and 3,200 titles, and third in the 800.

  • Katie Wrona: Three top-three performances, with second in the 100 and 200 and third in pole vault. She was also on the championship 4X100 team.

  • Two relay titles in 4x100 (Grace Williams, Logan Haugestuen, Lily Morrison and Wrona) and 4x200 (Williams, Ruby Richardson, Haugestuen, Jurgens).

And on the boys side:

  • Brandon Bate: A three-title winner! He individually won the 400 and 800 races and was part of the winning 4X400 relay and second-place 4X800 relay team.

  • Justin Bate: Title winner in the pole vault.

  • Relays: The 4x400 team of Pierce Richardson, Jack Friesen, Maclean Majeski and Brandon Bate won the title. The 4x800 team of Carter Conrady, Pierce Richardson, Majeski and Brandon Bate was second.

High risers

They might not have won state titles, but several locals made big jumps from where they were seeded to where they finished with massive performances at state.

Ryan Pollyea: The Fossil Ridge junior made huge leaps (pun mildly intended) in all three individual events. He was seeded 17th in the triple jump and finished third. Seeded 11th in the high jump and finished fourth. The long jump? Seeded 15th and finished seventh.

Cameron Thomas: The Windsor junior was seeded third in 4A in pole vault at 14 feet. He added a whopping 9 inches to that best mark (and set a school record) to finish second.

Cottingham: The Fort Collins sophomore increased his top high jump mark by 2 inches to go from fifth seed to second.

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This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Fort Collins' top performances at Colorado high school state track meet