On Friday, April 26, Coronado held its Cougar Classic Invitational. The Cougars won their own track meet with 99 points, with most of the points scored coming from the 110m hurdles, 800m, 3200m, and the 4x400m relay. This meet led to multiple performances that will help those individuals qualify for state.
Colorado High School Athletics Association (CHSAA) takes the top 18 athletes in events across the different division classes to determine which athletes go on to compete at the State Championship Meet. The top nine of those athletes in individual sprints and sprint relays go to the finals.
Jonathan Geschke, Class of 2024, placed second in the 110m hurdles. Jonathan ran a time of 15.47 seconds which was enough to place him 14th in 4A 110m hurdles. Jonathan commented on his performance: “Me and Coach Petrelli are working two times a week now, working harder for hurdles to drop the time to a 15.2 or even a low 15, we just want to get me top ten and make it to finals for state.”
Matthew Ledford, Class of 2024, won the 3200m in a time of 10 minutes and 24 seconds, with almost a 10 second lead on the second finisher in the last heat of the 3200m. “I wasn’t thinking about time going into the 32, I just wanted to run the race because I like the 32.” Matthew described his thoughts going into the race: “I wasn’t expecting first place, I wanted to place high… when I saw the chance that I could get first place I immediately took it.”
This year in division 4A, the 800m has been one of the hardest events to qualify for state. With the top 21 athletes all running the event under 1 minute and 58 seconds. During the Cougar Classic, Coronado entered these six athletes in the 800m: Xzavier Campos, Class of 2026; Parker Davidson, Class of 2025; Eisen Dacus, Class of 2024; Oliver Horton, Class of 2027; Boston Potts, Class of 2025; and Hyrum Ponitous, Class of 2026. Four of these athletes ran times under two minutes in the 800m: Xzavier ran a time of one minute and 55 seconds, Parker and Eisen ran a time of one minute and 57 seconds, and Oliver ran a time of one minute and 59 seconds. Parker explained, “I expected it to be fast cause I knew most of our team was in there and I’d seen how we’ve been training.” Parker, who is currently ranked in the top 18 for state, added, “I feel pretty good about that. I know that there’s some pretty fast times being put out there right now.”
The Cougar Classic was a great success this year with many of Coronado’s athletes improving their times, multiple heats and flights of the unified 100m and unified long jump being run, and multiple athletes qualifying for the state meet. The Cougars’ season isn’t over yet; there are still more meets for these athletes to qualify for the Colorado State Track and Field Championships. The State meet is hosted by CHSAA and will take place over three days starting on Thursday, May 16 and ending on Saturday May 18. The meet will be held at Jeffco stadium in Denver. Good luck to all, and we’ll be cheering for these amazing athletes.
