State track superlatives: Timnath team title, Fossil Ridge takes 2nd, more than a dozen champions

Timnath has its first high school state title since 1953.

The new Timnath Middle-High School, which opened for the 2022-23 school year, has its first champion.

The Timnath girls track and field team cruised to a dominant Class 2A title this weekend at the state championships at Jeffco Stadium.

Timnath, which is 3A in other sports but competed in 2A in track, dominated the field.

The Cubs finished with 131 points, 65 ahead of second place.

It’s the first title for the new school, but old Timnath did win one. The previous Timnath High School was open 1919-1960, and the boys track and field team won a title in 1953.

In just its second year, Timnath doesn’t have any seniors and could continue to be a force even when the Cubs are in 4A (which is the expected step for the next classification cycle).

It was dominant all around. A look at Timnath’s performance:

• Natalie Washburn won the 800-meter run.
• Addison Geraets won the 300 hurdles.
• Emili Voelker was second in the 100, fourth in the 200 and part of the championship 4X100 and 4X200 relay teams.
• Lily Eisbrener was third in the 100 hurdles and fourth in the open 100 and part of the 4X100 and 4X200 relay title teams.
• Izzy Schimmelpfennig was second in the 3,200 and third in the 1,600 and part of the winning 4X800 relay team.
• Timnath won the 4X100, 4X200 and 4X800 relays and finished second in the 4X400.

The Cubs are now home to a team champion.

Depth pushes Fossil Ridge to silver trophy

The Fossil Ridge girls team is coming home with silverware.

It’s a tale of depth that led the SaberCats to a second-place spot in Class 5A with Fossil Ridge finishing with 62.5 points and Rock Canyon winning at 71.

Fossil Ridge didn’t win any events but racked up points with a lot of different athletes.

A look at the spread and how Fossil Ridge earned points:

• Tatum Berg finished third in the 1,600 run and fourth in the 3,200 run.
• Mia Williams was fourth in the 800 and part of the second-place 4X800 relay team.
• Addison Hayes was fourth in triple jump and seventh in long jump.
• Erin Herrmann was fourth in shot put.
• The SaberCats racked up 11 points total in the triple jump with Hayes (fourth), Maggie Hoyer (sixth) and Frankie McCoy (ninth).
• Fossil Ridge had points in all distance runs, the high jump (Hoyer in ninth), long jump (Hayes in seventh and Ava Hurlbut in eighth), pole vault (Che Bertrand in eighth), shot put, triple jump, the sprint medley relay and the 4X100, 4X400 and 4X800 relays.

No one star, but a true team effort.

Heritage Christian snags another trophy

The Heritage Christian girls continued their historic excellence with a second-place finish in 2A, behind only the larger Timnath. Heritage Christian has won four girls track team titles in school history and previously dominated the 1A ranks.

Heritage Christian also made a cheering tunnel to welcome Timnath to the podium after the Eagles received their second-place trophy.

The Eagles didn’t win any events but peppered the podium with school colors.

A look at some of the top performances:

• Kayla Cuckler was fifth in triple jump, sixth in the 100 and seventh in the 200.
• Lilly Lukens was second in the 1,600, fourth in the 800 and fifth in the 3,200.
• Mikaela Kendall was fourth in the 1,600, fifth in the 800 and sixth in the 3,200.
• Olivia Kendall was fourth in the long jump.

Another 5A champions shutout

The smaller local schools grabbed plenty of titles, but the four Fort Collins 5A teams (Fort Collins, Fossil Ridge, Poudre and Rocky Mountain) were shut out from gold.

There was not a single individual or relay 5A winner from the city for the second straight year after seven wins in 2022.

Before these consecutive shutouts, 2010 was the last time that no one from the city won a title in Colorado’s top classification.

Regardless, there were still some strong performances from 5A city athletes on the track:

• Fort Collins’ Cadel Ruthven: Third in boys 800 meters (1:54.31) and 1,600 (4:15.30).
• Poudre girls 4x400 relay: Fifth (48.30).
• Rocky Mountain girls 4x200 relay: Sixth (1:43.61).

Timnath pole vaulter leads impressive field weekend

The first boys state title for Timnath Middle-High! Cubs’ sophomore Cameron Glasgow took the gold Friday with a vault on 13 feet, six inches to win the 2A boys pole vault.

He was the leader by finish, but there were tons of field standouts in a strong state meet for locals.

Liberty Common senior Justin Bate broke the previous 3A boys pole vault state meet record (15-feet, 2-inches) on Thursday but settled for second place. It’s his second straight runner-up finish after winning the title in 2022.

Here are the other top-five Fort Collins-area finishes:

• Fossil Ridge’s Marcus Mozer: Second in 5A boys long jump (22-11), also placed fourth in boys 200-meter (21.73), sixth 100-meter (10.85).
• Fossil Ridge’s Luke Garvin: Second in 5A boys high jump (6-05).
• Heritage Christian’s Alec Lundy: Second in 2A boys high jump (6-02).
• Windsor’s Danner Bakula: Fourth in 4A boys pole vault (14-01).
• Rocky Mountain’s Kaiden Major: Fourth in 5A boys discus (157-08).
• Fort Collins’ Haylee Eacret: Fourth in 5A girls discus (115-07).
• Fort Collins’ Joe Cottingham: Fourth in 5A boys high jump (6-05).
• Heritage Christian’s Olivia Kendall: Fourth in 2A girls long jump (15-08.50).
• Windsor’s Reyleigh Hess: Fifth in 4A girls high jump (5-01).
• Windsor’s Kylie Becker: Fifth in 4A girls shot put (34-05.25).
• Heritage Christian’s Kayla Cuckler: Fifth in 2A girls triple jump (32-09.25).
• Windsor’s Ariana Hicks/Finley Bach: Fifth/sixth in 4A girls pole vault (11-0).

Munn sweeps sprints, Windsor girls finish runner-up

Windsor senior sprinter Mikey Munn had a state meet (and season) for the ages, sweeping the 4A boys 100-, 200- and 400-meter titles to cap an unbeaten 24-0 spring in dash finals.

Teammate Kiana Cumings had top-three finishes in the same events on the girls side, taking runner-up in the 200 and 400 meters.

Her sprinting performance plus the Wizards’ strong relay runs in the 4x200 (3rd), 4x400 (4th) and 800 medley relay (sixth) helped the Windsor girls finish runner-up in the 4A team standings.

Liberty Common’s Allori goes 4-for-4

Eagles’ senior Isabel Allori cemented her legacy this weekend as one of the best runners in Fort Collins’ distinguished track history .

She won three individual titles in the 3A girls 800, 1,600 and 3,200 meters, all after anchoring Liberty Common’s 4x800 relay team with a dominant finishing kick.

Allori finishes her career with:

• Back-to-back 3A cross-country championships.
• Six individual 3A state track titles.
• Two relay 3A state wins.
• An all-class state-record time in the girls 3,200 meters (10:04.16).

The Liberty Common boys finished sixth in 3A and were highlighted by Bate's pole vault finish and a dramatic state title from Jack Friesen in the 3A 400 run when he surged to the finish line to win in 49.34 seconds with second place at 49.54.

Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle on X and Instagram @Kevin_Lytle .

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: State track superlatives: Timnath team title, Fossil Ridge takes 2nd, more than a dozen champions