Weathers leads great efforts by locals in 1A meet

There were some pretty amazing performances by area athletes in the Class 1A Track and Field Championships, last week at Jefferson County Stadium in Lakewood.
Lone Star junior Alivia Weathers swept all four of her events, powering the Longhorns to a third-place team finish with 52 points.

Arickaree/Woodlin’s Jacob Jefferson and Hayden Page combined to score 46 points to finish tied for third in the boys team finish, including two firsts and a second by Jefferson.
Lone Star senior Brady Kuntz closed out his high school career by setting the 1A record in the pole vault.
It was a pretty good three days by the locals.
Leading the way obviously is Weathers, the only athlete in any classification to win four individual events last week.
“My gosh, that’s crazy,” she said earlier this week. “I still can’t really believe it. I don’t really have words, it’s just so crazy.”
Placing in all four of her events definitely was a possibility, or even expected, heading into the state meet as the junior was a high seed in each.
Her run began Saturday afternoon in the pole vault. Weathers cleared 10-0 for her first gold medal.
What’s more, teammate Andrea Kuntz cleared 8-9 to place second. Aleighcea Kuntz was eighth at 7-3, giving the Longhorns 19 points on the first day.
Weathers was back in competition on Friday in the triple jump. She enjoyed a great series of jumps, topping out at 34-foot-8 for her second gold medal.
Then came Saturday and the two hurdle races.

First up was the 100-meter hurdles in the morning. Weathers sprinted to first place in 16.5 seconds.
“I went in feeling confident about the first three, but for the 300 I told people I would be happy to finish third or fourth,” she said. “That was definitely the one I wasn’t expecting.”
She explained that she normally paces herself in the 300 hurdles so she has some kick left at the end. However, her strategy was different last Saturday afternoon.
“I had nothing else afterwards, it was my last race, so I was dead sprinting from the start and it worked out,” Weathers said.
She shaved 2.5 seconds off her time, winning the 300 in 48.15 seconds.
Weathers now has eight state medals; her freshman year she was second in the triple jump, third in the 100 hurdles and pole vault, and fourth in the 300 hurdles. She has one more year to add to the total.
Lone Star is coached by Kayln Serrato and Adam Marshal, leading the Longhorns to an overall strong track and field season. With much of the season coming during summer vacation, Weathers said she also was able to get in extra work with Yuma’s Jim Powell and Jack Lubbers in the triple jump and pole vault, and Keith Waggoner of Wray in the hurdles.

Lone Star senior Brady Kuntz concluded his decorated high school athletic career on top also. He set the 1A record in the pole vault, Saturday morning, by clearing 13-6.5. It was just enough to beat the record of 13-6 set in 2013 by Mack Cooper of Vail Christian. Kuntz also was the 6-man football player of the year last fall for the state champion Fleming Wildcats, a stalwart on defense that also set the state record for kickoff returns for touchdowns in a career.
Teammate Abraham Martinez cleared 10-9 to place eighth.
The Lone Star boys 4-by-800 relay team also placed seventh, Friday afternoon, with a time of 9:51.77. The relay consisted of Martinez, Dakoda Cox, Ethan Glenn and Kuntz.
Lone Star’s girls picked up more points in the relays, as well.
The foursome of Andrea Kuntz, Alison Davis, Idhaly Martinez and Aleighcea Kuntz ran the 800 sprint medley on Thursday, placing ninth with a time of 2:19.19.
The 4-by-100 team of Andrea Kuntz, Martinez, Aleighcea Kuntz and Leah Kubitz placed ninth on Saturday with a time of 59.58 seconds.

Jefferson and Page
Then there was the two-man wrecking crew of Jacob Jefferson and Hayden Page, accounting for 46 points to tie for third in the 1A boys final standings.
The duo got it going Friday in the 800-meter run, with Jefferson taking second with a time of 2:08.89, and Page fifth in 2:11.91.

They then got real busy on Saturday. Jefferson, just a sophomore, won the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 16.24 seconds, and then won the 400 in 52.49 seconds. CHSAANow.com reported he broke his older brother Joseph’s school record in the 110s. He also set the school record in the 400.
Page, also a sophomore, was close behind in the 400, finishing second in 53.22 seconds.
Jefferson closed out the great run at state Saturday afternoon by placing fifth in the 300 hurdles in 43 seconds.

Otis
The Otis High School track and field athletes were able to come home with some medals from the state meet.
Peyton Wells got it done for the Otis boys, placing fourth in the discus with a distance of 123-11, and took sixth in the shot put with a heave of 37-0.75. He is only a sophomore, so he has some years left for more track success.
Anthoneya Schaffert scored the girls points, clearing 8-6 for third in the pole vault.

Taylor Ringlein nearly placed in the pole vault, as did Maddox Hisam in the high jump, placing 10th and 11th respectively. The boys also had a 4-by-800 relay team that did not make the medal stand, placing 11th.

Stratton/Liberty
The Stratton/Liberty girls headed home with a few points from the state track meet.
McKenna Notter placed ninth in the triple jump with a distance of 31-3.25.
The 4-by-100 relay team did the best, placing seventh in 57.32 seconds. The 4-by-800 team placed ninth in 12:23.83.