Pole vault was the big event Friday for the Ignacio High School track and field team at the Colorado High School Activities Association State Championships at Jefferson County Stadium in Lakewood.
Jayce Stricherz and Chrystianne Valdez both cleared 7 feet, 2 inches in the Class 2A girls pole vault to tie each other and four others for 11th place.
Keith Joosten took 11th in the boys pole vault at 10-11, while Tyler Riepel finished with no height.
“I was very proud of them; I thought they all competed well,” IHS head coach Tony Kimball said of his pole vaulters. “(Stricherz and Valdez) came very close to clearing 8-08. Riepel hadn’t been up there before. Nerves got to him. He coudln’t clear the starting height, even though he’s very capable.”
The Bobcats’ boys 4x200-meter relay finished ninth in the finals in 1 minute, 36.38 seconds, and the boys 4x400-meter relay finished 13th in the prelims at 3:40.62 and didn’t qualify for the finals.
“We had a terrible handoff and lost about two to three seconds,” Kimball said of the 4x200 relay.
“We dropped a baton and didn’t qualify,” Kimball said of the 4x400 relay team.
The Bobcats are finished at the state meet after not qualifying for any of Saturday’s finals.
Ignacio’s best results came Thursday on Day 1 of the state meet, which included a trio of top-10 finishes by Wyatt Hayes, Adam Herrera and the 4x200 relay team.
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