Bates digs deep to give Discovery Canyon its first individual track champion

LAKEWOOD • Heather Bates wanted to give up.

The Discovery Canyon sophomore was finding it so hard to match the pace of Denver South’s Sydney Scott at the one-mile mark of the girls’ 4A 3,200-meter run at the state track championships Friday that she had to make a decision.

“Right around the mile marker, I was beginning to think that I should maybe let (Scott) go and just try to take second,” said Bates, a sophomore. “I just remembered all the hard workouts I did with my teammates this year and how this would be the first track state championship for my school. That really motivated me. I’m really happy I didn’t give up.”

She fought through the pain and ran the race of her life, winning Discovery Canyon’s first track and field state title with a time of 10 minutes, 57.79 seconds. Teammate Allie Morgan finished fourth in 11:21.98.

The title was a dream come true for Bates, who also qualified in the 800 and 1,600.

“I’m really happy to have a state championship,” Bates said. “It was a goal I really didn’t think I’d reach this year. My teammate ran an amazing race too, so we’re just both really thrilled with our performances.”

Discovery Canyon assistant coach Mark VanderMeer was immensely proud of his girls.

“This is an awesome feeling, and I give all the credit to these girls,” VanderMeer said. “Everything we’ve done this year has been focused on this 3,200. They just had to come and execute. They really came through, and I’m really proud of them.”

Bates ran in the finals of the 800 later in the day, finishing fifth with a time of 2:17.56.