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Sierra’s Dias takes long jump title
Everything seemed to be lining up perfectly for Zack Little to finish off his high school career with a second straight 4A boys long jump championship at Jefferson County Stadium.
The defending champion was coming off a 23-feet, 2-inch winning performance a week ago at the Region 4 meet, and all of his main competition were those he had seen regularly, including teammate Marcel Gibbons.
But one good jump by Kelby Dias to start Friday's event turned out to be no small feat. His first jump of 22-2.75 proved to be good enough to upset Little and Gibbons, his regional rivals, and win the state title.
"It's not really my event. I just came out to score team points. I do it to place third or fourth," the Sierra junior said. "I never thought I'd win."
As a result, Sierra is tied for third with Mullen in the boys competition with 18 points. Battle Mountain leads headed into the final day with 22 points, followed by Sterling, 19.
Mesa Ridge is tied for 11th with 10 points.
In the girls team race, Thompson Valley leads with 22 points, followed by Alamosa (19.5), Mountain View (18.5) and Fossil Ridge (18). Widefield's Joy Warrington won the shot put title.
Little's best jump of 21-11.75 earned him second. Gibbons finished eighth.
"He kind of turned the table on us," Little said of Dias, who finished third a week ago at regionals.
Little said he felt confident that he could repeat despite tweaking his left hamstring, an injury he originally suffered prior to last week's regional winning jump. But he also didn't feel that the injury played a role in his performance.
"It's more about distance than placement for me at state," Little said. "I didn't jump a good distance, so I didn't place good."
Longmont's Elizabeth Stover placed well. She won her third straight 4A girls pole vault on her first vault, snapping Rampart senior Kelli Ehardt's state meet record (13-0 in 2007) with a mark of 13-3.
"Hopefully that will be around for a while," Stover said.
The 5A girls get their chance to set records today.
