|
Simla’s Toney, Fountain Valley’s Hanna primed for today’s finals
PUEBLO - Simla senior Jake Toney and Fountain Valley junior Emily Hanna put themselves in position Friday to bring home two gold medals today.
The two won their preliminary heats at the 2A state track meet at Dutch Clark Stadium.
Just three months ago, Toney was limping off the basketball court after bruising his knee in a basketball playoff game, but he quickly recovered to post the state's fastest time this year in the 200-meter dash.
Toney qualified first in the morning's 100 dash heats Friday with a time of 10.96 seconds - a fraction behind the state meet record of 10.80 set in 2001 - then bested the field in the 200 with a run of 22.54, a halfsecond off the state meet record of 22.24.
But he wasn't happy.
"Today I ran a little slow. These were not my best times," Toney said. "I'm looking to beat our school record (22.03) in the 200. I was pretty close to the state meet records today, and that's something I also want to beat."
Miami-Yoder junior Mike Carl qualified fourth (11.27) in the 100 and second (22.97) in the 200.
Hanna could have competed for Fountain Valley in the girls 100 dash, 100 hurdles and the high jump, but she opted to sit out the 100 dash, which was run 50 minutes after the 100 hurdles.
"I decided to save up for the hurdles," said Hanna, who is seeking a third straight 100 hurdles title, having set the state meet record (14.50) as a freshman in 2006.
"I didn't want to run the dash and put that (streak) in jeopardy."
Hanna also won the high jump as a freshman.
In one of four 2A finals run Friday, Cripple Creek-Victor sophomore Shawn Dubbs placed fifth (4:30.40) in the 1,600-meter run, two spots ahead of Fountain Valley junior Steven Stoot (4:40.33). Both finished in the top 10 last year and will run the 3,200 today.
"I was running real good, but these are wonderful athletes with long strides and I'm kind of short," the 5-foot-8 Dubbs said. "I died at the end. I hope to do better in the two-mile."
Limon's Angie Tornowski placed second with a pole vault of 9 feet. Freshman teammate Ashton Taylor was seventh.
