After fighting through the wind at last week’s meet, the Summit High School track and field team returned to Jefferson County Stadium in Lakewood on Thursday, April 11, for a day that was prime for impressive track and field performances.

With the occasional slight breeze and mild springtime temperatures, the Tigers set several new school-record marks and finished at the top of several events to head into spring break with a good amount of energy. 

Leading the charge for Summit was senior hurdler Cam Fox, who after months of work was finally rewarded with a school-record time in the 110-meter hurdles. Fox had been chasing the 2008 school record set by Stephen Ike for the better part of two seasons, growing close to the mark of 16.27 seconds last May before working himself back into form this spring. Taking advantage of the ideal conditions, Fox ran 15.96 seconds to claim the school record and place fifth overall in the event. Fox also placed 11th in the 300-meter hurdles, running 45.62 seconds.

The Tigers went on to set three more school records.

After setting a school record of 51.77 seconds a few weeks ago in Fort Collins, the Summit girls 4×100-meter relay placed the bar even higher after netting a time of 51.33 seconds. Senior Shannon Reed, senior Braelyn Wentworth, sophomore Saige Heflin and senior Lindsey Kiehl all contributed to the feat, which was fast enough for the team to place first overall in the event.

Summit set another school record in the 4×200-meter relay. A team made up of Wentworth, Heflin, sophomore Faith Fox and sophomore Teagan Barth were able to match the previous best time of 1:48.42 from 1994 and place fourth overall.

The Tigers captured its final school record of the meet in the 800 sprint medley relay when Reed, Wentworth, Kiehl and senior Luci Brady blazed to a time of 1:52.20 to match the 1984 school record time in the event. Summit placed third overall to rack up more points towards the final team score.  

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The Tigers girls track and field team’s success in the relay events continued in the girls 4×800-meter relay, where junior Avery Eytel, freshman Lily Benbow, sophomore Darby Leffler and senior Adaline Avery were able to place first overall with a time of 10:55.40.

Eytel also competed in the girls 3200-meter run, where she was able to place second overall in a new personal-best time of 11:53.04. Avery followed Eytel in ninth place with a time of 13:31.96.

Freshman Ashley Adkins placed sixth overall in the 1600-meter run with a new personal-best time of 5:49.31 while sophomore Claire Jackson snuck into the top 10 in the girls 800-meter run, placing 10th in 2:47.07.

The Summit girls track and field team concluded the invitational with senior Cami Davis taking second overall in the girls triple jump with a mark of 33 feet, 8.50 inches. Senior Piper Salazar followed in fourth with a best jump of 32 feet, 3 inches.

With a total of 83 points, the girls field team took second out of 17 teams. Ralston Valley High School took first with 116 points.

On the boys side, freshman Tyler Susic placed 10th overall in the boys 400-meter dash with a time of 55.37 seconds while freshman Owen Fallon and sophomore Cain Steinweg worked to dip under the five-minute barrier in the 1600-meter run.

The two Tiger distance runners fed off one another throughout the race, which led to Fallon securing a time of 4:58.41 for 12th place. Steinweg followed right behind Fallon in 13th to claim a new personal-best time in the event of 5:00.37.

Junior Joey Smith placed second overall in the boys triple jump with a mark of 39 feet, 8 inches.

Senior Jackson Archambault, junior Josh Shriver, junior Eduardo Gutierrez and junior Quinn Breigenzer placed first overall in the boys 4×400-meter relay with a time of 3:33.32.

The Summit boys placed 11th out of 15 teams with 23.50 points.

Summit also traveled down to Denver for the 26th Mullen Invitational on Saturday, April 13, where there were a few standout performances. 

Faith Fox took second in the 100-meter hurdles in a new school-record time of 15.86 seconds. As only a sophomore, Fox now owns school records in the 100-meter hurdles, 300-meter hurdles and the long jump. 

Fox doubled back in the 300-meter hurdles where she won the event in 46.00 seconds while Kiehl won the girls 800-meter run in 2:26.26.

Shriver won the boys 3200-meter run in a commanding 9:38.72 with freshman Jay McDonald following in fourth with a time of 10:32.93.

McDonald rounded out his events for the day in the 1600-meter run and 400-meter dash. McDonald placed second in the 1600-meter run (4:33.53). He then ran a 0.3 second personal best in the 400-meter dash (55.58) for 18th place.

A few athletes who did not go on a spring break trip will compete at the Holy Family Tiger Tornado on Saturday, April 20, before competing in the final meets of the season prior to the state track and field meet from May 16-18.