The Colorado State Track and Field Championships, and the musty boys' 1600-meter record

Rich Martinez, with whom I became friends thanks to a chance meeting in Boulder some seven years ago, has held the Colorado state championship record in the 1600 meters, 4:10.98, since 1981. (Some kids have run faster, but not in meets held in high-altitude Colorado.) That's incredible given not only the passage of 37 years but the fact that Colorado is not exactly a state starved of distance talent.

This Saturday, at the state champs in Lakewood, at least four kids have a real shot at it. The 4A race goes off at 11:20 and features two sophomores who have run 4:12.01 and 4:12.75. The owner of the faster time is Cruz Culpepper of Niwot, whose surname is familiar to track followers who have not just emerged from a 30-year-long coma. The other one is Cole Sprout of Valor Christian, who set a Colorado record in the 3200 meters earlier this month with a 9:01.53 in a race he won by approximately 68 lengths. I don't think these two have raced each other this season. They are both racing on Friday as well, but not against each other; Culppeper is in the 800m. and Sprout in the 3200m.

Dillon vs. Sprout at the Mullen Invitational last month. Photo courtesy of Bobby Reyes (Milesplit.com).

If the record falls to one of these youngsters, it may only last for a few hours. Michael Mooney of Broomfield, who ran 4:11.99 to edge out Culpepper this past weekend in Longmont, and Carter Dillon of cross-country juggernaut Mountain Vista, whose 4:12.91 saw him edged out by Sprout in April, will face off at 2:55 in the 5A race. Mooney is also running the 3200, which is on Thursday morning, while Dillon is competing in the 800 on Friday afternoon. (The Colorado state meet is a curiosity in spanning three days, although last year it was compressed into two because of snow.)

I think I will have to go watch these races.