LONGMONT — Seeing her father in the stands was all the motivation Griffin Matthew needed.
With Dr. Thomas Matthew in attendance, Griffin Matthew, a junior at Niwot, broke three meet records Saturday at the 29th annual Boulder County Track and Field Championships at Everly-Montgomery Field.
Longmont won the team title
for the second year in a row and fourth time in the last five years.
No question, though, the star of the meet was Matthew.
“My dad was here, which doesn’t usually happen, because he’s usually in surgery or something,” Matthew said. “It always helps me. When he’s here, I have some extra motivation.”
The only thing that kept Matthew from being named the meet’s Most Valuable Athlete — that honor went to Fairview’s MacGregor Meredith, who scored 32 points — was an illegal handoff in the 400-meter relay. That forced Niwot, which finished first in the race, to be disqualified. (Skyline wound up with the gold medal).
Still, Matthew scored 30 points with her three victories. She set meet records in the 100-meter dash (11.85 seconds), the 200 meters (24.91) and the long jump (20 feet).
“I felt really good,” Matthew said. “It was a turnaround day. It was a very difficult transition from the indoor (track) environment to the outdoor environment. Today, I just got mentally aggressive. I just let it all hang out.”
Matthew was especially pleased with her 100 meters as she crossed the line in a personal best time.
“That was the best 100 I’ve ever ran,” she said. “It was smooth, and I got my technique in the right place. It was my first time under 12 (seconds), so it was really exciting.”
In the long jump, she was eight inches behind her personal best of 20-8 — which ranks as the best jump in the nation — but was happy with her jump, considering it came in the middle of a long day.
“I’m curious to see how I do when the long jump is in the morning,” she said. “(Topping 20-8) is doable.”
Completing her day with the victory — and record — in the 200 made it a really special day.
Doing it again: Longmont, which also won back-to-back meet titles in 2001 and 2002, has now won five team titles in meet history.
“We lost a lot of great seniors from last year, but we proved to ourselves we could do it,” said junior Rachel Klotz, who won the 100-meter hurdles in a state-qualifying time.
Flying Falcons: Skyline surprised even itself with its performance Saturday. The Falcons won the 400 relay, 800 relay and 800 sprint medley relay.
“I was really nervous because we knew Niwot was going to be here and some other good teams,” sophomore Alicia Zamora said. “I was hoping for third (place).”
Zamora teamed with Maya Shealey, Zamone Shealey and Nikki Marshall to win the 400 meters.
That same group won the sprint medley.
In the 800 relay, it was Maya and Zamone Shealey, Amanda Ames and Kristine Schmidt topping the awards stands in a state-qualifying time.
“It was pretty awesome,” said freshman Zamone Shealey, who participated on all three winning relay teams. “I was nervous for my first event — the 100. I was relaxed after that.”
Triple threat: Longmont’s Lindsey Moller isn’t just a great basketball player.
The Daily Times-Call basketball player of the year won the triple jump Saturday with a state-qualifying jump of 35 feet. Later in the day, she was second in the long jump, qualifying for state with a jump of 17-7.
“I’ve always had ability to jump, so I just decided to try it,” the junior said. “I’m not a real serious track athlete, so it’s fun to come out here and do well.”
Lott comes through: Erie’s Katarina Lott won the high jump with a leap of five feet, two inches. The sophomore won by two inches to qualify for state and claim Erie’s only title.
“We were going up against a lot of big schools, so I didn’t know what we were up against,” said Lott, who jumped 5-4 earlier this year. “It wasn’t my best and I think I could have done better, but I’m happy with it.”
In addition to Lott’s performance, the Tigers took home seven other top-eight ribbons, including five in the throwing events.
State-qualifiers: Other local state qualifiers from Saturday were:
nSkyline’s Maya Shealey in the 200 meters, and Marshall in the long jump.
nLongmont’s Bethany Praska in the 200 and 400; Betsy Weeks in the 400; and Elizabeth Stover and Sarah Conlin in the pole Vault.
•Niwot’s Hannah Steffe in the 300 hurdles.
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