LAKEWOOD >> Immediately upon crossing the finish line for the 4×200-meter relay finals at Jeffco Stadium on Friday, Niwot senior Reese Kasper threw her hands up to her head. She didn’t know if she pulled off the victory over Windsor’s Kiana Cumings.

When the results popped up on the scoreboard and she saw that she did in fact edge Windsor’s best sprinter by just .04 seconds, she threw her hands up and leapt in jubilation. The Cougars won the Class 4A state title in the event — one of many from the state championships Thursday and Friday — at 1 minute, 38.86 seconds. They beat out the state meet record they set the day before in the preliminary round by .53 seconds.

“I was extremely stressed,” Kasper said. “Windsor’s been our biggest competition all year, and our coaches non-stop talked about state and beating them. Our goal today was just to run for each other and run with a full heart, and it worked out in our favor. I could hear her coming right behind me, and I was like, ‘Should I dive? I don’t know what to do.’ And then when I crossed the line, she was right there. I was just praying that we got it, and we did.

“(Windsor) kind of just came out of nowhere, especially for this year. They just have super strong girls, and I think they’ve just gotten stronger and stronger, especially this year. They’ve definitely been a stress on us.”

Kasper answered her own prayer, but she had plenty of help from Eliana Henriques, Sammie Holliday and Kate Schmidthuber, who took care of the first three legs of the race. She and Holliday ran across the field to celebrate with Henriques and Schmidthuber, and there were plenty of hugs to go around.

That kind of tight-knit camaraderie has come to define the Niwot track and field program over the past few years of utter dominance in the 4A scene. The girls, specifically, have won five straight state team championships and were well on their way to their sixth by midday Friday.

Kasper said she couldn’t have known how far track would take her when she first made the move to Colorado from Minnesota as a junior.

In her first year under the Cougars’ wing, she dropped three seconds in the 300-meter hurdles. She’ll be looking to win state titles in both the 100 and 300 hurdles Saturday and enters the events seeded No. 1 in both.

She won the 300 hurdles state crown last year but fell just short of meeting the same mark in the 100-meter version of the event.“This team took it to a severe next level. In Minnesota, it was a good team, but nothing like Niwot. Niwot’s seriously my family, and I would do anything for any of my teammates,” Kasper said.

“I think the relationship is something I’ve never seen before. They truly are my second family. Track’s my whole life, and I’ve dedicated a lot to it. Just having people by my side every day, that also sacrificed so much for something they love, is truly special and it creates such great bonds that I think are stronger than anything.”

Longmont trailed behind at fourth place in the 4A girls 4×200 at 1:40.98, followed by Holy Family at sixth (1:43.74).

A new kind of vault

Peak to Peak junior Ethan Rathke may not have won the 3A pole vaulting competition Friday afternoon, instead bowing out at 14 feet, but in his first true, dedicated season in the sport, he’s already shown great strides. Prior to the state meet, his season best clearance was 15 feet, 9 inches.

He settled for silver because he couldn’t clear the 15-foot mark. The event’s winner, University’s Nicholas Rothe, topped out at 16 feet for a meet record.

“I came in today, I felt amazing. I was moving poles very well. I was jumping very well, better than I have in a long time, so I thought today was going to be a great day,” Rathke said. “Sometimes it doesn’t go your way, so it’s all good.”

Rathke recently gave up gymnastics after spending 13 years competing in the sport so he could focus all of his energy on the field side of things. He said he didn’t love it anymore and felt he had a bigger future in pole vaulting.

Gymnastics prepared him well for the base function of his new discipline, but he said there’s still been a learning curve. He’s hoping he can add another foot to his best indoor mark of 16-6, which he hit at the Simplot Games in February, by the time his senior season wraps up.

“It’s pretty similar,” Rathke explained. “I think a lot of the athletic stuff is very similar, like I can get upside down and I feel like, athletically, that’s paid off a lot. The only thing gymnastics didn’t help with pole vaulting-wise was the speed, so yeah, we’ll try and get faster this offseason.

“I’m just figuring out new steps, bigger poles, longer poles and some stuff mentally going through that, fighting through it. I feel like now, it’s like I’m past that, so I’ve been looking forward to working hard this summer, getting it back.”