BROOMFIELD >> Before she took to the track at the Broomfield Shootout on Saturday at Broomfield High School, Legacy senior Annalina Torres wasn’t yet on the radar for this spring. Her first appearance in the Colorado high school sports sphere in 2025 will certainly start turning a lot of heads.

In a meet stacked with talent, she blitzed toward a 3.35-second victory in the 400-meter dash (55.96 seconds) to beat out Niwot’s Sammie Holliday (59.31), then a few hours later she won again in the 200 with a 24.71.

She beamed with excitement through her exhaustion immediately following the shorter race.

“I love all the competition here,” Torres said. “I did a lot of work this indoor season training, so it just feels nice to see how it comes out as a result. It was pretty rigorous. My club, REAL Training — love them — they put you through a lot.

“At the very beginning of fall season, they have this hill, and they’ll put you at the beginning and wait until you can’t see the top anymore and then be like, ‘Go. Sprint.’ It’s a good mental thing, right? Going up a hill, you’re trying to face adversity, you’re trying to get up to the top. Then you come here and it’s flat, so it’s a lot easier.”Before Saturday, Heritage’s Zona Welling held the top 400 time in the state with a 56.96. Torres dethroned her, then handed the same pleasure to Monarch’s Maren Holecek, who had led all classifications with a 24.84 in the 200.

Torres isn’t even a sprinter by trade. She usually focuses her energy into the middle-distance events, namely the 800. Legacy coach Todd Sheridan believes she has what it takes to run under 2:08 in that event by season’s end.

Still the queen

It didn’t take long for Niwot senior Reese Kasper to shoot straight back to the top of the 300-meter hurdles leaderboard this spring.

The reigning champion in the event — she won the 4A state track and field meet with a 42.23-second personal record in 2024 — flew far ahead of the rest of the field Saturday to win it with a mark of 43.05 seconds. Strong winds were pushing her from every direction.

She even stumbled a bit on the last hurdle.

Prior to the meet held at BHS, Kasper was ranked No. 1 in the entire state, regardless of classification, with the 43.62 she set at the St. Vrain district meet she competed in two weeks earlier. Her biggest competition this season hasn’t been the girls on the track alongside her, but the clock waiting at the finish line.

“There are a lot of good girls here, and I’m definitely getting pushed a lot this season, but I’m just trying to focus on me,” she said. “I’m extremely blessed with the coaching and training I do that pushes me to get to where I am to hopefully be better than everybody. Right now, it’s definitely a lot of conditioning. My coaches push me a lot in practice — a lot of hard days, a lot of hills.”

She’s hoping that their intense training, both in the mental and physical spheres, can help her break 40 seconds later in the spring.

“I just try and tell myself that I’m only in control of myself,” she said. “Especially in track, the person that you’re going up against is right next to you, so it’s really hard sometimes to just focus on yourself.”

She finished third in the 100 hurdles earlier in the day with a 14.81 behind state-leading Alexa Queen out of Fountain Fort-Carson (14.61) and Smoky Hill’s Kiyah Enoch (14.79).

Mother knows best

The first time that Hayden Fox’s mom tried to convince him to join the track team at Erie, when he was a freshman, he scoffed at the suggestion. He was a football player — a slot receiver — and track just wasn’t his speed.

“I was just like, ‘That’s lame, who runs track?’” he said.

What a difference a few years can make. On Saturday, the Tigers senior won the 400 with a time of 50.42 seconds to beat out Eaglecrest’s Xavier Waldron (51.08) and Cherokee Trail’s Kaelan Kombo (51.34) through those horribly strong winds.

As a sophomore, he joined the track team to supplement his training for football, but he gave up the pigskin earlier this year to focus on the sport where his true talent lied. He’s certainly changed his tune from three years ago.

“It’s fun. I enjoy it, especially at times like this,” he said. “To win that, to beat someone like Kaelan — Kaelan’s amazing. I saw him on the sheets and I’m like, ‘Wow.’ The fact that I just get to race him here — he ran a (47.91 PR) last year — and to win a big meet like this, it’s pretty awesome.”

Fox peaked in the 400 during May of the 2024 season, logging a 49.57, and ran the event for just the second time this spring Saturday. He’s hoping his extra work in the weight room since August, his added explosion off the blocks and his improvement in his short sprints can help him break through to a personal record in the next few weeks. Weather willing.

Immediately after the race, he was more focused on the “trophy” that he earned through his victory.

“I think I get a shirt,” he said.

“I’m really excited about it. I’m going to wear it to practice, but I’m just glad that it’s over. The wind was brutal on that final turn, but I think I paced it right and I’m happy.”