LONGMONT >> Off to the side of the main events on the Everly-Montgomery Field track at Longmont High School on Saturday afternoon, a showdown was brewing between two of the state’s best female jumpers.

Most of the fans in attendance just didn’t know it.

Early into a day that couldn’t decide if it wanted to be warm or cold, Longmont’s Ella Pears stole the gold in the triple jump with three hops and a landing at 38 feet, 0.5 inches. She beat out Peak to Peak’s Kourtney Rathke, who claimed the silver at 37-5.

Prior to Saturday’s Boulder County Invite, Pears ranked fourth in the entire state — among all classifications — with a seed of 37-5 and Rathke sat at eighth with a 36-8. Both upped their pit game for a meet that brought out Boulder County’s — and, really, some of Colorado’s — best.

A few hours later, Rathke returned the favor by winning the long jump at 18-5.75 over Pears’ second-place effort (17-4.25). Rathke was ranked second in Colorado (18-9.25) and Pears was fifth (17-8) before that.

“It just kind of gets me ready for preparing for state, knowing that I have someone in front of me and having that to go for and just thinking about that in practice and working harder,” Pears said. “I think (my goal is) just to get really consistent at where I’m at now, and then just get stronger still, so when I get to state, I’m ready to just pop out a crazy jump.”

Rathke, who wowed at the Class 3A state championships last year with state crowns in the pole vault and long jump, used Saturday’s competition to test out a new strategy. It paid dividends in her performance.

“I was just trying out a new technique today, actually,” Rathke said. “Yesterday, at practice, I was just messing around and tried that today. Usually when I jump, I just hang and then pike, and this was kind of trying to, like, run through the air a little bit. It wasn’t quite the farthest I’ve jumped, but it was definitely more consistent, and it fell farther, so I think there’s lots of opportunities there.”

Chasing greatness

Months after Mead’s Nolan Hoffman shocked the Class 4A cross country field by pulling out a state title at the Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs, he was back to the theatrics at Everly.

In the much-shorter mile, he edged out Niwot’s Rocco Culpepper at the finish line to win with a time of 4 minutes, 24.03 seconds. Culpepper ended his race at 4:24.51. Hoffman’s competition helped him improve throughout the offseason, whether or not they knew it.

“Lots of the guys, I think it’s cool how much better they’ve gotten since cross,” Hoffman said. “They get the fire from cross and they’re like, ‘Oh, now I want to train a lot.’ They get really fast during the winter, and then track season is super fun because everyone’s better at different events.”

Throughout his race, Hoffman’s mindset rested on some of the area’s top talent from last year. Longmont’s Connor McCormick won the 4A state titles in the 3,200 and 1,600 while Niwot’s Zane Bergen claimed state glory in the 800.

“This is a really prestigious meet. It means a lot to me to win. I’ve seen some greats — Connor, Zane — and they’ve won races here,” Hoffman said. “I wanted to win today. We went through the first lap and it was slow. I was like, ‘I’ll just run it to win it.’”

Perfecting his pit stop

Monarch senior Levi Hoenninger hasn’t been practicing his long jump for very long this season, but that didn’t stop him from winning the event outright on Saturday.

Still, he hoped he could do better than his leap of 21 feet, 3.5 inches. That will come with time.

“It doesn’t feel amazing, because I just know I could have performed better,” Hoenninger said. “Based off last season’s jumps, and just what I’ve jumped earlier this season, my goal was 22 today, and I only jumped 21-3. I only hit 21 feet one time, so I’m just kind of disappointed in that. I don’t really care about the people I jump against. It’s just more like me versus me and if I can beat myself, that’s good.”

That mark was still good enough to beat out Niwot’s Eric Walker by nine full inches.

“I did a lot of lifting, a lot of running, conditioning. Surprisingly, I didn’t do any long jump work up until like last week, really,” he said. “I just need some small tweaks to my form. Hopefully, that can get me to 22. I just actually have to put the time in and practice the long jump in order to do that.”

Medieval muscles

When Skyline junior J.J. Davis decided he wanted to compete collegiately in the throwing events, he made sure he left no stone unturned. His commitment has taken him to the top of Colorado’s rankings in the javelin — a rarity at the high school level — in just a few short weeks.

Prior to the meet on Saturday, he boasted a season-best throw of 154 feet, but he’s still chasing his coach Henry Carlson’s Skyline school record, which he believes he’s about 10 feet off from.

“Javelin was one I could do with (USA Track and Field) AAU during the summer and it was a lot of fun,” Davis said. “My coach, he’s at CU right now, he taught me how to throw it. I’ve gotten a love and a passion for it.”

BoCo didn’t host a javelin event, so Davis tried his luck in the other two throwing events. He placed second in the discus (133 feet, 8 inches) behind Mason Cowgill (141-8) and seventh in the shot put (40-6), which Jackson Cowgill won with a launch of 47-9.

Davis is hoping his junior experience, and whatever his senior year may bring, will help prepare him for the next level. He seems to be on the right track.

“It shows all the hard work pays off. The hours I put in during the summer and at home shows it all works,” Davis said. “Technique is everything, especially when I’m throwing against all these big cats. I’m the smallest one in the finals every week, every meet, so (my dad) tells me to trust the process.”

Coming down to inches

On a day filled with impressive performances, Erie senior Ashton Whisler certainly let his 400-meter dash come all the way down to the wire.

In a race that included heavy hitters like Niwot’s Ben Classen and Monarch’s Hoenninger, Whisler utilized one final push to send him across the finish line — just barely — ahead of Classen to win it in 48.49 seconds. Classen clocked in at 48.98, followed by Hoenninger at 49.93.

Up to that victory, Whisler had been putting in the extra work — training, dieting and sleeping right — to achieve greatness at a meet stacked with track and field talent. He knew he had to bring his ‘A’ game.

“This was by far the best competition so far. It’s great to come out here. I’ve been training with half these boys all season and the offseason. It’s fun to come back, reunite and run against them,” he said. “This really boosts my confidence knowing that I can compete with everyone else.”

For a full list of all event winners, head to BoCoPreps.com.