As Centaurus High School seniors walked across the stage at the CU Events Center for graduation Saturday afternoon, three of their fellow seniors ran to a podium at the state track finals, 40 minutes away in Lakewood.

Earlier this week, runner Jacoby Ennis said he and his team had to choose between walking the stage at graduation and running at state finals after qualifying with a time that beat a 32-year-old school record.

“We told ourselves all year that it would be a miracle if we make finals, we just want to make state. If we make state, we’re gonna be happy with that,” Ennis said. “Then, last weekend, at our last meet of the season, our last chance to qualify, we looked at each other at the start line and said, “Let’s go get this.”

Ennis continued, “We pulled it off, we made finals.”

While the team warned up at the race line Saturday, Ryan spoke about them from the graduation stage.

“They’re fast, but unfortunately not fast enough to make it here on time,” Ryan said to the crowd.

Ennis and his team, which included two other seniors, won 8th place at the state track meet. The race starting at 4:34 p.m., 34 minutes after graduation started in Boulder.

But after stepping off the podium in Lakewood, Ennis began his second race of the day — and this time, the finish line was the graduation stage.

“We ran our hearts out,” Ennis said. “And then from the podium, I ran straight to the car, and we drove 40 minutes here. At the last second, I pulled up right in time, and I got to walk in my track jersey and everything. It was awesome.”

In his opening remarks, Centaurus Principal Daniel Ryan spoke of the highs and lows of the past four years, specifically the first day of school back in person after the 2024 graduates spent their freshman year online.“Four years later, after I’ve gotten the chance to know you, having the chance to see all you’ve accomplished and see you grow as individuals, I can say without any hesitation, that you all did just fine,” Ryan said. “This class has turned out to be the most resilient and remarkable group of students that I’ve ever had the opportunity to work with. I really mean that, you’ve overcame any obstacle and surpassed any expectation that I could have for a high school class.”

Five awards were given out to faculty and students, including the Centaurus HEART of a Warrior Award to Ayden Edgar and the Gastellum Award to Lisa Lowe, who is retiring after 28 years at the school.

Student speaker Maddi Stephan described the hardship that the grade had gone through during their first year of high school, while they were online.

“It was like assembling IKEA furniture without instructions,” Stephan said. “We made it. We made our dreams a reality.”

Graduate Jaden Crawley said although her class had a tough start to high school, she loved all the memories she made in her final years.

“I really enjoyed it,” Crawley said. “I made some really close friends, I got into a lot of activities like tennis and newspaper club, so yeah, I really loved it.”

Families cheered, cried and whistled as their loved one crossed the stage, some reminiscent of the last 18 years of memories.

“They have lived in Colorado all of their life,” Linda Plaut, 87, said about her grandchild and graduate Shira Nathan. “We have been to every birthday that they have had and this sort of caps 18 years of connection with them.”

Final student speakers, Phoebe Maierhofer and Garrett Vogel reminisced about the events that brought the class together in the past four years and spoke about what lies ahead in their futures.

“Since we’re now broke college students, please donate to our Venmos,” the pair said holding up signs with their Venmo usernames at the end of their speech.