LAKEWOOD — If recent history is any indication, Cherokee Trail locked up the Class 5A boys team title by winning the 800-meter relay in historic fashion on Friday afternoon at Jeffco Stadium.
The school that wins that event has captured the last five 5A team crowns and eight of the last 10. The other team winners over the past 10 meets that didn’t fit that bill — Fountain-Fort Carson in 2017 and Pomona in 2016 — took second in the event.
So the Cougars’ triumph in the relay on Friday is a predictor that Cherokee Trail, the Class 5A boys favorite coming into the meet, will end up on top again on Saturday. The Cougars set a state record in the event earlier this season at the Stutler Twilight with a time of 1 minute, 25.16 seconds, then topped that mark on Friday with a blazing 1:24.93 to best runner-up Mountain Vista by over 1.5 seconds.
“I had told them ahead of time, ‘I know everybody in the stadium is waiting to see how fast you can run because you clearly could’ve broken the record Thursday (in prelims),” Cherokee Trail head coach Chris Faust said. “We’ve been the best 4×200 team all season and we deserve to be state champs, so go do that, and the time will just come.”
That it did.
After Cherokee Trail broke its own record and the all-classification state meet record of 1:25.46 set by Valor Christian in 2013, the Cougars’ quartet overflowed with emotion. Kahari Wilbon, who ran the second leg of the race, yelled to the crowd, ‘Yeahhhhhh! I told you!” a few moments before he was doused with water by his relay-mates.
Wilbon, a New Mexico pledge, won’t be fully satisfied until the Cougars cement their repeat on Saturday.
“Celebrating this 4×200 performance is amazing, but we have to make sure we get the job done,” Wilbon said. “We can’t be complacent and being fine with the record and just leaving it there. It’s about getting to those other events on Saturday and passing our own limitations and expectations.”
Cherokee Trail’s repeat 800-meter relay team featured Jayden Hughes, Wilbon, Nick Hoffsetz and anchor Peyton Sommers. Sommers, who won the 200 and 400 meters last year while taking runner-up in the 100, is the favorite to sweep those events on Saturday.
The Cougars’ 1,600-meter relay team is also a favorite to capture that title Saturday at 4:33 p.m. Wilbon and Hoffsetz are also on that relay, with Hoffsetz the anchor. That makes Wilbon the recurring thread in Cherokee Trail’s relay dominance over the past couple of years, as he was also part of the state record 1,600-meter relay in 2023.
That foursome set the record at the 2023 Centennial League meet with a 3:13.02 mark, but then ran 3:15.85 at state and was edged by ThunderRidge, who set an all-classification state meet record with 3:15.29. The Cougars still managed to win the 800-meter relay title in 1:25.65 last year, about 1.5 seconds better than runner-up Brighton.
On Friday, Wilbon said the 800-meter relay squad’s goal was “1:24 or bust,” a feat underscored by precision technique and footwork during the baton handoffs.
“The only thing we felt pressure against was the clock,” Wilbon said. “We were chasing the clock, and we beat it. We didn’t fear any other teams.”
Sommers added that Cherokee Trail’s become a relay-team force over the past decade because of the Cougars’ attention to detail and natural athleticism.
“Faust and our other coaches, they get so minute about the handoff details: Get in the right half of the lane. Six exact steps. Three hard steps before you put your hand up. Proper hand position,” Sommers said. “And Faust puts in the effort to find everyone who’s fast in the school and gets them to run track.”
The Cougars also broke the 800-meter relay state record twice this year behind two runners, Hughes and Hoffsetz, who were new to the lineup after being alternates last year.
“Over the summer I put in a lot of work, and I believed the work would reward me later on,” Hoffsetz said. “Last season I was disappointed to not be out there. So I put my head down and it paid off, and same thing with Jayden.
“Plus, we developed a great bond as a relay team and we held each other accountable. We came in the race confident and knowing that we were going to be great, and speak this record into existence once again. And that’s exactly what we did.”
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