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Joel Reichenberger

Joel Reichenberger's column appears Sundays in the Steamboat Pilot & Today. Contact him at 871-4253 or e-mail jreichenberger@SteamboatToday.com.

Lakewood — A good place to stand was hard to come by near the discus competition area Thursday morning at the state track meet at Lakewood's JeffCo Stadium. It was hard even to see the competitor spinning in the ring during the Class 3A boys event.

That's saying something. Mason Finely is a big boy - so big, he can't even go out for wrestling because he weighs in at more than the 275-pound upper weight limit.

He throws the discus like no one has before, though, and fans flocked to watch him in his last Colorado state track meet.

He won the event, of course, and set a new meet record, surpassing the standard he put in place last year. He didn't manage to set the state record and didn't close in on the national high school record, either. He already set both of those marks earlier this season.

Still, the crowd seemed plenty happy to watch one of the most dominating high school athletes Colorado has produced.

And that's why this year's state meet was such a success. For the first time, all four of Colorado's track and field classifications competed at the same meet.

It made for some problems. There weren't enough parking spaces. The meet was expanded from two days to three. The schedule wasn't always perfect, and some field events dragged on long after all the running events had been completed.

It was great for the state's athletes, though. Athletes from across the state not only got to lock horns with the best in their class but also got to witness the best in the state and some of the best of all time. The expanded crowd also provided a stage like the athletes had never before seen and probably wouldn't often even see at the college level.

It was great for the crowd, too. There always was something worth focusing on - a close race here, a state championship leap there or a once-in-a-lifetime athlete performing out in the discus ring.

The whole experiment made for three fantastic days of high school sports.

The Colorado High School Activities Association doesn't get everything right. The state-qualification process for Class 4A and 5A is a joke. Rather than allow athletes to race against one another at regionals for the right to go to state, only athletes with one of the top 18 times or distances from across the state for the whole season are admitted.

When compared to the Class 2A and 3A system, which allows the top three from each regional meet into state, in addition to all athletes who surpass a certain time or distance, the 4A and 5A system looks even worse.

But in bringing together all the different classes to one meet, CHSAA got it right. Oddly, it works for the same reason the 4A and 5A qualification system doesn't. It brings everyone together and gives everyone a shot - one chance in front of all of Colorado to make a statement and soak in the glory.