Eagle Valley junior destroys long jump school record, surges to No. 1 ranking in Colorado
Isaac Magdaleno/Courtesy photo
Tiago Horruitiner came into the season thinking his best shot at a state title was in the high jump. He might need to rethink his calculus after last weekend.
The Eagle Valley junior uncorked a 23-foot, 8.75-inch leap at the Broomfield Shootout on March 21, smashing the 7-year-old school record held by his old event coach, Miguel Castillo.
“He was one of the first people I told,” said Horruitiner, who scratched on his first two attempts at the meet. A courtesy measurement had his second somewhere in the low 22-feet range. Horruitiner moved back his mark, got a clap going and sent it.
“I just wanted to go for it,” he said. “And the adrenaline — I felt like I was flying for sure. It definitely felt great — I knew from the moment I landed, but I definitely wasn’t expecting 23-8.”
After the nearly 2-foot personal best, Horruitiner surged to the No. 1 spot in the event across all classes in the state of Colorado. He also went 6-04 in the high jump, the second-best mark in 4A. The multi-sport star nearly cleared 6-06 on his third attempt.
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“I wasn’t patient enough in the air,” Horruitiner said. “I dropped my hamstrings down a little bit early. The bar bounced a little bit and came off, but I’m definitely chasing that.”
Eagle Valley put its top 4×800-meter relay squad together for the meet, which features several 5A schools from across the Front Range. The Devils finished in 8:04.69, good for second overall as Central Grand Junction took the win in 7:59.99. Eagle Valley’s program record (7:54.80) was set two years ago at the state meet. Distance coach Charlie Janssen said a few of his athletes looked a little flat coming off the Nike Indoor National meet earlier this month in New York City. Dylan Blair dropped the fastest split of the bunch; his 1:58.7 was nearly a personal best.
“Having said that, however, looking flat and still running a composite time of 8:04.69 is pretty awesome,” Janssen said before adding, “Central Grand Junction will definitely be a factor and a team of contention this year.”
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Paisley Kraft ran 5:50 in the 1600 and doubled back for a 2:33 in the 800 as the lone female distance runner for the Devils. Janssen said the squad is cutting back this week for periodization purposes.
“Which both the freshmen and veterans alike badly needed,” he said. “Hopefully we get a little more pop in the legs going into (the) Mickey Dunn Invitational this weekend.”
In addition to his performances in the jumps, Horruitiner stormed to a personal best of 22.69 seconds to win the 200-meter dash — over 100 other entrants.
“I definitely left very hungry on the high jump side but I did leave (the meet) very happy,” Horruitiner said regarding his overall assessment of the weekend. Eagle Valley competes in Grand Junction at the Mickey Dunn Invitational on Saturday. Horruitiner will contest both jump events again; he’s hoping to prove his new school record, which broke the previous mark by four inches, wasn’t a fluke.
“I hope that click stays with me in the long jump and I’m just trying to get everything to click in high jump as well,” he said.
“It was great to see him land that one,” head coach Jeff Shroll commented. “His last penultimate step was so loud, when he hit the board everyone within earshot snapped their heads around to see the best jump in Colorado of all classifications so far in the 2026 season.”
