Huskies finish state meet with fourth-place finish in 4×400-meter relay

Kiki Hancock, Milaina Almonte, Lindsey Kiehl and Presley Smith finished fourth-place in the final event of the 4A state track and field meet on Saturday in Lakewood as the Battle Mountain girls wound up eighth-place as a team. The Huskies finished the 4×400-meter relay in 4 minutes, 1.87 seconds, their fastest time of the year.

Niwot (3:52.76) took the win in the event, with Madison Shults completing the 400, 800, 4×400 triple to help the Cougars win a fourth-straight team title. Niwot amassed 154 points, well ahead of Mesa Ridge (67) and Northfield (50.5) in second and third. Battle With strong relay finishes, distance depth and jumps from Tyler Heimerl, the Huskies accrued 34.5 points as a team. The Battle Mountain boys finished in 15th with 20 points as Lutheran defeated Northfield (66) and Niwot (65) in a battle which came down to the last race.

Tyler Heimerl wraps up state meet with 10th-place finish in triple jump

All season, Tyler Heimerl has put the “field” in Battle Mountain track and field. She swept all three jumps at her team’s home invite and with personal bests of 5-4, 17-0 and 35-3 in the high, long and triple jumps, respectively, she’s tantalizingly close to school records in everything. In Saturday’s triple jump, her third and final event at the 2023 4A state track and field championships, the sophomore jumped 34 feet, 8.75 inches to place 10th.

“It was ok; I was in a little bit of pain, but it was fun,” Heimerl said after rounding out a week that also saw her take eighth in the high jump on Friday and 11th in the long jump on Thursday. The pain may have been from rolling her ankle in the run throughs, but Heimerl also said she was a little tired after three days of jumping.

“Yeah, I think I was (drained),” she continued. “I was really looking forward to triple jump, but I just couldn’t get ready for it as much as I wish I could.”

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This summer, Heimerl will look to continue her rapid improvement by attending track and field camps at Stanford and CSU.

“So, yeah a lot of track stuff and personal training, too,” she said of her off-season program. If everything goes according to plan, she assumes to be right back in Lakewood, vying for more podiums.

“I’m definitely going to try harder for next year and train a lot more,” she said. “But I’m happy I made it and made it into the top 10 this year.”