LAKEWOOD • The final day of the 4A state track championships  at Jefferson County Stadium provided plenty of drama, surprises, and near misses for Colorado Springs area athletes.Sierra’s boys team came the closest of any local team to win a state title Saturday, as the Stallions led Mullen 57-49 entering the last events of the day. However, Mullen’s Elliott Beski won the pole vault state championship to win 10 points, giving Mullen 59 points, and dashing Sierra’s title hopes.“There’s not much more that you could ask for from this group of kids this weekend,” Sierra coach Joe Fassler said. “We fought through a lot of injuries and went with what we had, and every kid did the best they could.”The Stallion that did the most for his team this weekend was senior Kelby Dias, who scored 30 of the team’s 57 points by winning the 300-meter hurdles (37.75) a day after winning both the long jump and 110 hurdles.“Hurdles have always come so naturally to me, I’ve had great coaching since eighth grade,” Dias said. “But I didn’t want to win for myself; I wanted to win to help our team win the championship.”Although the Stallions came up painfully short, it was another great season for the traditional 4A track and field powerhouse.“(Former coach) Teenan Anderson laid the ground work very well here, and I’m happy to have been so successful my first season,” Fassler said.The Widefield girls’ 400 relay team of sophomore Raven Cooper-Church, freshman GinAsia Hamilton, and juniors Daniasha Watson and Shanti Bridgewater captured the state title with a time of 48.82.“We wanted to win state so bad, and we are very happy and excited,” Hamilton said.They said they will return next season to try to win it again.“Our coach was so proud of us, and we wanted to win for him because he’s like our track dad,” Bridgewater said.Lewis-Palmer’s Kalie Kirk scored an incredible come-from-behind victory in the 300 hurdles with a time of 44.63.Kirk trailed in the last 50 meters, but the leader, Broomfield’s Ashley Miknis, tripped over the final two hurdles and gave Kirk just enough time to beat her in a photo finish.“I was just hoping I still had time to catch her once she tripped, and I’m so happy to win state,” Kirk said.

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