LAKEWOOD – Noa Harrison has one long jump in the books at the state track meet. And the Palmer freshman turned that one attempt into a gold medal.

Harrison fouled on her first attempt at the Colorado Track and Field Championships on Friday morning. On her second try she leapt 18 feet, 4.25 inches. She then wrapped her three-jump prelim with another foul.

With the one jump putting her comfortably in front of the field and with her leg on the 4×200 team fast approaching, her coaches had her sit out the first two rounds of the finals. When her victory was assured – by 2.25 inches over Roosevelt’s Braelyn Bailey – Harrison attempted one last jump “for the fans.”

She fouled on that one, too.

But in a sport that’s all about quality over quantity, Harrison was golden in the right moment.

“I just had a feeling that today I was going to win state,” said Harrison, who came to state as part of Palmer’s 4×200 and 4×100 relay teams and played quarterback for the school’s flag football team in the fall.

Harrison’s victory was a glimpse at the rising tide that is the Terrors program. She noted that she watched teammate and friend Skylar Angelidis, a sophomore, win the 4A triple jump the day before and saw no reason that she couldn’t do the same despite entering with the No. 9 seed.

“It’s insane just seeing how good these athletes are getting, and we’re going to have more athletes coming now that our names are on the podium,” Harrison said of the schools track team. “They’re going to realize Palmer is going to be the future of track and we’re going to be great.”

As for her own greatness, she didn’t have a simple explanation for how she soared so far on that one attempt, smashing her previous best by nearly nine inches.

She felt positive. She “wasn’t too much in her head” and she was enjoying the atmosphere, cheering for those around her.

All that left her feeling fast. And her form was good and has been for a while, rescuing her from a slump during the club season and setting her on a trajectory that had her ready for state.

Now, she’s a one-and-done champion; just not the kind often associated with freshman.