LAKEWOOD — Barrett Paas made a decision that defied logic. And it made him a surprise state champion.

Feeling good with around two laps remaining in the 3A boys 3,200, the sophomore from The Classical Academy decided to heck with seed placement (he entered 10^th, 25 seconds out of the lead) and went for it.

A short time later, he crossed the finish line first with the biggest upset of the first day of the CHSAA track and field championships at Jeffco Stadium.

“During lap six-ish I just decided that I wanted it more than they did, so I just went after it,” said Paas, whose time of 9:40.07 was 13 seconds faster than his previous season best in the heat that had the rest of the field running times that were mostly slower than their seed marks. “So, just one step at a time, I went after them.”

Paas ran his seventh lap in a 1:15.77 split, two seconds faster than his sixth. Then he exploded home in 1:02.27 over his final 400 meters.

He crossed slightly more than a second in front of Silas Strawbridge of Englewood.

It was a gamble, but it was calculated.

“There was definitely a bit of a risk,” he said. “But as my coach always says, the first three-quarters of the race is where you decide to push and fight and you let the last quarter of the race figure itself out.”

Paas had enough energy remaining to celebrate at the finish line, a surprise champion.

“I was not expecting this today,” he said.