The Classical Academy’s Vivian Jack secures 3A girls’ 800 crown
LAKEWOOD – As Vivian Jack crossed the finish line with a smile plastered across her face, she immediately glanced to her right to scan the crowd at Jeffco Stadium.
She trotted toward the fence Friday and found her father, Ryan, who reached over the fence to embrace his daughter. Before her 2-minute, 15.22 second state winning time in the 3A girls’ 800, Jack said her dad offered her advice.
“My dad told me ‘if you don’t shoot, you’ll never score,’” Jack said. “I decided to just give it a shot and if I didn’t get it, that would be OK. At least I went for it. I decided not to back down during the race and fought as hard as I could.”
Jack entered the race seeded third behind teammate Jana Yuschalk and Eaton’s Delaney Reuter, who led with a seed time of 2:15.28. Jack held a small lead over Reuter after the first lap.
But, in similar fashion to how the Titans junior helped TCA capture the 3A 4×800 relay title, Jack required a sprint to boost her into the lead.
The final 400 of the race pitted Jack and Reuter in a battle for first. Both runners shared the lead for the last 300 meters of the race. But more advice, this time from Jack’s coaches, propelled her to victory.
“My coaches also told me the second half of this race is going to be tough,” Jack said. “It’s going to be a battle and it’s going to come down to the final stretch. It did and I was prepared for it. I was ready to keep throwing surges no matter what and to keep pushing through it.”
The Titans also had four placers in the top eight of the event, including Yuschalk, who earned fourth at 2:18.91. That’s vital as The Classical Academy and Eaton are first and second, respectively, in the 3A girls’ team rankings.
After two days, the Titans have 59 points and Eaton is second with 53.5. Yuschalk recognized the importance as did Julia Tiffany (2:19.584) and Joy Ahfeldt (2:19.589) who placed seventh and eighth, respectively.
“We had four girls ranked in the top six entering the race and we needed the points for team standings,” Yuschalk said. “We knew we needed as many in the top part of this race as possible.”