LAKEWOOD – After Eli Stewart leaned at the finish line with the baton still in tow, he checked the board at Jeffco Stadium to see Palmer Ridge’s 4×100 relay time.

First place, Palmer Ridge 41.72 seconds.

Stewart immediately celebrated with a “Yes!” as loud as the remaining oxygen in his lungs allowed, found his teammates on May 16 after the race and celebrated the victory. Because it was “shaky” if the Bears could still win the 4A boys’ relay after an injury to one of their athletes.

“Coming into this, we had another 10.7 runner who sadly got hurt and he couldn’t run,” Stewart said. “Our alternate ended up pulling through and without our amazing alternate and my amazing teammates, we couldn’t have gotten this done.”

The Bears entered the state meet with a season-best time of 42.38 and Tayden LeVier filled in the third leg for the Bears and maintained that fluidity. LeVier handed the baton to Stewart within striking distance of first and the Bears’ anchor handled the rest.

“I knew my guys were going to have my back,” LeVier said. “My faith in God and faith in my guys made this work. No matter what was going to happen, I knew we could take this.”

Mesa Ridge scored eight points in the race and finished second with a time of 42.07. That was a one-place improvement from the Grizzlies’ third place prelims finish.