LAKEWOOD – Suraiya Payne won a state championship and for a few excruciating moments didn’t know it.

The Sierra senior crossed the finish line in the 4A girls’ 100-meter final virtually simultaneously with Holy Family’s Claire Tannehill. With the naked eye it was too close to call.

Surrounded by photographers and commotion after crossing the line, Payne kept her eyes fixed on the Jeffco Stadium scoreboard.

“I couldn’t even hear the crowd,” she said. “I was just looking and was, like, ‘Please be me.’”

It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds of a wait, but it dragged on with painful suspense.

Finally, Payne’s name flashed first. Her time was 11.63. Then came Tannehill, 11.64.

Payne has lived through more than 56 billion hudredths of a second. The one separating gold from silver is one she’ll never forget.

“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’” Payne said. “When I saw my name I didn’t even read the time, I was just so happy.”

It was fitting that it came down to the timing mechanism, because this week was all about timing for Payne.

She had never run faster than 11.8 prior to this week, then posted an 11.69 in prelims – the best in the field. She bested that mark in the final and needed every microsecond of it.

Payne wasn’t exactly sure why she peaked at such the perfect time, but she credited a warmup routing that “activates every muscle in these legs.”

Only Addyson Smith, the 5A winner from Fossil Ridge, ran a faster time this week. Smith won with an 11.60 on Saturday just after the 4A race.

This comes after Payne’s fourth-place finish in the 100 as a junior. She had qualified as a sophomore but didn’t make the finals.

“I’m so glad it happened my senior year,” Payne said. “Just keep growing. That’s what I love to see, I love to see growth.

“I’ve been working for this title. I really, really wanted it, and I’m so glad I got it.”

The timing might also prove to be fortuitous financially. Payne hasn’t committed to a college program but is leaning towards Colorado State, where she would study health science and run track to pay for it.

“It just got higher because I just got 11.6,” she said of a potential scholarship amount.

Yep, timing can be everything.