Trumper, Chafino soar to new heights

    It was a day of soaring for HHS long jumper Taeryn Trumper and pole vaulter Luis Chafino when they competed in their field events at the Colorado State Track and Field Championships at JeffCo Stadium in Lakewood Friday, May 18.
    Trumper won the 2A girls long jump with an 18-foot-1.75-inch mark, which was a foot-and-a-half further than the second-place finisher.
    Chafino cleared 12 feet, 8 inches for third place in the 2A boys pole vault, improving his personal best vault by 1 foot, 9 inches.
    That just started the podium action for Trumper, as Saturday’s sprint finals found her placing third in the 100-meter dash and fifth in the 200-meter event for a great end to her sophomore track season.
    Coach Corey Koberstein was extremely pleased with the state track outcome. Even those who didn’t place gained valuable experience to move forward into next year.
    As for Trumper and Chafino’s high placings, Koberstein called their achievement remarkable for sophomores.
    After Trumper placed second in the long jump at state last year, with an HHS record-breaking 17-foot-5-inch mark, it’s been her goal to win that event, said Koberstein.
    She wanted to reach 18 feet all year and managed an 18-foot-2-inch leap in the last meet prior to state.
    At the state meet, she hit over 18 feet twice in her six attempts, and all of her marked efforts at state were further than the second-place finisher.
    Koberstein said a number of northeast Colorado track fans came to the corner by the long jump pit at state to cheer for Trumper. “It’s something she’s worked for all year,” said Koberstein, and he was thrilled for her win.
    Entering the 200-meter dash with her season-best time of :26.54, Trumper raced to a personal-best :25.70 in Thursday’s prelims to win her heat. “I didn’t know I had a 25 in me,” she said humbly with a smile right after the race.
    Koberstein praised the huge accomplishment of knocking that much time off her personal record. Her third-place time in Saturday’s finals in the rain was :25.95.
    With her starting blocks literally sitting in a puddle, Trumper came out of the blocks in the rain Saturday to race to a fifth-place finish with :12.63 in the 100-meter dash.
    Chafino had cleared 10 feet, 11 inches during the regular season to qualify for the state pole vault action. Because he was a dual-sporter this season, he didn’t actually compete in many meets.
    Koberstein said, however, that Chafino worked really hard in practice, and that effort paid off.
    There were eight of the 18 vaulters left when the bar was raised to 12 feet, 8 inches. Koberstein said Chafino didn’t realize he’d cleared it on his first attempt, so he grabbed the bar and actually pulled it off. But in his third effort at that height, he was successful.
    That victory moved him to one of three eyeing the 12-foot-11-inch bar. The other two were from Yuma and Sedgwick County, making it a northeast Colorado finish.
    Jake Chrisman of Yuma cleared 12 feet, 11 inches to win the event. Both Chafino and Anders Buettenback of Sedgwick County went out at that level, missing in their three attempts. Buettenback took second place, as he made it over the lower heights in fewer attempts than Chafino.

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