PUEBLO — A Dolores boy won two individual state titles and a Dolores girl captured a title of her own during the Class 2A State Track and Field Championships held Friday and Saturday at Dutch Clark Stadium in Pueblo.

Junior Cody Beaver proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is the best hurdler in class 2A and senior (now graduate) Daisy Ragland showed why she is the best long jumper in her class.

(See pages 10A and 11A for other local results from both the Class 2A and Class 4A meets).

"Three state titles from two of my kids; that’s pretty good," Dolores head coach Mitzi Wallace said Saturday afternoon. "To tell you the truth, I really couldn’t tell that Cody had won (the 110) until he stepped on the top step of the awards podium. My eyeballs said he got him, but I didn’t know until I saw him a little bit later on the awards podium."

"I thought he ran a great race. In the second race (300) he nearly fell at the end after taking off on the wrong leg and hitting the hurdle," Wallace said. "I thought Daisy made an outstanding jump. That jump (a school record) was good enough for the gold medal."

Beaver captured his first crown early in the day on Saturday as he won the 110-meter high hurdles and then later in the day won the 300 intermediate hurdles.

During the first race, Beaver broke out front early and then fell behind by a few steps before surging at the finish line.

"I got off to a good start," he said immediately following the race. "I just tried to keep focused and I ran hard at the finish when I cleared the last hurdle. I had a slower time in the finals than I did in the prelims."

In the preliminaries, Beaver ran a personal best of 15.1 seconds, while in the finals he crossed the line in 15.44 seconds. It appeared that Tom Hubbard of Limon nearly caught him at the wire, but Beaver beat Hubbard by 1/100th of a second and finished in first place.

His very best time was a wind-aided 14.25 at a meet earlier this year.

"I’m very happy. Last year I didn’t make it to finals," he said.

He was even happier later when he breezed to the crown in the 300. Beaver jumped way out front early and then increased his lead coming around the far corner but he took off on the wrong leg and hit his knee coming down the stretch. He regained his stride and crossed the line in front. His time was 40.45. Clay Mitchell of Sargent was second at 40.65.

"I hit that last one (hurdle) square with my right knee. It hurt. I almost fell, but I regained my stride. That’s not bad to win twice today, considering I also broke my left ankle a few years ago playing soccer. I shattered my knee cap snowboarding," he said.

"I was hoping for a 39. But I was tired by the time I reached the finish line of the 300. This day has just been the best," Beaver added.

Moments later, Ragland found out she had won the long jump. In the state long jump competition, the preliminary jumps can be used toward a competitor’s total for the day, if those jumps are among the best. In most competitions, the prelims are used mainly for determining those who will move on to the finals. Ragland leaped 16 feet, 8 3/4 inches in her second try of prelims, but that was good enough.

"I knew that jump was a good one," Ragland said a few minutes after her final jump of the finals. "I thought it might put me near the top, but I didn’t think I would win. My other jumps weren’t nearly as good."

She easily outdistanced Cinda Hill of Huxtun who placed second at 16-2.

"I had a 16-3 and a 16-1 in prelims," Ragland reported. "I actually jumped poorly in the finals. I had a 15-8, 15-5 and I really didn’t listen to what the judge said was my last jump (16-1). But I had a lot of fun at this meet. I really didn’t expect I could win it because there are some awfully good jumpers out there. I had no idea I would be first. I feel like I’m floating and this really didn’t happen."

Ragland, who graduated from Dolores High School on Sunday, also competed in the 800 medley but the team did not qualify for the finals.