When Carly Pappas settles into the starting block of the women’s 4×400 meter relay, she is well aware of her job. 

The Steamboat freshman has a task much easier said than done — blast out of the blocks when the gun sounds and stay up with the lead pack of runners in the first leg. Pappas’ start will determine how her three teammates will each attack the race after her. 

Next up is Gracey Keller, a freshman who receives the baton from Pappas and must maintain her position. Those behind her will slowly fall behind and any runners in front will quickly be within reach. 

Keller hands off to sophomore Whitney Warnke and the Sailors typically have the lead by this point. With nothing but a clear track ahead, Warnke breezes through her lap, holding off any runners behind. 

By the time Warnke comes around to the hand-off zone, it’s over. In comes the Sailors’ closer, junior Ayla Oslowski, who extends Steamboat’s lead and never looks back. Rinse and repeat.

On Saturday, the girls took home first place at the Western Slope League Championships in Grand Junction, earning All-Conference honors. Best of all, they broke the Steamboat Springs High School record for their event. 

Warnke said the girls felt the record was attainable after the second varsity meet of the season. Since then, all of their energy was focused on the record mark of 4 minutes, 8.23 seconds. 

“We had been three seconds off and that’s all we’ve been talking about for the past two weeks, so we decided to full send and go for it,” Warnke said. 

One of the keys to shaving off some time was to perfect the open handoff technique. The baton holder sprints through the handoff zone and it is the receiver’s job to match the pace of the runner with a side shuffle. 

The receiver reaches out their hand and is passed the baton before turning hard to face the lane ahead and taking off at full speed.

“Within the 4x400m, it’s really important to have it down because those seconds really matter,” Oslowski said. “You get the baton and go, there’s no hesitation.”

Everything ran as seamless as ever for the Sailors on Saturday and after speedy runs and smooth handoffs, the girls recorded a time of 4:08.17 — 0.06 seconds ahead of the school record. 

The previous record was set in 2019 with local track star Maggi Congdon as the anchor. Congdon is now a star runner for Northern Arizona University as a senior. She competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials for the mile run in June — giving today’s 4×400 athletes something to aspire to. 

“None of us are seniors,” Keller said. “I don’t think any of us expected to take the record, especially from a pro athlete, so taking it makes me wonder what we can do in high school and past high school.” 

The girls will run again Friday at a meet in Kremmling before going all-out at the state championships from May 15-17 at Jeffco Stadium in Lakewood. The girls are ranked ninth in Class 4A this season, roughly 14 seconds behind top-seeded Niwot. 

All four girls will return to the team next year, giving the unit a full season of chances to surpass the mark again. 

A jump to history 

Being fast is a talent many athletes learn of themselves while competing in nearly any youth sport, but Steamboat Springs sophomore Antigone Loomis had to stumble into her talent as a triple jumper. 

Loomis joined the Steamboat Springs Middle School track team in sixth grade, trying out a number of events. In the jumping pit it was clear she had springs beneath her feet and triple jump, as well as long jump, would be for her. 

Loomis found herself just inches shy of the school record in triple jump at the Clint Wells Invitational in late April. 

On that jump, she recognized her takeoff was well shy of the jump-line, known as the board, meaning she lost several inches on that jump. 

“The run-up into the board is something I’ve been working on a lot this year and leaving as little room as I could to the board while bringing as much speed as possible into the jump while being able to carry that throughout (is key),” Loomis said. 

In the first phase of her jump, Loomis tries to stay flat and move through her progression without losing speed. The second phase comes naturally to Loomis who prepares for the long jump finish in the third phase. 

Last season, Loomis did not complete her Phase 3 landing with a full-sweep. The landing technique could be the difference of 6 inches on a jump, according to Loomis. 

On Saturday, Loomis swung her feet out in front of her with her outstretched hands reaching past her shoes. On impact with the sandy pit, she collapsed sideways into the pit to make her mark as far from the board as possible. 

The judge measured 35 feet, 8 inches, a distance that blew a 20-year record out of the water. The previous record, set by Missy Chotvacs in 2005, was 34 feet, 10.5 inches, meaning Loomis launched herself 9.5 inches past the previous Sailors record. 

As the state championships loom ahead, Loomis is ranked No. 8 among Class 4A girls triple jumpers. Her practice plan is to turn her record jump into muscle memory. She plans to break that mark many more times in her high school career. 

“It’s really cool to know I am capable of this and have two more years of high school to grow on this and improve,” Loomis said. “Knowing every single (personal record) I get past is another school record, it’s incredible to be up there for something like this.”