And just when things were about to get interesting.

The first day of the high school state track meet in Lakewood was postponed Thursday as rained crashed down on Jeffco Stadium and lighting cracked above.

Hayden junior Aubree Haskins was warming up for the Class 2A shot put, an event in which she enters the meet ranked third, when lightning first struck. What was supposed to be a short delay ensued, but more lightening and heavy rain lengthened the delay and, about 45 minutes later, led to the postponement. The day was ended just before a wave of Hayden and Soroco athletes were scheduled to compete.

“It’s been this way all season,” Rams coach David Bruner said, watching the rain come down from inside the team’s tent. “They forecast this last week, and they pretty much hit it on the dot.”

The meet started at 8:30 a.m. Thursday morning, but things were just getting going for Class 2A and 3A schools. The Class 4A and 5A schools managed to work all the way through their schedules for the day.

Only a few smaller school events took place, however. Hayden didn’t have any athletes compete, and Soroco had two entries go.

The Rams girls 800-meter sprint medley relay team ran to a 15th-place finish. The squad, with Lauryn Bruggink, Lindsay Miles, Carmen Mathews and Josie Rossi, finished with a time of 2 minutes, 3.17 seconds.

Akron registered the top time in the preliminaries at 1:52.56. Soroco ended up about five seconds short of qualifying for the event finals.

Soroco’s Ben Strait also competed Thursday, placing 15th in the shot put. His best length was 39 feet, 10-1/2 inches, far short of 2A champion Daniel Weirich, of Eads, who threw 55 4-3/4. Strait was only two feet shy of seventh place, however, and 14 inches from placing.

Thursday’s postponed events are being rescheduled for Friday.

— To reach Joel Reichenberger, call 970-871-4253 or e-mail jreichenberger@SteamboatToday.com