Ashley Gilmore was given an opportunity.
At the start of the 100-meter hurdles race, a gun sounded, then sounded again. Academy for Technology and the Classics’ Charli Koseoglu, a champion in four events, had jumped the gun.
Koseoglu won four other events over the weekend, leading ATC to the team championship. And she had over a second lead in the seed list, with a season-best time of 16.07 seconds.
Her false start opened the door for the competitors. And it was Gilmore who, the next day, took first place in the event to become a state champion.
Gilmore was the team leader with a state championship in the 110-meter hurdles and multiple second-place finishes, as she finished fourth in the individual high point standings. Gilmore’s performances led a strong state championship weekend for the Escalante track teams.
It was a long day for Gilmore. Early in the day she won the hurdles race. Then, as she was warming up for both the high jump and another hurdles race (which would occur simultaneously), a lightning delay essentially paused the meet for over 3.5 hours.
The break gave Gilmore a chance to rest her legs as the team sat on the bus strategizing their races.
Fellow “shorter hurdler” Nate Martinez, a state champion the year before, encouraged Gilmore to become a hurdler. And her cousin, Hailey Whitaker, had won the race in 2019.
“It meant more to me because it meant a lot to him,” Gilmore said. “And he taught me everything I know. I really wanted to win that race for him.”
In the 100 meters hurdles preliminary, Gilmore finished second in her heat, with a low time of 18.35 seconds, but enough to qualify for the final. Gilmore said the false start had her “jumpy,” limiting her time.
But in the final, she dashed ahead, running a 17.20 to take the crown. Before collecting her medal, Gilmore met Martinez for a hug.
“I was just really focused and driven,” Gilmore said. “I just had to rely on my training and all the hard work I had throughout the season.”
The year before, at districts, Gilmore was the one false starting in the 100 hurdles. She was unable to qualify for state.
“I knew I could have done so much more,” Gilmore said. “I was just so driven the whole season. I did nothing but work on them, and work on them.”
Gilmore also placed second in the 300-meter hurdles at 49.79 seconds, finishing behind Mora’s Mya Vigil, a longtime friendly rival on the track.
In the high jump, Gilmore made all of her first leaps, clearing 4 feet, 8 inches, before missing three times at 4-10. Her earlier success had given her the tiebreaker over three others who had cleared that same height. Hannah Lopez tied for fourth, also at 4-8.
Lopez placed third in the 400 meters. Felice Baca finished fifth in the 200-meter dash and was sixth in the 400.
Escalante’s relay team finished third in the 4×200 meters.
The Lady Lobos had a chance at a second-place team finish before the final event, a 4×400 relay, where they had the fastest qualifying time. But they fell off to sixth in the race and, after a change to a different race result, ended up with the fifth-best team score.
For the boys, their 4×200 meter relay team placed third, and the 4×400 team placed fourth.
Jayden Salazar placed fifth in the 200 meters. Braylon Emery and Julio Lujan finished fifth and sixth in the 400 meters.