The Montezuma-Cortez, Dolores and Dove Creek track teams all competed in the 24-team Mickey Dunn Invitational in Grand Junction last weekend, while the Mancos track program traveled to Sangre de Cristo for the Thunderbird Invitational.
M-CHSBoth M-CHS teams were shorthanded due to spring break, but even with just six participants, the Lady Panthers made do, finishing in fourth place.
“We only had five girls score and we were still fourth in the meet,” said head coach Paul Koops. “And there were a lot of schools. But we had five girls that were just on fire.”
The Lady Panthers got first place finishes from Weslie Kirks in the triple jump (32-09 ¼), Tayla Topaha in the discus (110-07) and the 4x2 team of Kirks, Amy Campbell, Morgan Short and Trinity McCain also came out on top (1:51.27).
The same group finished third in the 4x1 (52.06), Short’s 16-00 leap in the long jump was good for third place, Kirks finished fourth in the 100 hurdles (16.69) and Topaha took eighth in the shot (29-00).
Campbell held things down for the Lady Panthers in the sprint races, taking second in the 100 (13.24) and fifth in the 200 (27.44).
The M-CHS boys had just nine members competing, but they were still able to score 31 points to finish eighth as a team.
Head coach Bob Archibeque said that he was more concerned with each athlete continuing to improve than he was with team scores – but he did note the high level of competition at the meet.
“It was really good [competition],” he said. “A lot of those kids from that meet we’ll see at state; a lot of good programs. We’re the little fish in the pond up there.”
The Panthers were led by Coby Baer’s first-place finish in the long jump (20-08 ¼), Josh Ramos took third in the 800 (2:03.08) and Victor Perez finished fourth in the shot put (43-09 ½).
Elisha Vaquera’s time of 54.88 was good for eighth in the 400, and Austin Wagner’s leap of 38-09 ¼ landed him in eighth for the triple jump.
The Panthers also put together two solid relays, each consisting of Baer, Ramos, Vaquera and Wagner, with the squad finishing fourth in the 4x2 (1:35.78) and sixth in the 4x4 (3:37.86).
DOLOR
esThe Dolores Bears did not score in the meet, but Rueben Gomez finished as the high placer with a 13th-place finish in the triple jump (36-08).
Tristen Medina was 15th in both the 110 (17.63) and 300-meter hurdles (45.00), and Cael McHenry finished 17th in the 100’s (17.78) and 25th in the 300’s (49.05).
The Lady Bears had a handful of top-20 finishers.
Josie Bernholtz and Larissa Umberger were the high placers, as Bernholtz finished 10th in the 400 (64.91) and Umberger was 10th in the long jump (14-07).
Umberger also took 11th in the 100-meter hurdles (18.40), and she was followed by Sierra Schwartz (18.60) and Shavargus Noyes (18.63) in 12th and 13th.
Schwartz also took 19th in the 300-hurdles (55.46) and Noyes was 11th in the high jump (4-06).
Then in relays, the quartet of Bernholtz, Schwartz, Cameron Elder and Nichole Kibel took fourth in the 4x2 (1:57.47), and Schwartz, Umberger, Cameron Elder and Nichole Kibel finished seventh in the 4x1 (56.71).
DOVE CREEKMikayla Hankins was the top finisher for the Dove Creek Lady Bulldogs, taking 13th in the discus (80-05) and 17th in the shot (25-06).
LaRissa Randolph also claimed top-20 finishes, placing 16th in the 300-hurdles (54.72) and 18th in the 100-hurdles (19.00), just ahead of Madilyn Hankins, who finished 20th in the 100’s (19.24).
The Dove Creek boys were led by Spencer Gatlin’s 12th-place finish in the shot put (39-08). Ricky Adams (32-11 ½) and J.D. Dennison (32-06 ½) finished 34th and 36th in the shot, and Adams finished 21st in the discus (105-08).
MANCOSWith multiple top-three finishers – led by first place finishes by Andrew Plunkett and Ro Paschal – the Mancos Blue Jays won the Thunderbird Invitational last weekend.
Plunkett secured the top spot in both the high jump (5-04) and triple jump (40-01), while Paschal crossed the finish line first in the 1,600 (4:41.19).
The Blue Jays owned the distance events, as Simon Kearns (4:57.71) and Adrian Hernandez (5:01.82) finished second and third behind Paschal in the 1,600; Caleb Yoder (12:03.03) and Teslin Stecher (12:03.16) took second and third in the 3,200; and Jake McKie finished fourth in the 800 (2:19.84).
Paschal also took second in the 400 (54.07), Griff Huver was second in the long jump (19-02) and the Jays’ 4x1 team (Andrew Christensen, Nic Huver, Griff Huver, Scottie Sword: 49.08), 4x4 team (Paschal, Hernandez, Kearns, Cameron Fury: 3:55.03) and 4x8 team (Yoder, McKie, Stecher, Zane Wilson: 10:03.10) each finished in second as well.
The Lady Blue Jays finished 11th as a team and were led by Kaylee Rose’s third-place finish in the 800 (2:49.65) and Emma Most’s fourth-place spot in the 3,200 (15:01.13).
Most also took sixth in the 1,600 (6:52.24) and Mimi Archuleta placed 11th in both the 1,600 (7:33.47) and 800 (3:28.84).
Jessica Gutierrez was 10th in the triple jump (25-10), Ashley Cole finished 11th in the 200 (31.53) and 13th in the 100 (15.49), Faith Asnicar finished 14th in the discus (66-05), and she (24-2 ½) and Morgan Rose (23-11) went 11 and 12 in the shot put.
Finally, the 800-meter sprint relay team of Morgan Rose, Kaylee Rose, Gutierrez and Cole finished in fourth (2:15.04).
“For a meet that was so far away and that we had to leave so early for, everyone did great showing what they can do at this point in the season,” said Mancos head coach Brady Archer. “It’s great to have everyone come back from spring break rested and ready to go for the rest of the season.”
