In a field full of Intermountain and San Juan Basin League squads at the Ron Keller Invitational, the Montezuma-Cortez boys track team on Saturday showed its capacity to compete for a league title when they host their league championships at Panther Stadium on Friday, April 28.
The Panthers placed second to host Durango at the Ron Keller Invitational meet, while besting fellow league competitors Bayfield and Pagosa Springs in the process.
Dove Creek’s boys, meanwhile, took home third place – the best of the SJBL teams – as their league competition awaits on the first Tuesday in May. Dolores took seventh while the SJBL hosts Mancos grabbed ninth.
In girls competition, Montezuma-Cortez took fourth, hot on the heels of Bayfield and Pagosa Springs, while Dove Creek’s girls finished as the top team in the SJBL, a lone point in front of seventh place Mancos. Dolores took eighth in the field, and looks to factor into a wide-open girls team chase at the league meet.
It only seemed like a matter of when, rather than if, M-CHS senior Zander Cruzan would break a school record. The first to fall came on Saturday, as Cruzan left his own previous best in the dust with a sizzling 21.26 in the 200-meter dash.
While Cruzan’s time won’t officially go down as a top time in the state on account of the effort being listed as “wind-aided,” his mark is the second fastest in the state under any conditions run this year.
In the 100, Cruzan set a personal record with a time of 10.75, while his debut in the 400 meters nearly resulted in another school record, as he finished less than two-tenths of a second off the school-best mark with a winning time of 49.28.
Cruzan wasn’t the only one making waves on Saturday – junior Raul Soto and sophomore Ben Hoffman enjoyed stellar days, with Soto winning the 300-meter hurdles in a new personal-best effort of 43.75. Meanwhile, Hoffman clocked a time of 5:06.86 to win the 1,600 meters – adding distance points to the strength in sprints and field events for the Panthers.
“Building the strength during my first two years,” said Soto of his emergence as a top hurdler in the area, “and then from there working on technique – it’s all come together, and I’m hoping to qualify for state.”
Strong days continued in the field events, where senior Austin Wood took second in both of the horizontal jumps, finishing second by one inch to Dove Creek’s Kade Hankins in the long jump, while taking runner-up to DC’s Quaden Huffaker in the triple jump.
“This is a great group of people,” added Soto of his teammates and their pursuit of a league title, “I’m really fortunate that they’re my teammates.”
Tay Wheat took third in the long jump, while Farrar Desloge scored in both the 3,200 (fourth) and 1,600 (eighth). Houston Hurst and Ryan Pipkin tied for fourth in the pole vault as the points continued to pile up, while Chandler Snyder took fifth in the shot put and sixth in the discus. Dawson Stubby took sixth in the 110-meter hurdles, and the Panthers added scoring relays in the 4 x 200 (third), 4 x 400 (third), and 4 x 100 (fourth).
Dove Creek’s point collection included their double victory in the long and triple jumps, while Hankins would add top spot in the 110-meter hurdles.
The Bulldogs would add plenty more using depth in the hurdles, as both Bobby Pastorius (fifth) and Cody Alexander (eighth) earned points for Dove Creek.
Seniors Asher Nye and Kendall Gardner placed third and sixth, respectively, in the shot put, and Bowdy Seely added a fifth-place discus throw. The Bulldogs also took second in the 4 x 400 and third in the 4 x 100 to close out a strong team performance.
Dolores enjoyed a strong day in the relays for the bulk of their scoring, as the Bears tallied scoring efforts in the 4 x 800 (second) to go along with seventh-place finishes in the 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 relays.
Aaron Nielson scored a sixth place run in the 1,600 to claim the highest individual placement for the Bears.
For Mancos, Braxton Dennison scored in both the 1,600 (seventh) and 800 (eighth), while sophomore Spencer Eschallier scored in both the high jump (tie-third), and long jump (eighth). Jonah Ritter added a sixth-place race in the 200 meters.
In the girls field, Marlee Mack scored in four events as part of her busy day, with the top placements in the 100 hurdles (second) and long jump (fifth). Markylla Jones scored a third-place shot put throw, while the Panther sprint medley relay took second. Madeline Pipkin added points in the pole vault for the Panthers.
The Dove Creek sprint medley bested the field to take the lone top honor for the Bulldog girls, as senior Trista Barnett put together a pair of strong hurdle races (second in the 300, sixth in the 100). Tara Glover took second in the shot put while Rylee Hickman took third in the discus, to go along with seventh place marks in the 100 meters and long jump.
Mancos will likely turn to their depth if they hope to repeat as league champs in a week – the Bluejays piled up points in the distance events, with Brooke Jabour and Adaline Kearns leading the charge in the 800 (third and fourth).
Jabour added a sixth-place long jump, while the Bluejay 4 x 100 relay took second. Aysia Mathews claimed third in the triple jump, while Maddie Swortwood-Green raced to a sixth place run in the 1,600.
A small Dolores distance squad enjoyed some great races, as the Bears won the 4 x 800 relay, while Elia Lowe and Everly Heaton took second and fourth in the 1,600 meters.
Next up for the local teams, the Panther Invitational on Friday, Apr. 28, which will serve as the league championship meet for the IML. Then, a few days later on May 2, the SJBL will converge on Mancos for the 2A/1A SJBL league championships.
