IGNACIO – In its latest push to qualify its athletes for state, the Dove Creek boys had a strong outing at the San Juan Basin League boys track and field championships.
The Bulldogs tallied 78 team points and placed second overall Tuesday at Ignacio. The host Bobcats (163 points) dominated the field and won the league title.
Mancos (62 points) placed fourth, while Dolores (52 points) placed fifth.
The Bulldogs’ 800-meter relay team (Colten Fury, Aiden Chadd, Cody Alexander and sophomore Josh Kibel) won the race in one minutes, 41.71 seconds. The quartet beat second-place Nucla (Brycen Rummel, Daniel Zunich, Drake Long and Steele Arnold) by 4.4 seconds.
Alexander and Ignacio sophomore Lincoln DeKay faced off in the two hurdle events. Both athletes are assured spots in the state field, putting themselves in a league of their own while DeKay narrowly edged Alexander in both races.
Bulldog junior Sheldon Gardner won both throwing events, with Kibel taking second in the shot put. Fury nabbed fourth in both the long jump and 800, while sophomore Daniel Gray took fourth in both hurdle races.
Junior Myles Ives earned fifth place in the shot put, and sophomore Jonathan Davis took fifth in the 800. Dove Creek tallied 78 team points.
Mancos took fourth place overall.
Junior Spencer Eschallier and sophomore Jonah Ritter took home two individual league titles apiece.
Eschallier won the high jump and triple jump, while Ritter took the 100 and 200 crowns. The duo then won the 400 relay title alongside junior Colby Lewis and freshman Michael Resner.
Resner also earned sixth in the 100 dash, Lewis scored fifth in the triple jump, while freshman James Potts took sixth in the discus.
Dolores, which took fifth in the team results, had some strong finishes. Such results included sophomore Michael Rantz winning the 400 meters.
Rantz joined senior Mark Palate, sophomore Aaron Nielson and junior Tray Traweek on the Bears’ 400 relay team, which took second place. Sophomore Bridger Beyhan replaced Palate on the 1,600 relay squad, which also finished second.
Senior Josh Carpenter took third in the discus, while sophomore Kayson Greene finished fourth in the shot put. Beyhan ran to a third-place finish in the 800, and freshman Owen Lowe took third in the 3,200.
Mancos and Dolores will head to Pueblo this weekend, followed by a trip to Grand Junction for the Dennis Teeters Tiger Invitational the following weekend.
Dove Creek will head to Pagosa Springs this weekend before joining Mancos and Dolores in Grand Junction.
