After an action-packed, weather-delayed weekend at Jefferson County Stadium – one that saw a late spring squall extend competition into Sunday – Montezuma and Dolores county athletes made sure that the wait was worth it.
Dove Creek, Montezuma-Cortez and Mancos piled up top-tier performances over the weekend, including several top-three efforts, to cap off their respective state championship competitions.
Mancos senior Mason Goodwin headlined the efforts over the weekend, outleaping the 2A high jump field by 4 inches with a clearance of 6 feet, 4 inches to earn a spot atop the podium in Lakewood. As the only competitor in the 18-man field to clear 6-2, Goodwin kept the show going with an electric leap over his winning height.
Goodwin also emerged on the scene this year in shot put, steadily improving throughout the season and shining at the state meet with a throw of 46 feet, 9 inches to claim fourth and his second medal of the weekend. He finished just one place behind classmate Connor Showalter, who capped his record-breaking career with a pair of all-state performances.
Showalter’s stronger discipline – the shot put – earned him a third-place finish with a throw of 48 feet, 10.5 inches. State champion Mohamed Ibrahim of Wiggins High School set a 2A record in the event and posted the best distance of any athlete in all classifications.
Showalter also took seventh in the discus (132 feet, 3 inches) to round out his high school throwing career, just shortly after he committed to continue his athletic career at the collegiate level – seeking to compete for Keiser University, a NAIA school in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Two other seniors capped their careers on the podium for Mancos. Josh Lindner provided tied for third in the high jump (6-0), while Colorado Mesa University-bound Edgar Hernandez was seventh in the 800 meters (2:03.18).
Sophomore Cole Dainty-Guilfoyle posted a 12th-place finish in the shot put (42-06) to round out the boys team, which finished in 11th place (35.5 points). Yuma (59 points) won the title with a narrow three point margin over Limon (56 points).
Several Mancos girls posted strong results in their debuts at the 2A state meet. Freshman Teagan Archer took 10th in the 3,200 meters (12:42.88) and 16th in the 1,600 (5:59.30). Adaline Kearns took 13th in the 800s (2:38.40), and the 4x800 relay team was 13th (11:08.96).
In the field events, sophomore Teya Yeomans placed 14th in the high jump (4-8) and 15th in the shot put (30-2) to round out the Mancos qualifiers.
As if his third-place finish in the 100-meter dash at the 3A state championships wasn’t impressive enough, M-CHS junior Zander Cruzan’s 11.00 dash into a headwind put him into elite company. The 3A race proved to be the fastest of any classification, and Cruzan tied for the fourth-fastest performance in any classification.
Platte Valley’s Devyn Lauer-Duarte, state champ in the event, posted the best time of any athlete – by a stunning two-tenths of a second (10.74). Cruzan’s time would have won the 4A, 2A and 1A titles – and the Panther wasn’t done there.
He ran two more races on a jam-packed Sunday, matching his third-place run in the 200 meters (21.86), and joining Tay Wheat, Sawyer Smith and Dallin Lanier in the 4x100 relay, as the Panthers reached the podium with an eighth-place run (44.73).
Smith also jumped to 12th place in the triple jump (40 feet, 8.5 inches), while senior Anon Plemons took 18th in the pole vault (10-06) in his state debut. As a team, M-CHS earned 16 points, good for 17th place. Lutheran edged Classical Academy to win the title.
The Bulldogs boy team landed a top-10 state finish, thanks to plenty of all-state performances at Jeffco Stadium.
Dove Creek’s sprints carried the day, as the Bulldogs enjoyed four all-state finishes for senior Chorbin Cressler to wrap up his decorated athletic career. The Bulldogs senior took sixth in both the 100 (11.94) and 200 (24.22), and anchored both the third place 4x100 relay (46.26) and the seventh place 4x200 relay (1:38.41).
Junior Kade Hankins also piled up medals, taking fourth in the long jump (19 feet, 10.5 inches) while adding fifth-place marks in both hurdle races – 110 hurdles (17.32) and 300 hurdles (44.50). Classmate Quaden Huffaker made his debut memorable, stepping on to the podium in the triple jump with a ninth place finish (38-10) to go along with his relay team efforts.
Dove Creek amassed 35 points as a team to take eighth overall. Heritage Christian ran away with another 1A team crown, collecting 128 points in the meet.
For the Dove Creek girls, junior Tara Glover posted the team’s highest finish – a fourth-place mark in the shot put (33 feet, 3 inches) – to make it an all-state double. She took seventh in the discus (93-03), as well. Bulldog junior Trista Barnett added a seventh-place finish in the 300 hurdles (53.15), and joined the fifth-place 4x800 team (11:20.23).
Freshman Ralynn Hickman placed 10th in the long jump (13 feet, 1 inch) to round out the Dove Creek performances. Dove Creek took 18th as a team, earning 17 points over the three-day event. Heritage Christian swept the boys and girls team titles, dominating the field with 124 points to win the girls 1A title.
