CORTEZ – The Montezuma-Cortez track and field program has its fingerprints all over the collegiate scene, with former Panthers climbing to the top of podiums across the Rocky Mountains.
M-CHS Class of 2022 standout Avery Wright continues to build her standing as one of the premier multi-event athletes in Division II competition, earning her second Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference individual title for Colorado School of Mines at the beginning of March.
Joining her outdoor RMAC heptathlon title from last spring, the junior computer science major claimed her first indoor crown in the pentathlon. Her accumulation of 3,561 points won the event by nearly 200 points, while also earning her an opportunity to compete in the national meet for her third overall appearance and second time in the indoor championships.
Wright took 13th in the Division II field in Indianapolis, part of an Oredigger squad that took 11th as a team in the championships.
M-CHS Class of 2023 sprinter Zander Cruzan also made a massive impact on the University of Northern Colorado track team, capturing the 2025 indoor 400-meter title in the Big Sky Conference.
The redshirt freshman took the distance by storm this year, running under 46 seconds (45.99 at the Arkansas Qualifier) in February in his first varsity season with the Bears, while adding a time of 46.96 in the league meet to earn recognition as the Big Sky Men’s Freshman of the Year.
UNC took fourth in the Big Sky Championships in Flagstaff earlier this month, marking their best-ever placement as a team in the league championships.
Cruzan posted a top-25 time in all of Division I in the 400, narrowly missing out on qualification for the national championships.
Both Cruzan and Wright look to continue to carry the Panthers torch moving forward into the outdoor track and field schedule, building toward more league and national level opportunities coming up in May and June.
