The Durango High School boys and girls track and field teams finished third at the 4A/5A Southwestern League Championships on Saturday in Grand Junction.
The Demons split their teams between Grand Junction and a meet in Pueblo but still had success at the league championships.
The Montrose girls won the league championship, while the Fruita Monument boys won.
The Durango boys’ lone first-place effort Saturday was provided by the 4x400 relay team (Joaquin Valdez, Cristian Gonzales, Seamus Millett, David Moenning) that took first in 3 minutes 26.95 seconds. They weren’t the only relay to grab a win Saturday, as the Durango girls (Kathleen Duft, Shaylan Garrett, Bekah Moenning, Teagan Garand) won the 800-meter sprint medley relay in 1:53.95, which was exactly nine seconds better than second-place Montrose.
Breann Hawman also posted a first-place finish for Durango in the shot put, her third SWL title in a row. Hawman’s throw of 35 feet. 5 inches flew more than three feet further than the next closest competitor.
“Breann’s win is even more impressive after what was probably a disappointing effort in Friday’s discus,” Durango head coach David McMillan said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “It really is a testament to her character that she can come back the way she did and win on Saturday.”
Alex Poulter also added a point for Durango in the shot put with a sixth-place finish.
Aside from the those efforts, Durango was a step behind the stockpile of talented 5A and 4A competitors in the other events.
Kathleen Duft placed second in the 300-meter hurdles (49.71) and third in the 100-meter hurdles (17.57), while Carter Reiter took sixth.
“Kathleen had a great meet,” McMillan said. “She continues to run well and ran a beautiful 300-meter race.”
The girls’ 4x800 relay team crossed in 10:11.34, which was good for third place. The 4x200 relay team took fourth (1:55.97) along with the 4x400 team (4:39.25). Teagan Garand finished fourth in the 400-meter dash in 1:01.98, fifth in the 100-meter dash with a 13.42 finish and sixth in the 200. Anna Smagacz added a point with a sixth-place effort in the 1,600-meter run.
In the boys’ 110-meter hurdles, Vicente Jimenez continued to impress, as his 16.44 time was second best. Kaleb McMunn finished sixth for DHS. Jimenez also finished second (41.86) in the 300-meter hurdles, and Corbin Lyman was fifth with a time of 43.51. Another second-place finish was had by the 4x200 relay team that finished 0.56 seconds behind first-place Grand Junction. The 4x100 team finished third with a time of 46.16, and the 4x800 team also got third with a finish of 8:32.90.
Alex Hise’s 11.83 in the 100-meter dash gave the Demon boys a third-place finish. Hise also took fourth in the 200 with Ben Bates and Oliver Haaland coming in fifth and sixth behind Hise. Cristian Gonzales finished fourth in the 400-meter dash (53.19) and Chandler Schneider’s discus throw of 129-3 was fifth best.
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
