One event contested as part of Pagosa Springs' Terry Alley Invitational last Saturday didn't take place at the Pirates' Golden Peaks Stadium, but inside Bayfield's Wolverine Country Stadium the previous afternoon.
And that was the pole vault, a BHS specialty throughout the years and, unfortunately for the rest of the TAI's participants, yet again last Friday. BHS sophomore Colton Fine (10'7"), classmate Chad Winkler (10'1") and senior Cash Snooks (9'1") pulled off a 1-2-3 sweep to get the Wolverine boys' team off to an eventual second-place finish in the team standings.
Bayfield amassed 125.5 points overall, which trailed only 3A Intermountain Leaguers Alamosa (148) but which was well clear of Intermountain League team Centauri (76.5), 2A Center (65) and meet-hosting Pagosa (57) in the top five.
Enjoying almost no slowdown after competing the previous day at the Pueblo Twilight Invite, sophomore hurdler Carl Heide-fifth in the 110-meter discipline (16.08) and seventh in the 300 (43.16) inside Dutch Clark Stadium-swept the two events in Pagosa for another serious point grab.
In the shorter-distance, higher-barrier dash, Heide's 16.23 beat Alamosa's Thomas Keller by 0.10. In the longer race over barriers set at an intermediate height, Heide's 42.60 was 0.59 ahead of 2A Dolores' Tristan Medina.
To boot, Heide also took third place in the high jump with a 5'5" leap, then ran a leg on the third-place 4x400-meter relay (joining juniors Alex Knight, Gus Roberts and Cody Speece) which clocked 3:41.30. Roberts took seventh in the open 400 with a time of 59.99.
Coming off a seventh-place 133'8" throw of the discus in Pueblo, sophomore Ryan Phelps improved to third in Pagosa-though via a shorter 133'6" best. He also placed third in the shot put at the Terry Alley, heaving the heavy sphere 39 feet, eight inches.
Senior Samuel Kundrik, freshman David Hawkins, junior Josh Westbrook and sophomore Jaden Vitagliano combined for a fourth-place 47.45 in the 4x100 (Vitagliano had finished fifth in the open 100, running 11.97, and Hawkins tied for sixth at 12.04), while a Knight-Sloan Mazur-Brandon Stuever-Speece quartet ran a fourth-place 8:50.91 in the 4x800.
Knight had placed sixth in the open 800 (2:12.26), and junior Jesse Westbrook took fifth in the triple jump (37'5.75"). All-around sophomore Dax Snooks was sixth in the 110m hurdles (18.05) and sixth in the 300 (49.70), as well as seventh in the high jump (5'1") and seventh in the triple (36'1.5").
Wrapping up the regular season, next for the Wolverines is tomorrow's Monte Vista Last Chance at 9 a.m.
GETTING BACK UP TO SPEED: Brian Mashak, how we have missed thee! Still recovering from an injury, Bayfield's junior sprint specialist saw action at the Twilight Invite but finished 43rd out of 44 in an un-Mashak 13.83 seconds (an 11.83 would have earned a respectable 12th, by comparison) for the 100 meters. He did not run the 200.
ALSO IN PUEBLO: Mazur took 15th in the 800 meters (2:07.76) and Speece was close behind in 17th (2:09.57), but the 4x800 relay did not compete (Pueblo Centennial won in 8:34.89). Junior Sam Westbrook, whose 134'0" in the discus at Pagosa earned second place, was 13th (129'2") in the event at Pueblo. He also placed 14th in the shot with a 43'6.25" best, while Phelps took 22nd with his 39'8.5" and Hawkins (33rd in the 100m, 12.44) 25th with his 38'8" maximum.
