The state track and field meet got underway Thursday at the Jefferson County Stadium in Lakewood, and several athletes from La Plata County scored points for their teams with top-nine finishes.
Most of Thursday’s events were preliminaries, but after four finals were contested in Class 4A, the Durango girls were tied for second while boys were fifth in the team races. The DHS girls are tied with Mullen with 16 points, just two behind Mountain View. The DHS boys, meanwhile, have 12 team points, eight behind first-place Cheyenne Mountain.
The Durango girls had a strong showing in the 4x800 relay to score eight team points with a runner-up finish. Angela McManus ran the lead leg in 2 minutes, 25.704 seconds, followed by Avery Cerwin (2:25.589), Sofia Voss (2:22.454) and Abby Fehr (2:19.377) as Durango finished second in 9:33.13. Niwot won in 9:24.75, and Battle Mountain finished third in 9:44.25.
Sydney Flores then scored another eight points for DHS, placing second in the shot put with a season-best throw of 38 feet, 5.25 inches.
The Durango boys also placed in the 4x800, crossing fifth in 8:01.41. Charlie Dillman ran the lead leg in 1:58.887, followed by Damian Frausto (2:03.415), Land Lambert (2:03.483) and Luke Swenk (1:55.624).
William Knight, meanwhile, reached the podium in the shot put with a heave of 51 feet, 2.75 inches. Knight placed third in the event. Josh Bates placed 16th with a throw of 43-07.00.
In the 3A championships, Nykole Meshaw of Bayfield cleared 5-03 in the high jump to tie for third place and score 6.5 team points for the Wolverines.
Tristan French also scored points for the Bayfield boys in the pole vault. French cleared 11-06 to place eighth in the event.
Deegan Barnes competed in the discus and ended up placing 15th with a throw of 116-07.
Abby Tate placed 17th in the 400 at 1:05.66.
Lexy Young of Ignacio raced in both the 100- and 200-meter prelims on Thursday in Class 2A. Young advanced to the 200 finals after placing eighth in the prelims in 27.57. In the 100, Young finished 15th in 13.59.
No Ignacio boys competed Thursday.
Landon Roberts and Jaxon Fancher competed in the boys 400-meter prelims on Thursday for Durango. Roberts finished sixth in the first heat and 11th overall in 50.47 seconds. Fancher crossed seventh in the second heat in 50.87 to place 14th overall. Soren Gulsrud of Skyline snagged the last spot in the finals with a time of 50.16.
In the Class 4A boys 4x200, Kaleb Roberts, Landon Roberts, Maddox Bryant and Fancher finished 14th in 1:31.68.
The championships may move to a rolling schedule Friday and Saturday because of impending weather. Friday's forecast calls for temperatures in the 50s with cloud cover and light on-and-off rain. The rain is expected to increase between 6-7 p.m. on Friday and potentially turn into snow. By Saturday morning, there is expected to be some accumulation and cold temperatures.
