It's called the Pine River Invitational for obvious reasons.
Shorten that up a bit, say.for a newspaper article, and it's the P.R. Invite. The way things often go for Bayfield High's track-and-field team every spring, that 'P.R.' may as well mean 'personal record.'
In addition to earning vital points for the Lady Wolverines' cause-the girls managed to eke out a 118-117 victory over 4A Montezuma-Cortez-last Saturday, however, Jessica Cusick looked to take her 800-meter run a few steps further. She pushed inside Wolverine Country Stadium for a brand-new BHS-best.
It didn't happen-Ashley Hahn's 2:22.51 in 2000 stayed atop the list. But Cusick impressed all with her 2:25.55, fast enough to beat teammate Aubree Lorenzen, who would win the 1,600 in 6:14.19, by 18.05 seconds.
Speed was also on the side of the 4x100-meter relay (Morgan Allred, Amy Roach, Jessie Roukema, Ashlyn Schulder), which scored first-place points with a 53.57-second pass, and on that of the 800 medley (Allred, Brittany Hunter, Roukema, Schulder), which prevailed in 1:57.53. That was only 1.53 seconds off the school standard set all the way back in 1984.
Hunter's 7'9" in the pole vault was the Lady Wolverines' other individual victory, but second-places by Roukema in the high jump (5'1"), Jessica Kirk in the javelin (59'3") and Katie Hawkins in the pole vault (7'3") helped lead the supporting effort.
Hawkins was third in the shot put (27'11.75") and fourth in the discus (88'1"). Amber Johnson was third in the 200-meter dash with a 28.88 and in the high jump with a 4'7", Allred was third in the pole vault (6'9"), and Roach took fourth in the 100 (14.07) as did Miranda Talbot in the 100m hurdles (20.40).
BHS boys
A 1-2 finish in the 100-Brian Mashak (11.89) and Gabe Kaufmann (12.15)-helped the Bayfield boys to a second-place finish at the Invite, trailing 3A Intermountain rivals Pagosa Springs 127-114.
Mashak's 23.95 in the 200 gave him a sweep of the short sprints, with teammate Nate Tate taking second in 24.17. John Arnold's 115'3" in the javelin was also a winner, as was Trevor Gabbard's 10:56.30 in the 3,200-meter run.
The 4x200 relay of Kaufmann, Mashak, Zach Phelps and Tate won in 1:36.03-approaching the Bayfield record of 1:33.60 (Keith Wickman, Arnold, Joey Webb, Allec Rodriguez) from 2012. Michael Voss was tops in the pole vault at 13'0", and Aubry Brown was second in the discus with a 142'11".
A 4-5-6 [Blane Barnes, 40'4.5"; Brown, 40'0.25"; Arnold, 39'4"] showing in the shot earned the Wolverines seven team points, and Alex Knight and Brady Fields each booked six points with thirds in the 3,200 (11:28.44), and 110m hurdles (17.55) respectively.
Conner Kennedy was third in the high jump with a 5'7" best.
The 4x1 (Kaufmann, Samuel Kundrik, Mashak, Phelps) was fourth in 48.01 seconds, as was the 4x4 (Fields, Dylan Smith, Brandon Stuever, Ethan Tate) in 3:55.41. Fifth place went to Ethan Tate in the 400-meter dash (56.82 seconds), Knight in the 1,600 (5:22.29), and Geoff Pope in the long jump (16'10").
Taylor Winch (16'7.75") and Ty Meyers (16'1.5") followed Pope in sixth and seventh.
Joey Sandrey, with a 73'3", and Kaden Taulli with a 61'2", went 5-6 in the javelin.
Up next, BHS will head south to Aztec, N.M., today for Day 1 of the Tigers' B&B Invitational.
PINE RIVER INVITE BOYS' STANDINGS: 1.Pagosa Springs 127, 2.BAYFIELD 114, 3.Montezuma-Cortez 98, 4.Ignacio 74, 5.Mancos 63, 6.Sanford 50, 7.Dove Creek 11, 8.Dolores 2.
PINE RIVER INVITE GIRLS' STANDINGS: 1.BAYFIELD 118, 2.Montezuma-Cortez 117, 3.Pagosa Springs 102, 4.Dove Creek 87, 5.Dolores 78, 6.Ignacio 24, 7.Sanford 15, 8.Mancos 13.
