Track and field athletes from Bayfield, Durango and Ignacio joined several others from the region over the weekend at the Aztec Invitational in Aztec, New Mexico. While each squad had a number of impressive performances - Bayfield had a weekend to remember as the girls won the overall team competition, the boys finished fourth and the two teams combined to break a few records in the process.
The BHS girls racked up 70 points to take first place. Aztec came in second with 63 and Durango was third with 58.5
Jordan Lanning set a Bayfield High School record and tied an Aztec stadium record with a 5-foot-7 mark in the high jump. She won the event and also took first in the 100-meter hurdles (16.27). Lanning’s third victory came in the long jump with a leap of 16-1 and she took second in the triple jump with 32-feet.
Senior Amber Johnson’s time of 47.17 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles broke the BHS record and gave her a victory in the event. She also won the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.84 seconds and finished second in the 100 in 13.13.
Bridget Goddard tacked on a BHS win with an 800-meter run of 2:29.35.
The Wolverines finished one-two in discus as Mikayla Barnes’ 101-foot, 8-inch throw was best and Tiarra Christensen’s 101-1 earned her second place. Barnes also took fourth in the shot put with 33-4. Tymbree Florian finished fifth in the long jump (15-5.5) and Courtney Bayles took sixth in the shot put with 29-7.
Bayfield’s boys team also saw some records fall in its fourth-place overall performance. Carl Heide broke his own personal-best mark in winning the 300 hurdles with a new school-best time of 39.54. He also finished first an broke the 110 high hurdles school record with a time of 15.01, nearly half a second better than second-place Justin Williams of Farmington.
Throwers Sam Westbrook and Ryan Phelps continue to take turns at the top and this week it was Westbrook’s turn. The big senior took first in the shot put with a throw of 48-9. Phelps was second with 47-9. It was a similar story in the discus as Westbrook’s 141-5 beat Phelps’ 140-6 and the two took first and second.
Dax Snooks had a strong finish in the 110 hurdles as he took third with 16.12 and earned second place in the high jump with a leap of 5-10.
Brian Mashak’s 11.28 100-meter dash time was third, while Colton Fine took fourth in the pole vault (11-0) and Hunter Killough was fifth in discus with 128-5.
The Durango girls took third place behind an absolutely dominant performance by the 4x800 team of Madeleine Burns, Emma Fitzgerald, Bekah Moenning and Abby Scott. The team ran a blistering 9:30.31 - the second best time in any Colorado classification this season and first in CHSAA’s 4A class - and well over a minute better than the next team.
DHS also had a few runner-up finishes. Sarah Smagacz finished second in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 12:49.80. Jessica Lee tied for second in the pole vault clearing 9-0 and was part of the 4x100 team with Cassandra Blau, Teagan Garand and Lana Razma that also took second (51.62).
Garand took third in the 100 with 13.14 and Blau was fifth in the 200 in 28.13. Anna Smagacz finished third in the 800 (2:36.15). She was third again in the 1,600 with a run of 5:58.20 and Kiara Hamlin took sixth (6:02.55). Alex Poulter took third in the shot put with a throw if 33-5 and Azalea Santillan was fifth (32-5). Santillan finished fourth in the javelin throw and sixth in discus.
Kathleen Duft finished fifth in the 300 hurdles for DHS with a time of 50.19.
The Durango boys finished seventh overall. Like the girls’ team, the Demons boys were led by an impressive win from the 4x800 relay team. Aidan Fitzgerald, Coltin Gallegos, Harry Steinberg and Aidan Urban took first place with a time of 8:13.60. The boys time is also the best in CHSAA’s 4A class this season and even more impressive when considering Fitzgerald and Steinberg were in Grand Junction Friday representing the Demons in the Phil Wertman Invitational with fellow Demon Marcus Flint.
Alex Hise finished second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.19. The Demons’ 4x100 relay team of Dylan Baken, Camden Garland, Oliver Haaland and Hise also took second with a time of 44.61. David Lee also found his way to the podium for DHS after taking third place in the high jump clearing 5-8.
The 4x400 team (Baken, Ethan Jack, Adison Lyman, Cole Waddell) came in fourth with a time of 3:43.52. Paxton Scott finished fifth in the 400 (52.93) and Chandler Schneider also took fifth in the shot put (43-4.5).
The Bobcats’ best finish came from the girls 4x200 team of Rachel Cooper, Jaylynn Herrera, Azala Perez and Kiana Valdez. The team’s time of 1:57.91 earned IHS fourth place.
Individually, Valdez finished eighth in the high jump at 4-4. Herrera took 16th in high jump at 13-feet and Cooper was 29th with 11-0. Briana Duran was 25th in shot put.
Ignacio’s boys were led by a sixth-place, 125-11 mark in the discus throw by Natoni Cundiff. Cundiff also finished 18th in shot put with 38-10 throw. The Bobcats also had a ninth-place finish of 10:50.12 in the 3,200 by Elco Garcia. Garcia also took 13th-place in the 1,600 with a time of 4:59.65.
jfries@durangoherald.com
