The Bayfield High School track and field team welcomed 10 teams to Wolverine County Stadium on Friday to begin its season.
Durango won both the girls and boys team titles, but BHS had plenty of good results.
“The meet went really well for us, and we had some kids who did really well,” said BHS head coach Josh Walton.
Nykole Meshew scored a first-place finish for the Wolverines in the high jump after clearing 5 feet, 0 inches.
The coach said Elissa Mars “had a good day,” clearing 7 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault while also throwing the discus, running in the 100-meter hurdles and joining the Wolverines in the 4x100.
Tristan French also finished second in the pole vault for BHS’ boys after clearing 10-0.
Wallace also gave Royce Hinojosa props for his distance performances, running the 800 in 2:36.6 and the 1,600 in 5:55.10.
Durango’s Sydney Flores and Will Knight were named the meet’s top throwers after they won both the shot put and the discus. Flores threw the shot 33-4 and the discuss 103-11. Knight heaved the discus 150-11½ while throwing the shot put a personal best of 52-7 and getting a big round of applause from the crowd.
In the 3200, the girls ran one lap before the race was paused. Walton said they have a new timing system this year, and it wasn’t capturing pictures. When the race restarted, DHS’ Brynn Aguilar held off teammate Dewa Ilg to take first in 12:12.85. Ilg crossed second in 12:15.44.
Land Lambert also won the boys 3,200 for DHS. Lambert passed his first two competitors after just three laps and on the final lap finished passing the field when he got by teammate Nathaniel Ellis. Ellis, however, sprinted with Lambert and crossed the finish with him before beginning his final lap.
Ignacio, Mancos, Montezuma-Cortez and Dove Creek also competed in Bayfield, but complete results were unavailable at press time.
“It was the first meet, and the kids were excited to get it going,” Walton said. “It was good to have the track season start when it normally does. Hopefully we don’t have the heat issues we had to deal with last year running at the end of June. Today was cold, but if they warmed up to it they were able to have some good races.”
The Wolverines have 30 to 35 athletes out this season. Deegan Barnes, Landon Kennedy and Katie Killinen are some of the team’s other top returners.
Next week, Bayfield will compete at the Wild West Invite in Grand Junction. Durango will compete at Chandler High School in Phoenix. Ignacio will be off next week and will return to the track April 1 at the Mancos Invite.
