In a busy week for the Bayfield and Ignacio track teams, the Wolverines hosted their home meet on Saturday, then both teams journeyed to Durango for the Demons' first home meet in three years, opening the high school's renovated stadium and resurfaced track.
Bayfield's Amber Johnson broke the BHS school record for the third time this season, as she won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.97 seconds. Fellow Wolverine Jordan Lanning was right behind with a second-place time of 16.01. The BHS sprinters beat the rest of the pack by over 2 seconds.
Johnson also won the 300 hurdles in 48.77 and the 400 meter dash with 59.16. She finished second in the 100 with a personal best time of 13.12. The senior is now ranked second in the state in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles.
"I've been working so hard on my form and doing everything I can to really build that speed," Johnson said. "I was kind of surprised that I ran the time I did in the 100 hurdles, but it was just a good race out there for me."
Lanning also won the high jump with a leap of 5-2 and finished second in the triple jump at 32-7.50.
The 4x100 relay team (Claire Belmear, Emma Candelaria, Tymbree Florian, Maddi Foutz) took first place with a time of 54.30. The 4x400 team (Belmear, Foutz, Isis Gonzales, Bridget Goddard) took first in 4:21.32. The 800 sprint medley relay team of Belmear, Florian, Foutz and Goddard took second.
Foutz was runner-up in pole vault (9-0) and Tessa Heydinger took fourth. Florian finished third in the long jump. Tiarra Christensen, Mikayla Barnes and Courtney Bayles finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively in the shot put. Barnes (101-1) and Christensen (96-2) took second and third in the discus throw.
Goddard placed fourth in the 1600 meters with a time of 5:54.16.
The BHS boys broke a 37-year-old record Tuesday. The 4x400 team of Carl Heide, Sloan Mazur, Gus Roberts and Cody Speece ran in 3:30.75, which was the fastest at Bayfield since 1980. The old record of 3:33.64 had been held by Jerome Oates, Marcus Stanbro, Chuck Thompson and Ron Tate.
Heide came away with a number of other wins as well. He was also part of the winning 4x100 relay team and won the 110 (16.36) and 300 hurdles. Dax Snooks was second in the 110 hurdles in 17.08 and third in the high jump at 5-6.
Brian Mashak took first in the 100-meter dash in 11.33 and pulled away from the pack to lead the Wolverines' 4x100 team (Heide, Dylan Hilliker, Wyatt Killinen, Mashak) to victory. Hilliker also took fourth in the 100 at 11.79.
"We've got a lot of athletes on this team and we just push each other so hard," Mashak said. "It's pretty nice to compete here. They did a great job on the track."
Ryan Phelps took first in the discus throw, edging teammate Sam Westbrook. The two are among the best throwers in all of Class 3A. Westbrook got him back in the shot put with a winning throw of 47-3.25 as Phelps took second with 45-6.50 and Killinen finished third with 43-5.
"Honestly, it's just huge to have someone at every meet who you know will give you great competition," Phelps said of his teammate. "We push each other both in practice and in meets, so it's been nice to see us improving as much as we have."
Bayfield's 4x200 team of Briant Cuellar, Ethan Tate, Jesse Westbrook and Josh Westbrook took second with a time of 1:39.01.
Mazur took second in the 800 meters with a personal best of 2:00.76, followed by Jackson Sibley in fifth with 2:12.14. In long jump, Hilliker was fourth with 18 feet, 10.25 inches, followed by Keyon Prior in sixth with 18 feet, 8.5 inches.
Bayfield's vaulting team was tough, as well, with Colton Fine taking third at 11 feet, 6 inches. Chad Winkler placed fourth for Bayfield, followed by Reed Merchant in sixth, Dawson French in seventh, John Foutz for eighth and Benjamin Clark, ninth.
Overall, the Wolverine girls and boys teams both took second to Durango High School.
Ignacio
The Bobcats were led by a fourth-place high jump finish of 4-4 by Kiana Valdez. Lea Monroe also had a fourth-place finish for Ignacio with a 7-foot clear in the pole vault.
Jaylynn Herrera had a fourth-place finish as well in the long jump with a leap of 14-1.50. Rachael Cooper finished ninth (11-7). Cooper also finished ninth in the 300 hurdles in 57.80 and 12th in the 100 hurdles (20.59).
Azala Perez was fourth in the 100 meters at 13.74 and seventh in the 200 with 28.60.
Mitchell Neil was 36th and Bryan Gram finished 40th in the 100.
In the discus, Natoni Cundiff was fifth with a throw of 126 feet, 7 inches. The Ignacio girls took seventh overall, and the boys placed eighth.
Up next, both teams travel to Aztec Friday and Saturday for the Aztec Invitational.
Joe Fries of The Durango Herald contributed to this report.
