Come about 8 o'clock Tuesday night, there was a fair share of red in the La Plata County sunset.
But there was much more purple, darkening by the second. It was a perfect visual to preview Bayfield senior Eva-Lou Edwards' 1,600-meter run at Durango's Ron Keller Invitational. Durango's Shannon Maloney also in the field, and both were ready to push themselves, each other, and the other entrants to their max.
The race under the stadium lights didn't disappoint; Edwards exploded out with the starter's gun and the Lady Demon junior. Edwards prevailed in 5 minutes, 28.83 seconds-defeating Maloney by 13.22 ticks and helping the Lady Wolverines to a third-place finish. Edwards also won the 3,200-meter run with her winning time of 11:40.66.
By comparison, DHS senior Hannah Peterson was second in 12:23.93.
Junior pole vaulter Michael Voss' 13'0" and senior sprinter Nate Tate's 23.86 in the 200 meters earned the BHS boys vital first-place points, and freshman Brian Mashak (second, 23.88) and junior Gabe Kaufmann (third, 24.44) supplemented the latter as the first to follow Tate across the finish. The boys took second at the meet.
Katie Hawkins' personal-best 8'0" in the girls' pole vault was another victory-though at the expense of teammates Brittany Hunter and Morgan Allred (both at 7'6")-amongst many notable efforts.
Junior Amy Roach's 14.20 and senior Ashlyn Schulder's 14.30 placed them 2-3 in the 100, and Kaufmann (11.92) and Tate (11.94) mimicked the finish [Mashak was fourth in 12.02] in the boys' version. The boys' 4x100 relay of Kaufmann, Mashak, Tate and sophomore Samuel Kundrick took third in 46.34, and the 4x2 (Kaufmann, Mashak, Tate, junior Preston Hardy) finished second in 1:34.99.
Freshman Maddi Foutz's 29.29 was third in the girls' 200-as was junior Jessica Cusick's 1:02.22 in the 400. The 4x1 relay (Allred, Roach, junior Jessie Roukema, Schulder) took second place in 53.13 seconds, and Roukema took third in the high jump by outdoing teammate Amber Johnson at 4'10".
Hawkins, a sophomore, also was top-ten in the discus (fourth, 91'3") and shot (eighth, 28'4.5").
Freshman Alex Knight's 5:24.59 was the Wolverine boys' best (and eighth place overall) in the 1,600, and he also clocked a seventh-place 11:40.46 in the 3,200.
Juniors Aubry Brown and Brady Fields scored fourth-place points in the shot (41'2.5") and high jump (5'6"), respectively, and Brown placed second in the discus with a best throw of 137'5". Junior Blane Barnes was seventh in the discipline at 112'1".
Up next for Bayfield Track & Field will be its home meet of the spring, the Pine River Invitational, tomorrow at Wolverine Country Stadium. Last Saturday the team co-hosted (with 2A Ignacio) the Abel Velasquez Invitational at the facility, winning the girls' championship with a score of 133 and taking second in the boys' chase with 146.
RKI BOYS' STANDINGS: 1.Durango 170, 2.Bayfield 106, 3.Alamosa 93, 4.Pagosa Springs 84, 5.Ignacio 84, 6.Montezuma-Cortez 51, 7.Del Norte 30, 8.Dolores 23, 9.Mancos 22, 10.Centauri 20, 11.Dove Creek 11.
RKI GIRLS' STANDINGS: 1.Alamosa 130, 2.Durango 128, 3.Bayfield 110, 4.Dove Creek 64, 5.Pagosa Springs 57, 6.Centauri 56, 7.Montezuma-Cortez 52, 8.Del Norte 51, 9.Dolores 49, 10.Ignacio 12, 11.Mancos 12.
