The Ignacio boys track and field team left no doubt Tuesday as to their San Juan Basin League superiority. Freshman Cayson Burcham won the 800- and 1600-meter runs and sophomore Lincoln deKay swept the 110- and 300-meter hurdle races.
With the 3200 relay also logging another winning time, the Bobcats boys racked up 163 points and captured the 2024 SJBL Track & Field Championships’ team title at IHS. Runner-up Dove Creek had 78 points and Telluride came in third-place with 70.
Seen warming up prior to the 1600 with THS’ Sean McKillop, Burcham then steadily pulled away from the Miner junior and all other hopefuls and clocked a first-place 4:55.32. McKillop’s 5:10.80 was good for second and IHS sophomore Trace Crane finished third with a 5:13.46. ’Cat senior Corey Gomez took fifth with a 5:24.65. At half the distance in the 800, Burcham and Crane finished 1-2 (2:13.24, 2:18.11).
The wins kept coming, as deKay ran a 16.36 in the 110 hurdles, defeating runner-up Cody Alexander of DCHS by half a second and his 44.50 in the 300 hurdles was 1.03 seconds faster than Alexander’s second-place time. And in the 4x800, Ignacio clocked a 9:18.29 and dominated second-place Telluride by more than 21 seconds.
Sophomore Zane Pontine was victorious in the pole vault, clearing 9 feet 10 inches, but he wasn’t alone atop the vaulting podium. With deKay (9-4) placing second and Bourriague (8-4) third, IHS swept pole vault.
Senior Kyle Rima placed second in the discus and third in the shot put, throwing 103-4 in the former and 38-3 in the latter. Freshman Thunder Windy Boy earned second place in the 3200 (12:11.32) and Crane was second in the triple jump (36-7).
Nossaman did likewise in the 200, clocking 24.39 seconds and took fourth in the 400 (55.32).
Sophomore Dillon Brann was third in the 300 hurdles (49.48) and Ignacio got additional fourth-place results in the high jump (Lincoln Gillespie, 5-2), triple jump (Norman Hackett, 34-9.5), and discus (Evan Perkins, 87-9). IHS’ 4x400m relay (Gomez, Bourriague, Windy Boy, Burcham) placed third in 3:57.
On the girls’ side, Ignacio totaled 106 points and placed third, one point behind runner-up Telluride and 39 behind champion Mancos at the sun-soaked, seven-team showdown.
Senior Darlyn Mendoza-Lechuga swept the hurdles events, winning the 100 in 17.83 and the 300 in 52.17. Senior Maci Barnes won the pole vault (7-8) and long jump (15-5). The Lady ’Cats were also tops in the 800 relay as sophomore Samantha Riddell, freshman Kelly Sirios, senior Lauren deKay and Mendoza-Lechuga combined to bring the baton across the finish line in 2:00.51, more than seven seconds ahead of second-place Telluride. Riddell also prevailed in the high jump with a 4-10 mark.
Senior Kacey Brown finished second in the discus with an 81-7 throw, and deKay took second in the pole vault (7-2). Barnes finished second in the 800 (2:38.32) and third in the 400 (1:05.43), while Riddell sprinted to third in the 200 (28.93) with Mendoza-Lechuga fourth (29.37). Riddell also placed fourth in the 100, clocking 13.89 seconds.
Now in the season’s final month, Ignacio is scheduled to next attend Cañon City’s Blossom Invitational on Friday and then gear up for Grand Junction’s May 10-11 Dennis Teeters Tiger Invitational.
