The Durango High School track and field team continued running faster, jumping higher and throwing farther at its home meet, the Ron Keller Invitational, on Saturday.
“We keep getting better every week and are having a lot of improvement,” said DHS head coach Johnny Bertrand.
The improved results helped Durango’s boys and girls both win the team races on Saturday.
Durango won 14 individual events and four relays at its home meet.
DHS went 1-2-3 in the girls 1,600. Angela McManus passed Willow Lott on the final lap to place first in 5:27:38. Lott finished second (5:33.93), Dewa Ilg crossed third in 5:48.73, and Kristina Bodewes placed eighth in 6:35.22.
McManus also won the 800 in 2:22.99, followed by Avery Cerwin in second (2:28.92), and Abby Fehr in third (2:31.48).
Mason Turner won the 400 (1:03.88) and finished second in the 100 (13.09).
Jessica McVaugh won the 300-meter hurdles in 51.47 and finished second in the 100-meter hurdles (18.30).
Halle Moore cleared 9-06 to win the pole vault; Seneca Wilson finished second with the same height.
Sydney Flores won both the discus (107-11) and the shot put (35-06.25). Violet Mazenko finished second in the discus (100-10).
DHS also claimed the top three spots in the girls 3,200 with personal records, but a computer malfunction kept the results from being officially counted. Lott unofficially won in 11:49, followed by Brynn Aggeler (11:55), Nina Quayle (12:10) Tea Forrest (12:15) and Ilg (12:28) in fifth. The wind on Saturday also kept some results from being officially counted.
Bertrand, however, said the team’s word of the week is positivity. “OK, something bad happened, but I hope they can find the good out of a crummy situation and get better,” he said.
The DHS boys also won all three distance races Saturday.
In the 800, Damian Frausto crossed first in 2:00.94, followed by Land Lambert (2:01.72) ad Charlie Dillman in third (2:13.85).
In the 1,600, Nathaniel Ellis won in 4:41.18, passing Luke Swenk (second, 4:41.42) on the second lap and holding on to a narrow lead the rest of the way.
In the 3,200, Lambert won in 9:42.96, followed by Frausto (9:48.54), Ellis (10:48.97) and Nove Tocco in fourth (12:23.61).
Jacob Fenberg cleared 11-06 to win the pole vault, followed by Riley Belt in second (10-00).
William Knight won both the discus (153-11) and shot put (49-07.25).
In the 400, Landon Roberts and Jaxon Fancher were neck-and-neck the whole race, but Roberts crossed first, 0.06 seconds ahead of Fancher in 50.95.
In the 100, Roberts finished second in 11.71, and Fancher placed third in 11.76.
In the 200, Fancher crossed second in 23.23, and Roberts placed third in 23.51. Zander Cruzan of Montezuma-Cortez won both the 100 (11.10) and 200 (22.28).
Xavier Sutherlin improved his triple jump by a couple feet, placing second behind Austin Wood of M-CHS (37-05.75) with leaps of 36-03.50.
DHS also won the girls 4x400 and 4x800 and the boys 4x400 and 4x800.
Things will get tougher this week for Durango, however, when it competes at the Liberty Bell in Denver.
“That’s important,” Bertrand said. “If you’re running by yourself, not really getting pushed. Even competing against your teammates, it’s a little harder to have that competitiveness.”
Lexy Young scored a first-place finish for the Ignacio Bobcats, winning the girls 200 in 27.95 seconds. Young also finished third in both the 100 (13.22) and the 400 (1:08.28).
Maci Barnes was the runner-up in the 400 (1:06.94) and finished fourth in the 800 (2:37.92) and seventh in the pole vault (6-06).
Alexis Pontine took third in the discus with a throw of 98-03 and placed fifth in the shot put (27-06.75).
Lauren deKay had three top 10 finishes for IHS, placing eight in the pole vault (6-00), ninth in the 800 (3:08.26) and 10th in the 1,600 (6:52.59).
Ignacio also placed second in the girls sprint medley relay (2:05.19), second in the boys 4x200 (1:41:45) and third in the boys 4x800 (10:19.48).
Jeremy Roderick had the best individual for Ignacio’s boys, placing sixth in the shot put (38-10). Tyler Barnes placed eighth in the 400 (57.19), Camron Cooper crossed ninth in the 1,600 (5:26.76), and John Riepel placed 10th in the long jump (16-09).
The Bayfield Wolverines had 17 top 10 results Saturday, led by a first-place finish from Nykole Meshew in the high jump. Meshew cleared 5-02 to win the event.
Abby Tate finished third in the 200 (28.96). Sofia Pour Toujours En Amour placed third in the 300-meter hurdles (1:00.44). Chloe Sarnow placed fourth in both the 100-meter hurdles (20.62) and the triple jump (26-02).
Shayden French cleared 7-06 to finish fourth in the pole vault. Alaysia Kremer placed third in the shot put (30-08.25) and seventh in the discus (79-00). Renae Foutz also placed 10th in the shot put (23-04.25). In the relays, the Bayfield girls placed second in the 4x200 (2:01.03) and fourth in the 4x100 (58.09) while the Bayfield boys won the 4x200 (1:37.87) and finished second in the 4x100 (46.70).
Deegan Barnes led the BHS boys in individual events, placing second in the discus (127-04). Jonathan Chapman finished fifth in the 100 (12.19), one spot ahead of Mark Torres (12.32). Chapman also placed eighth in the 200 (25.24).
In the 400, Bradley Foutz crossed fifth in 55.81, Sean Zimmerman finished seventh (57.12) and Pringle placed 10th (57.74). In the 800, Hunter Carroll led BHS with a 10th-place finish (2:45.13).
Complete results at https://bit.ly/3rT8A7F
