It was a perfect spring day for high school track and field on Saturday, and it was nearly a perfect performance for the Durango High School track team as the Demons hosted and dominated the Durango Dust Off.
The Durango girls won handily, finishing with 287.5 points, with Montezuma-Cortez finishing second out of seven schools with 109.3 points. Durango’s boys won by even more, finishing first out of eight schools with 289 points. Bayfield was second with 85 points.
It’s not like Durango was lining up against the toughest competition it will see this season. The Demons were facing smaller local schools, Del Norte, Pagosa Springs, Mancos, Dove Creek and Creede in addition to Montezuma-Cortez and Bayfield.
However, the Durango Dust Off was the perfect starting point to a Durango track and field season that could end with plenty of Demons at state.
“We've got a lot of returners coming back from last year and a lot of kids that have been out here working really hard through the winter,” Durango track and field head coach Johnny Bertrand. “We did more this year than ever before because of the lack of snow … We've got a lot of talent all over, but especially with our seniors. We've got a lot of kids that have been on varsity for a few years coming back.”
Junior Lacy Ruggiero was impressive after a strong cross country season, finishing first in the girls 800-meter in 2:35.87. Ruggiero will be one to watch this season after she had a tough end to her 2025 cross country season when she ran at state despite being very sick all week.
Ruggiero was one of Durango’s best track and field athletes last year as a sophomore, finishing seventh in the girls 1600 in the 4A state race.
“It’s going pretty well,” Ruggiero said at the Durango Dust Off. “This is the first outdoor track meet of my junior year so I am pretty excited. I’m just seeing where I’m at. I’m not having too big of expectations, and I’m having fun with it … but also being competitive.”
Through two seasons of track and field, Ruggiero knows she needs to be patient with herself. She knows she’s not going to be at 100% right at the beginning of the season; she needs to be that at state. If Ruggiero doesn’t have the race she wants early in the season, she’ll give herself grace because she knows there will be other opportunities.
Ruggiero will be focusing on the mile, her favorite, and the 4x800 relay team, which she was a part of last year, and the team finished ninth at state. She’ll also compete at the 4x400 and the 3200.
By the end of the year, Ruggiero wants to have a sub-5 minute mile and finish top five at state. She hopes she can be a part of 4x400 and 4x800 teams that break the school records.
Freshman Zia Fadil also showed her speed, winning the girls 1600 in 5:37.25 and the women’s 3200 in 12:01.6. Fadil is coming off a really good cross country season for a freshman, where she was one of Durango’s top-two runners in every meet, including when she was the top runner at the state meet. However, Fadil wasn’t satisfied with how she ran in the fall, so she’s especially motivated for track.
Fadil, the daughter of Durango’s cross country head coach Michael Fadil, has a versatile skill set on the track, ranging from the 400 to the 3200, but she’s primarily focused on the 800 and the 3200. Fadil is looking forward to improving throughout the year and making it to state in the 4x800 and 3200.
Senior Seb Tripp is an elite sprinter for the Demons with state experience. Tripp also starred on the Durango football team this fall as a wide receiver who showed his speed on numerous occasions, with long touchdown catches. Tripp finished second in the 100 in 11.57 behind Bayfield’s Ayden Casillas’ 11.32. Tripp also finished third in the 200 in 23.23. Casillas won that event in 22.67.
“I run the same, (as I do in football),” Tripp said. “During football, it's a little bit different; you're changing direction and stuff. I'd say my speed after my first track season, going into my sophomore year, just shot way up, and that was super helpful for football.”
After finishing 10th last year at state in the 100, Tripp wants to finish his athletic career as a Demon in the top five at state in the 100, preferably with a time around 10.8.
Elsewhere around the Durango Dust Off, junior George Preston took the win in the boys 400 in 53.57 over fellow Demon, freshman Tolman Farnsworth, in 54.72. Durango junior Jackson Fisher took the win in the boys 800 in 2:08.04 over junior teammate Rocco Enea, who ran 2:09.74.
Enea also won the boys 1600 in 4:40.84, followed by Durango sophomore teammate Caden Voss in 4:41.69. Voss was the best in the boys 3200, winning in 10:22.08.
After losing fantastic hurdler Xavier Sutherlin to graduation, Durango sophomore Torin Seale took the top step in the boys 110 hurdles in 17.73.
Preston also won the boys long jump with a mark of 19 feet and 6.50 inches. Oliver Clark won the boys shot put finals in 39-0.50.
On the girls’ side, Durango sophomore Hailey Tripp finished first in the 100 in 12.86 and first in the 200 in 27.09. Demons sophomore Maeve Daley won the 400 in 1:03.08. Senior Evie Morris is back for Durango and won the 100 hurdles in 17.93 and the 300 hurdles in 48.55. Demons senior Molly Bertrand won the girls long jump in 15-7.50, and Durango senior Aileen McManus won the girls triple jump in 33-11.75.
“We tell the kids right now that at all these meets leading up to the really important ones, we're not worried about place, we're worried about your performance; your time, your distance, your height,” Bertrand said. “So I'd rather her get last and do better than get first and then slower jump. So the fact that, you know, we're coming out early season, and she's (McManus) already almost PRed … that’s awesome.”
Senior Oshi Reider dominated the girls discus, winning by over 30 feet for the Demons with a throw of 110-10. Reider also won the girls shot put with a throw of 33-6
All of the Durango relay teams that competed dominated, and Bertrand sees them as some of Durango’s strongest competitors at the state level.
“The girls 4x800 team ran 10:02 today, but they’re going to run a lot faster than that,” Bertrand said. “They’ve got a chance at breaking our school record as we get more conditioned and faster … We’ve got three teams that could break school records on the girls’ side. Boys’ side, same thing.”
Durango will be competing in the Pine River Invitational on Friday at Bayfield High School.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
