Local high school track and field athletes had one last chance to qualify for their classification’s state meets over the weekend.
Durango split its squad between the St. Vrain Invite in Longmont and the Tiger Invitational in Grand Junction. Bayfield and Ignacio were at the Last Chance Meet at Monte Vista. The area teams had impressive weekends and will send an army of competitors to represent their schools at next weekend’s state championships.
Bayfield’s boys and girls teams won the Last Chance Meet. The boys’ total of 101.5 put the Wolverines well ahead of second-place Monte Vista’s total of 78.5.
BHS was led by a school-record performance from the 4x200 relay team. Dylan Hilliker, Wyatt Killinen, Gus Roberts and Ethan Tate ran a time of 1:32.11 in the historic first-place effort. Carl Heide’s 15.91 time in the 110-meter hurdles gave him another win and Dax Snooks also found himself on the podium with a third-place time of 16.19. Snooks also placed fourth in the 300 hurdles in 43.71.
David Hawkins was second in the shot put with a throw of 44 feet, 1 inch, while Killinen was fourth with 43-1. Hunter Killough also brought home second-place with 131-6 in the discus throw and Tate was second in the 200-meter dash finishing in 23.67. Cody Speece took third in the 800-meter run (2:08.08) and Roberts was third in the 400 (53.17).
The BHS girls have blown away the competition all season long and Saturday was no different.
The Wolverines’ 147 points bested second-place Alamosa by 21 and third-place Crested Butte by a whopping 88 points.
Jordan Lanning broke her own school record with 15.55 in the 100-meter hurdles. Amber Johnson took second place with a time of 15.60. Lanning also won the triple jump (35-10), while Johnson won the 100-meter dash in 12.93 and the 300 hurdles in 47.68.
Bridget Goddard won with a 2:28.84 800-meter run time and took first again with 800 sprint medley relay teammates Claire Belmear, Tymbree Florian and Maddi Foutz. The same four runners also took second in the 4x200 in 1:51.68. Tiarra Christensen was second in the discus throw (99-6). Mikayla Barnes was second in the shot put with a throw of 34-0 and Christensen was fifth with 31-10.
Abby Scott led DHS with fifth-place personal-best time of 2:18.84 in the St. Vrain 800-meter run. Freshman Madeleine Burns had a personal record in the 1,600 and finished 10th with a time of 5:15.08.
The boys had two top-10 finishers in the St. Vrain 1,600 as Harry Steinberg’s time of 4:28.33 earned the senior seventh place and Aidan Fitzgerald took 10th in 4:29.57.
The rest of the DHS squads were at the Tiger Invitational.
Jessica Lee won the pole vault and broke her own school record with a mark of 10-0. Teagan Garand took first place in the 200 crossing in 27.06 and Cassandra Blau’s 27.60 was third. Kathleen Duft earned first place in the 300 hurdles with a DHS school-record time of 49.69. Duft was also second in the 100 hurdles finishing in 17.21.
Freshman Emma Fitzgerald won the 800 in 2:19.17 and sophomore Bekah Moenning took fifth with a time of 2:21.47. The Demons’ 4x200 team also came away with a win (1:49.51) and the 800 sprint medley relay team won in 1:52.54.
Lana Razma finished second in the long jump with a leap of 16-1.25. Alex Poulter was second (35-8.5) and Azalea Santillan was third (35-1.5) in the shot put. Santillan also took eighth in the discus with a throw of 100-7. Alyssa McConnell was fourth in the high jump with a clear of 4-1.
The Demons’ boys had a successful weekend as well. Aiden Urban took first place in the 800 with a personal record time of 1:58.04 and Coltin Gallegos was third in 2:03.59. The DHS 4x400 team of Camden Garland, Alex Hise, Paxton Scott and Urban won with a time of 3:29.35. The 4x100 relay team finished third.
Hise finished fifth in the long jump with a personal best leap of 20-6. Logan Moore was the top freshman in the 1,600 finals and took 11th with a time of 4:52.49. Dylan Baken finished fifth in the pole vault competition with a personal record of 11-7. Chandler Schneider finished eighth in the shot put with a throw of 41-11.
The Bobcats’ boys finished 15th at the Last Chance Invite. Bryan Gram finished seventh in the 200 (24.14) and 11th in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.13. Esteban Romero was eighth in the 400 (55.51) and 17th in the 100 finihsing in 12.49.
Elco Garcia finished third in the 3,200 with a time of 11:07.83. Natino Cundiff was fourth in the discus event with a throw 122-10. Cundiff also placed ninth in the shot put.
The Bobcats girls team was led by Jaylynn Herrera’s seventh-place 400-meter dash time of 1:07.83. She also finished 10th in the 200 (28.92). Kiana Valdez also finished ninth in the high jump with a clear of 4-6.5.
Cundiff (discus), Garcia (3,200) and Gram (400-meter dash) will represent IHS at the 2A state meet.
Next up for both schools is the Colorado High School Activities Association State Track and Field Meet, Thursday through Saturday, at the Jefferson County Stadium in Lakewood.
State qualifiers
Durango High School
Boys: Aidan Fitzgerald (1,600, 4x800); Marcus Flint (alternate); Coltin Gallegos (4x800); Camden Garland (pole vault); Alex Hise (100); Corbin Lyman (Team Captain); Paxton Scott (Team Captain); Harry Steinberg (1,600, 3,200, 4x800); Aiden Urban (800, 4x800)
Girls: Madeleine Burns (1,600, 3,200, 4x800); Kathleen Duft (alternate); Emma Fitzgerald (800, 4x400, 4x800); Teagan Garand (400, 4x400); Jessica Lee (pole vault); Bekah Moenning (4x400, 4x800); Alex Poulter (shot put); Lana Razma (long jump, triple jump); Azalea Santillan (shot put); Abby Scott (800, 4x400, 4x800); Anna Smagacz (alternate)
Bayfield High School
Boys: Briant Cuellar (alternate); Colton Fine (pole vault); Dawson French (pole vault); Carl Heide (110 hurdles, 300 hurdles, 4x400, 4x100); Dylan Hilliker (4x100, 4x200); Wyatt Killinen (shot put, 4x100); Alex Knight (4x800); Brian Mashak (100, 200); Sloan Mazur (800, 4x400, 4x800); Ryan Phelps (shot put, discus); Gus Roberts (4x200, 4x400); Jackson Sibley (4x800); Dax Snooks (110 hurdles); Cody Speece (4x400, 4x800); Ethan Tate (4x200); Sam Westbrook (shot put, discus); Chad Winkler (pole vault)
Girls: Mikayla Barnes (shot put, discus); Emily Bauer (pole vault); Claire Belmear (sprint medley); Tymbree Florian (4x400, sprint medley); Maddi Foutz (pole vault, 4x400, sprint medley); Bridget Goddard (4x400, sprint medley); Isis Gonzales (4x400); Amber Johnson (100 hurdles, 300 hurdles, 200, 400); Jordan Lanning (100 hurdles, high jump, long jump, triple jump)
