Over the weekend, Durango High School’s track and field team had a strong showing at the 85th Annual Chandler Rotary Invitational in Chandler, Arizona. Several Demons earned top-10 finishes.
The Chandler Rotary featured over 160 high schools from across the southwestern U.S. and as far away as California, Texas and Idaho. It’s the biggest meet the Demons will compete in before state. Because of the size of the meet, athletes are put into different classifications based on how they are seeded. The top athletes are put into the elite competitions, with the next group in the Saturday varsity field and the remaining athletes in the Friday varsity competition.
The top DHS performance was the girls 4x800 meter relay, composed of sophomore Lacy Ruggiero, senior Sofia Voss, junior Evie Morris and senior Ayumi Lambert. In the elite heat, the Demon girls took second overall by less than a second, out of 18 teams, running a time of nine minutes, 53.32 seconds. The first place team was Waddell, Arizona’s Canyon View High School, finishing in 9:52.56.
Lambert and Voss were proud to be a part of a fun and talented 4x800 squad for Durango.
Durango sophomore sprinter Mason Miller had a strong day, finishing ninth out of 135 athletes in the Friday varsity 100, running an 11.19. He also took 10th out of 104 athletes in the Friday 200 with a 22.70. Senior and fellow sprinter Malakai Baier also took fifth out of 109 athletes in the Friday varsity 400 with a 51.66.
Senior Xavier Sutherlin earned a bronze medal out of 57 hurdlers in the Friday varsity 300 hurdles for the Demons, finishing with a 41.94, while Durango senior Luke Swenk took sixth out of 59 runners in the Saturday varsity 3,200, running 9:30.7.
Durango junior hurdler/jumper Aileen McManus won the Saturday varsity triple jump out of 30 hurdlers with a leap of 33 feet, 10.75 inches. McManus also took ninth out of 47 hurdlers in the Friday 100 hurdles in 17.88 and finished 15th out of 48 in the varsity 300 hurdles, running a 52.26. Morris also ran a 49.95 to take 14th out of 29 in the 300 hurdles in the Saturday varsity competition.
Along with Morris, Voss took 15th out of 108 runners in the Friday 400, running a time of 1:02.93. Ruggiero finished 15th out of 42 in the elite 800 with 2:24.96 and 10th out of 37 in the elite 1600 with a time of 5:11.39.
“We told the kids this was like a business trip,” said DHS track and field head coach Johnny Bertrand. “That's what we came down here for, is to get PRs, good performances, and that's what we're doing. In the next couple of weeks, we're going to start throwing some relays together and then start getting some times on our state rankings and start seeing where we're at compared to the rest of 4A … I'm excited for how this season is starting.”
Next week, some Durango athletes will travel to Stocker Stadium in Grand Junction for the Mickey Dunn Invitational, which begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday. The rest of the team is headed to Bayfield for the Bayfield Invitational #2, beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday.
