Fort Lewis College track and field continued to set quality times in Albuquerque over the weekend with the New Mexico Team Open at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
The men’s and women’s track teams competed on Friday and Saturday against some great Division I and Division II competition. Division I teams like Texas A&M, Arizona State, Colorado State, Air Force and many others were there. Fellow Division II members of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference like CSU Pueblo and Adams State also competed against the Skyhawks.
“It makes you not really scared of anybody,” FLC cross country/track and field head coach Dalton Graham said. “We weren't going in winning events and things like that so it allows them to focus on your personal goals. But also not be afraid to race in-conference competition or race someone from one of the biggest schools in the country.”
Graham was happy with how the men’s team raced with how young the program is. He hopes the team can improve on its fifth-place standing in the conference right now at the conference championships on Feb. 28.
Senior Caden Resendez led the men’s team with a first-place finish in his section of the mile with a time of 4 minutes and 23.12 seconds. Behind him was freshman Andres Cura in second in 4:29.37. Freshman Cooper Filmore was in third in that section in 4:33.26.
Sophomore Zachary Gaumont finished second in the 200-meter Section 4 race in 22.03 and freshman Orlando Guevara finished third in the 200 Section 2 race in 22.44. Freshman Dante Solopaw finished third in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.83 seconds in the fourth heat.
In the 800, freshman Payton Whitehead finished third in the Section 4 race in 1:53.87. Freshman Brody Hubbard finished second in the Section 5 race in 1:55.82 and behind him in that race was graduate student Aaron Busche in third in 1:56.39. Freshman Rowan Robinson finished third in 2:03.65.
Hubbard, Whitehead, Resendez and senior Brady Burrough finished third in the distance medley in 10:15.28.
On the women’s side, freshman Addisyn Leeds led the way with a first-place finish in the Section 10 200 race in 25.98.
Junior Josie Coulter finished third in the 400 in 59.75; the 4x400 relay team of Coulter, juniors Claire Peterson and Taylor Rittman and freshman Janaya Mancell finished second in the Section 5 race in 4:01.59.
Softball opens season with 1-4 record after trip to California
The Fort Lewis College softball team opened its season with a 1-4 record after some tough competition on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the Concordia Kickoff Classic in Irvine, California.
FLC opened its season with a 3-2 loss to Dominican University of California in eight innings on Friday.
Dominican opened the scoring in the first inning and led 1-0. FLC responded in the sixth inning to tie the game at 1-1. The game went into extra innings with the game tied after seven innings. In the top of the eighth, Dominican scored twice and the Skyhawks could only counter with one run in the bottom of the eight.
Senior Alex Tenorio had a hit along with redshirt freshman Makenna Milliman and freshman Alyssa Fockler.
Redshirt junior Hailie Mann pitched that game for FLC; she allowed six hits, three runs and had one strikeout.
The Skyhawks continued their play on Friday and lost to Sonoma State 7-3. FLC fell behind 4-0 after three innings and couldn’t recover.
FLC got its first win of the season 5-2, against Vanguard University on Saturday. The Skyhawks got off to a 4-1 lead after the third inning and scored a fifth run in the seventh to seal the win.
Fockler finished the game with two runs and two hits. Sophomore Natalie Rodman also had two hits and a run for FLC.
Freshman Addison Gavigan pitched and allowed seven hits, two runs and had two strikeouts.
Arguably, FLC’s most impressive performance was against No. 15 CSU Dominguez Hills on Saturday. The Skyhawks took CSU Dominguez Hills to nine innings before falling 8-4.
CSU Dominguez Hills opened up the scoring in the second inning and took a 1-0 lead. FLC responded in the fourth to tie the game before CSU Dominguez Hills scored in the fifth to take a 2-1 lead. The Skyhawks tied the game in the sixth and the game went into extra innings.
Each team scored a run in the eighth before CSU Dominguez Hills exploded for five runs in the ninth to take the win.
Tenorio, freshman Rhiannon Lister, junior Cali Niccum and Milliman each had two hits in the win.
Freshman Chloe Padilla pitched and allowed seven hits and eight runs; she had five strikeouts.
The Skyhawks finished on Sunday with a 5-0 loss to Concordia University Irvine.
FLC has its home opener against MSU Denver on Feb. 15.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
