Known for a smile visible from Ignacio to the 2A/1A San Juan Basin League’s farthest reaches, Lexy Young had every right to flash her pearly whites in celebration Thursday at the 2022 SJBL Track & Field Championships.
Competing for the last time on her home track, the Lady Bobcat senior achieved quite a feat as she swept all three sprints, nabbing 30 of IHS’ eventual 98-point total, which landed the meet-hosting girls in second place. Mancos (126) finished first, and Dove Creek (76), third.
Young won the 100-meter dash in 13.44 seconds, 0.03 ahead of Nucla’s Lisa Sutherland. Young took the 200 in 27.87, beating Dolores’ Akima Edwards by 1.16. To complete her solo trifecta, Young won the 400 by clocking 1:06.37, clipping sophomore teammate Maci Barnes’ runner-up 1:07.83.
Making her Senior Day all the more memorable, Young also ran a leg on Ignacio’s winning 800-meter medley relay – which also included Barnes, senior Alexis Pontine and sophomore Lauren deKay. The relay clocked 2:02.71 and beat DCHS by nearly five ticks.
Barnes took the 800-meter run in 2:39.84; deKay – eighth in the 800 (3:04.66) – almost matched that pace in the 1,600 with a fifth-place 6:53.95. The two would also place 1-2 in the pole vault, clearing 6 feet, 9 inches and 6-3, respectively.
As expected, Pontine scored big in the discus with a second-place 100-foot throw in the discus, just behind the 103-footer from Dove Creek’s Tara Glover. Pontine also had a third-place throw of 31-2.5 in the shot put, and also placed fourth in the 300-meter hurdles in 1:00.22.
Sophomore Kacey Brown finished seventh in the 1,600 (6:59.21) and ninth in the 800 (3:25.12).
Ignacio’s boys also finished second in the team standings, amassing 88 points and trailing only MHS (165), but with DCHS (85) a very close third place.
Senior Jeremy Roderick placed third in the discus with a best throw of 106-4 and added a personal-best in the shot put by heaving the heavy sphere a third-place 41-9. Seventh in both specialties, sophomore teammate Kyle Rima maxed out in the shot with a 31-7, and in the discus with a 97-3.
Versatile senior Tyler Barnes won the pole vault feature over fellow senior Deekon Gillespie, 9-6 to 6-3, and placed third in the 200 (25.25) by a fraction ahead of fourth-place teammate John Riepel (25.45). Barnes earned another third in the 400 (56.62), with Riepel (57.08) finishing fourth. The two also teamed up with sophomore Camron Cooper and freshman Kendrick Nossaman on the Bobcats’ third-place 4x200 relay (1:40.05).
Gillespie, Roderick, Rima and Nossaman comprised a 4x100 that placed fifth in 54.39 seconds.
Cooper took second in the 1,600 meters in 5:27.65, but was almost 30 ticks behind Mancos senior Edgar Hernandez’s conservative 4:58.98. Hernandez said he’d pursue MHS’ record at the next evening’s Pueblo Twilight meet. Crossing the line after only Blue Jay Connor Sehnert in the 800, Cooper copped the ’Cats another eight points with his 2:21.02.
Sophomore Corey Gomez crossed fifth in the 800 in 2:40.40, and classmate Trajan Garcia took seventh in 2:51.04. Gomez also ended up sixth in the 1,600 (5:53.06) with Garcia eighth (5:59.53).
Riepel, a junior, and Cooper placed sixth and seventh in the long jump, flying 17-5 and 17-3, respectively. Gillespie placed eighth in the 100 (13.31) while Nossaman placed ninth in the 200 (27.40).
Ignacio will next compete at 3A Pagosa Springs’ Terry Alley Invitational beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday.
2022 SJBL girlsstandings
1. Mancos, 126
2. Ignacio, 98
3. Dove Creek, 76
4. Nucla, 70
5. Dolores, 59
6. Telluride, 42
7. Ouray, 39
2022 SJBL boys standings
1. Mancos, 165
2. Ignacio, 88
3. Dove Creek, 85
4. Ouray, 73
5. Telluride, 26
6. Dolores, 11
7. Nucla, 8
Complete results at https://bit.ly/38YwZCa
