A small Ignacio High School track and field team shrunk once more.
The Bobcats qualified six athletes for the CHSAA Class 2A state track and field championships, which start Thursday in Lakewood.
That’s a smaller squad than IHS head coach Tony Kimball hoped to bring.
“We had some key injures and didn’t sneak our relay teams in like we were hoping,” he said. “This is kind of the six we were expecting up here.”
Four of the six have seen this stage before, led by three-time qualifier Chrystianne Valdez.
She’ll compete in the pole vault, where she is the No. 9 seed.
Senior long jumper Sky Cotton, the No. 11 seed, will make her return to state after missing last season with the same injury that cut short her junior basketball campaign.
“She’s had a lot of better jumps this season than her seed mark,” Kimball said. “They’ve all been above the legal wind reading. Wind readings don’t matter at the state meet. We’re excited to see what she can go out and do.”
Mike Perez in the 400-meter dash and Tyler Riepel in the pole vault are the Bobcats’ other two returners.
David Cooper in the pole vault and Kyle Bailey in the high jump are Ignacio’s two newbees.
“Davey Cooper has only had two meets he’s actually competed in,” Kimball said. “We’re not 100 percent sure what he can do in the pole vault.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
