LAKEWOOD – On Saturday, Bayfield sophomore Tanner Neeley showed that Bayfield High School and Ignacio High School’s best track and field athletes can compete with the best in the state.
Booking the best result of either Pine River Valley school, Neeley wowed the crowd in the 3A boys high jump at the 2025 CHSAA Track & Field Championships. Neeley showed off in Jeffco Stadium in Lakewood with his best clearance of 6 feet, 7 inches. Intermountain League rival Troy Sowards of Centauri (La Jara) then passed three times at 6-08 before clearing 6-09 on his first try at the height. Forced to match the senior Falcon, Neeley then tried three times at 6-09 but came up empty and settled for second place.
Bayfield junior Zach Hufnagel had a good showing in the boys 3A pole vault. Hufnagel cleared the minimum 11-0 feet in one try, as well as the following 11-06 but struck out at 12-0 and ended up placing 13th. In the following 2A edition, Pontine managed to clear 11-03 on his first try, then 11-09 on his second before failing three times at 12-03 and ended up tying Lake County senior Jason Ayers and Rangely sophomore Kacey Allred for 11th place.
All told, Hufnagel’s effort helped BHS share (with Keenesburg Weld Central) 29th place in the 3A boys standings, while Pontine’s work helped IHS snag 17th in 2A. Leading the way for the Bobcats, junior Lincoln deKay placed third in the 110-meter hurdles (15.83 seconds) and seventh in the 300 hurdles (41.34); Cayson Burcham took fifth in the 800-meter run (1:59.99). The sophomore also ran 53.21 in the 400, but ranked 16th after the prelims and did not advance to the third-day final.
Ignacio’s stout 4x800 relay (junior James Martin, sophomore Thunder Windy Boy, junior Trace Crane, Burcham) clocked 8:29.06 and ended up placing fourth behind Limon (8:27.77), Peyton (8:16.92) and Hotchkiss North Fork (8:15.54).
BHS junior Ayden Casillas didn’t make it out of the first-day prelims in both the 100 (11.10 seconds, 14th place) and 200 (22.72, 12th) sprints, though his effort in the former broke his week-old school record by six hundredths. In the 4x100 relay, the Wolverines (freshman Colton Casillas, senior Will Kennedy-Jones, sophomore James Sandoval, Ayden Casillas) ran a 44.89 but ranked just 16th after the two qualifying heats.
On the girls’ side of things, Wolverine sophomore Vivien Clance didn’t make it out of either the 100 or 200 prelims as she posted 17th-place times (12.95, 26.65) in each. She also tied Broomfield Prospect Ridge Academy junior Elli Schmachtenberger for 16th in the high jump with a 4-09 best.
In the 3A girls shot put, BHS junior Delilah Zink managed a 31-02.5 best and placed 17th.
