The 2026 Colorado High School Track & Field State Championships finished on Saturday, and Durango High School’s track and field team came home with several top-five finishes and two school records.
“We scored points in all different areas of track and field,” said DHS track head coach Johnny Bertrand. “We got points from the throws, points from the jumps, points from the hurdles, points from the distance. So we had a strong team overall with being able to score points in all of those areas.”
Durango’s girls team scored 24 points to place 13th out of 41 teams, their best state finish since 2022. The boys scored 13.5 points to place 20th out of 41 teams, tying their best result since 2022. Niwot’s boys won the team title with 111.5 points and Niwot’s girls team won the team title with 95 points.
The Durango girls 4x200 school record was broken by the quartet of freshman Karleigh Kinn, sophomore Teagan Kroeger, senior Juliana McKown and sophomore Hailey Tripp. Their time of 1 minute, 43.43 seconds shattered the previous school record, earning them fifth place as the 10th seed and points for their team. The top nine finishers in each event (out of 18 competitors) earn a podium finish and score points.
Durango’s 300 hurdles record was broken by senior Evie Morris. Her time of 44.82 in prelims was enough to break the 30-year-old record and qualify her for finals. In finals, she ran a 45.55, placing sixth.
Morris was the star of the meet for DHS, competing in four events and earning podiums in three of them. She also helped Durango qualify a male and female hurdler for state for the first time since 2002 (DHS junior Rashad Reece finished 15th in the 110 hurdles with a 16.18).
“She's a hard worker, so she's put in the work this year to be able to (run four different events) do that,” Bertrand said. “She's coached really well in the hurdles and in the sprints. She works on her speed, she works on her hurdles … when we do the workouts, she runs them hard, which sets her up to be able to run an 800.”
Morris’ other three events were the 100 hurdles, the 4x400 and the 4x800. She took home sixth in the 100 hurdles as the 11th seed with a time of 15.36. Morris, junior Lacy Ruggiero, sophomore Maeve Daley and freshman Zia Fadil came into the 4x800 ranked 16th. They ran 10 seconds faster than their seed time, finishing in seventh with a time of 9:41.88. Morris, Daley, Kroeger and senior Molly Bertrand finished 12th in the 4x400 with a time of 4:05.35.
“Good training and just good runners,” Bertrand said when asked what allowed Durango’s 4x800 to move up so much. “They executed their races just like they were supposed to … We thought they'd be ranked a little higher (but) it's been fast this year to get into state. We knew they had a great chance at making the podium … We're just glad they went out there, they did their jobs and got up on there.”
The highest-placing Durango athlete was senior thrower Owen Cheatham, who took home third place in the discus. His throw of 165 feet, six inches was a massive personal best, as he came into the event seeded at 10th with a mark of 153-08.
Cheatham avenged his fourth-place finish last year, where he was in third for the majority of the competition. His achievement was even sweeter because he had shoulder surgery in the fall. The Durango coaches were unsure if Cheatham would even be able to throw this year and he competed sparingly this season until state.
Fellow senior thrower Oshi Reider also earned a podium finish for the Demons. Her discus throw of 115-10 was good for seventh, outplacing her No. 9 seed. Reider also placed 11th in shot put with a throw of 34-7 3/4.
Perhaps the DHS boys 4x400 team was watching the success of the girls relays and wanted in on some of the action. The team of freshman Tolman Farnsworth, sophomore Josiah Garcia-Ward, senior Seb Tripp and junior George Preston came into the event seeded 11th with a time of 3:25.17. They ran a new season-best of 3:23.71 to make finals as the ninth and final qualifier, but weren’t done there. They ran another season best, clocking a 3:21.29 to secure a fourth-place finish.
“That's the third-fastest time ever run by a Durango High School team,” Bertrand said about the 4x400 squad. “It was an awesome race to watch. We told them, ‘You guys are going to run 3:23 in prelims,’ and they ran 3:23. We told them, ‘You guys are going to have to run 3:21 or faster (in finals) if you want to move up.’ And they did.”
Rounding out Durango’s top-five finishers is senior Aileen McManus, who jumped 36-03 in the triple jump to take fifth as the ninth seed. McManus improved on her performance from last year, when she finished 12th with a jump of 34-02.
“She was able to step up and get a personal record at state, which is what we always want,” Bertrand said. “She’s worked really hard on all aspects of her track and field this year and it was so good to see her get that fifth-place finish.”
Durango had one more podium finisher in senior pole vaulter Grant Gordon. Gordon finished ninth with a vault of 13-11. Gordon improved on his place and vault from last year, as he took 10th last year with a vault of 13-01.
“State always has its ups and downs and I’m thankful for us that we had more ups than downs this year,” Bertrand said. “The kids that went to state, they really grew. You could really see them bonding and growing as a family. Especially our seniors this year, it's going to be hard to say goodbye to them … They are a special group of kids and they are really going to be missed.”
The Demons will be losing several solid contributors to this year’s state squad. The throwers will sorely miss Cheatham and Reider, who have steadily improved since their sophomore years and become staples of the team as a whole. The sprinters will lose Tripp and McKown, who have been members of the sprint relays for years.
Morris’ versatility will be a big loss for the hurdle squads and mid-distance events. Gordon is another key member of the sprint relays, along with being the Demons’ top pole vaulter for the past few years.
However, Durango should feel very optimistic about the years ahead. Fadil is only a freshman and has three years to mature and grow as a member of the DHS distance team. The same is true of Farnsworth. Bertrand said the girls relays are ‘stacked’ for the next few years with the youth they have. The boys relays will also be returning the majority of their members next year. The Demons will have a very large senior class next year, and if this year’s senior class is any indication, that group is poised to be very strong.
ajbonanno@durangoherald.com
