Bayfield Track & Field began the 2016 season at Saturday's Piedra Vista-hosted Panther Invitational.
And junior Brian Mashak apparently couldn't leave fast enough, which was a good thing for the boys.
Laying down an 11.64-second pass in his first competition 100-meter dash this spring, Mashak's effort not only held up against 74 other entrants, but set a fine target at which his teammates could aim. And, in another good sign for the Wolverines, they finished strong. Gabe Kaufmann's 12.02 landed him in fourth when all was said and done, and Ryan Nava's 12.14 ended up sixth - making for a solid 11 team points out of BHS' seventh-place 28.
Individually, Wolverine junior Sam Westbrook resumed his outstanding athletic year by taking second in the shot, though his 43'10" best trailed M-CHS senior Victor Perez by a lengthy 5'6".
Westbrook's work netted five team points, while sophomore Ryan Phelps (seventh, 39'5") and freshman David Hawkins (eighth, 38'5") both closely missed scoring in the event. Westbrook was also second in the discus at 121'6", trailing only Bloomfield's Nathan Montenegro (124'5") and earning the Wolverines another five points. Phelps again wasn't far off from netting at least one, taking tenth at 102'1".
Sophomore hurdler Carl Heide also enjoyed an excellent debut meet, placing third in the 110m variety (16.74s) and sixth in the 300m sort (44.30), as well as fifth in the high jump (5'6") to bag BHS' other seven points.
Reed Merchant turned in a top-ten run in the 400, placing eighth in 58.49 seconds, as did Dax Snooks in both the high jump (T-10th, 5'2") and triple jump (10th, 34'9.5"), with Jesse Westbrook taking 12th (34'2"). Distance runner Alex Knight took 11th in the 800 (2:20.33), with Cody Speece finishing 14th (2:21.61) and Sloan Mazur 15th (2:22.04). Ethan Tate took 13th in the 200, clocking 26.31 seconds.
In relay action at the 16-team gathering, BHS' boys took seventh in the 4x200 (1:42.90) and ninth in the 4x400 (4:03.67), but were unfortunately disqualified in both the 4x100 and the medley.
Up next will be today's Center Viking Invitational out in the San Luis Valley.
FHS totaled 85 to edge in-town rival 5A PVHS (76.5) and fellow District 1-5A rival Aztec (71). 4A Montezuma-Cortez took fourth with 53.5, followed by 4A Kirtland (N.M.) Central with 49 and 4A Durango with 43. 2A Mancos (15), 4A Bloomfield (N.M.; 11), and 5A Gallup (N.M.; 6) followed Bayfield in the top 10.
