The Durango High School track and field team is feeling confident heading into the home stretch of the season after both boys and girls teams finished second in the Multi-League Championship Meet on Saturday at Stoker Stadium in Grand Junction, which also featured the 5A/4A Southwestern League Championships.
The boys team title went to Glenwood Springs, which finished with 187 points, Vail Christian was second with 136 and Eagle Valley was third with 130. In the SWL meet, Grand Junction won the team title by just eight points over the Demons, as the Tigers wrapped up the meet with 96 points and took sixth, DHS was second with 88, which was eighth and Fruita Monument was third with 86 and ninth overall.
Battle Mountain won the event on the girls side with 162 points, Eagle Valley was second with 146 and Paonia was third with 128.60. In conference, Fruita Monument won the crown with 108.50 points, sixth overall. DHS was second with 100.50, or seventh, while Montrose took third in league with 87, an eighth-place finish.
“We had a great day today, and there was a lot to be happy about even though we didn’t get the team title,” said DHS head coach Johnny Bertrand. “Bekah Moenning set a new school record in the 400, we qualified some more boys in the 1,600, Luke Tichi, Noah Bodewes and Marcus Flint all ran really well, Madeleine Burns ran a (personal record) in the 1,600, so it was just all around a great day. We had a lot of wins, first-place or second-place finishes, and with a lot of kids being gone for prom, it was a really good team effort. We had a lot of young kids step up to score us a lot of points in a lot of different areas.”
Moenning’s new record in the 400 stands at 57.76 seconds, after she won the event over a Montrose runner. Burns won the 1,600 by over 13 seconds, after she finished with time of 5-minutes, 2.21-seconds. Kayleigh Frazer took fourth in the 3,200 with a 12:05.74. In the sprinting events, Cassandra Blau took second in the 100-meter dash, after she ran a 12.75, while she also finished second in the 200 (26.75).
In the field events, Alyssa McConnell won the high jump with a height of 5-feet, 4-inches, and Kenna Patcheck took fourth in the long jump with a 14-02.
Aidan Fitzgerald set a new personal best in the 800 in 1:55.90, while the Demons had the top-three finishers in the 1,600 with Luke Tichi winning (4:21.52), Noah Bodewes was second (4:26.59) and Marcus Flint was third (4:26.60).
Alex Hise won the long jump with a 21-11, and Levi Tichi won the pole vault with a 10-0.
Durango will compete at the Grand Junction Tiger Invitational on Friday at Stoker Stadium.
It was a strong finish on Saturday for the Bayfield High School track and field teams, as the girls achieved a top-five team finish, while the boys took 12th at the Doherty Spartan Invitational in Colorado Springs.
Jordan Lanning cruised to wins in the 100-meter hurdles (14.82) and 300-hurdles (45.24), and also had a great day in field events and won the high jump (5-07) and long jump (18-03.50).
Other highlights included Mikayla Barnes, who took seventh in the discus throw (110-02) and was sixth in the shot put (35-1.5).
Overall, Grandview won the girls team title with 126 points, Palmer Ridge was second with 72 and Elizabeth was third with 70. Bayfield finished tied for fifth with 45 points. On the boys side, the hosts, Doherty, won with 84.5 points, Grandview took second with 71 while Air Academy was third with 49. The Wolverines finished in 12th with 23.5 points.
On the boys side, David Hawkins picked up yet another win in the shot put after he thew 53-feet to win, and had the best mark by nearly eight feet. Josh Kaufmann took third in the discus with a throw of 136-3. On the track, Zeb Shields was the Wolverines’ highest finisher after he took ninth in the 800 (2:06.88).
The Wolverines will compete at the Last Chance Meet at Monte Vista High School on Saturday.
Elco Garcia has long been gunning for Ignacio High School records in both track and cross-country. Garcia outdid even himself on Saturday at the 61st Bloomfield Invitational in Bloomfield, New Mexico, when he broke a 36-year-old record, with a 10:35.58 in the 3,200 for a new school record.
Garcia had a podium finish in all three long-distance events he competed in, as he finished in fourth in the 1,600 (4:42.48), fifth in the 3,200 and sixth in the 800 (2:11.41). He highlighted a solid day for the boys long-distance runners, as Jonas Nanaeto finished in sixth in the 3,200 (10:40.75).
Kirtland Central won the men’s title with 84 points, Piedra Vista was second with 59.5 and Bloomfield was third with 57. The Bobcats finished in 10th with 11 points. On the girls side, Piedra Vista won with 92 points, Farmington was second with 62 and Kirtland Central was third with 71. Ignacio finished in 12th with two points.
On the girls side, Lexy Young finished in fifth in the 200 (28.03). She was the lone top-10 finisher for the girls team.
Jason Hampton-Foutz took fifth in the pole vault after he vaulted to a 10-06.
The Bobcats will finish the regular season at the Grand Junction Tiger Invitational on Friday at Stoker Stadium.
bploen@durangoherald.com
