Much like mountaineering in Colorado, a "fourteener" is always a target in prep pole-vaulting.
Michael Voss had been climbing towards such a height in competitions all spring long. With the season's window of opportunity rapidly closing-like a storm shrouding a summit in the San Juans-he had come up short of his personal goal, despite numerous top-three placings.
On May 1, the Bayfield senior came up quick to his pole's plant point, saw the bar come into view on his ascent, and conquered four qualifying challengers in attendance with a new p.r. of 14 feet, zero inches.
The event was held inside Wolverine Country Stadium as Pagosa Springs, hosting its annual Terry Alley Invitational, lacked the equipment to stage the event.
2A Ignacio senior Davey Cooper took second with an 11'6" best, and classmate Blaine Mickey was third at 9'6", ahead of BHS' Chad Winkler (9'6") and Alamosa's Aaron Martinez (9'0").
And things would only get better for the BHS boys en route to a first-place team finish at the district meet.
With the Pagosa meet drawing in all the Intermountain League schools (AHS' boys took second and Monte Vista's third), the Wolverines looked to seize every chance to shine against their rivals. They recorded several more outstanding individual efforts-including sprinter Brian Mashak's 100 and 200 sweep, registered in 11.63 and 23.43 seconds, respectively, when the tournament recommenced last Saturday at Pagosa.
Bayfield's 4x100-meter and 4x200 relays also flew around the track to first-place status, with the former quartet doing so in 44.21 seconds and the latter in 94.05.
Pacing the faster second of two 110m-hurdle heats, Carl Heide's 16.70 nipped both 2A Telluride's Isaiah Calhoun (16.71) and BHS teammate Brady Fields (16.77) in a practical photo-finish. Fields then went on to take third place (41.68s) in the 300m hurdles and Heide (44.03) fifth, behind the winning 39.87 of 3A Buena Vista's Cooper Eggleston.
Senior Conner Kennedy captured the long jump title with a 19'10" best, almost ten full inches farther than MVHS' Mario Sierra (19'0.25"), and took second overall in the high jump at 5'11" after needing more tries at the height than 1A Ouray's Caleb Preston.
Seniors Aubry Brown and Blane Barnes went 1-2 in the shot put at 44'10" and 42'1" respectively, with classmate Zane Westbrook (37'7.75") a close fourth. The 400-meter dash was also strong for the Wolverines, with Gus Roberts taking third in 53.73 ticks, Gabe Kaufmann sixth in 54.38 and Ethan Tate seventh in 54.60.
Youngsters Alex Knight (fourth, 2:09.32) and Sloan Mazur (seventh, 2:14.98) showed well in the 800, and BHS' 4x8 (sixth, 9:32.27) and 4x4 (tenth, 3:50.82) relays also garnered top-10 distinction.
But the ultimate moment came when Brown's best throw of the discus crash-landed into history.
Brown trumped the district record with an amazing 166-foot, 10-inch launch, and nobody else came within 30 feet. Barnes was sixth place with a 118'1" maximum throw.
BOYS' TEAM STANDINGS: 1.BAYFIELD 157, 2.Alamosa 112.5, 3.Monte Vista 67.5, 4.Buena Vista 46, 5.Telluride 39.5, 6.Sanford 37.5, 7.Ouray 32 8.Mosca Sangre de Cristo 30, 9) Pagosa Springs 28.5, 10.Center 27, 11.Crested Butte Community 26, 12.Del Norte 24, 13.IGNACIO 19, 14.Dolores 17.5, 15.La Jara Centauri 13, 16.Sargent 9, 17.Mancos 5, 18.Nucla 3, 19.Dove Creek 2.
GIRLS' TEAM STANDINGS: 1.Alamosa 164, 2.BAYFIELD 77, 3.Pagosa Springs 68, 4.Buena Vista 55, 5.Mosca Sangre de Cristo 54, 6.Telluride 50, 7.Dolores 45, 8.Crested Butte Community 41, 9.Sargent 28.5, 10.Del Norte 27, 11.La Jara Centauri 19, 12.Center 18.5, 13.Ouray 18, 14.Monte Vista 16, 15.IGNACIO 13, 16.Mancos 10, 17.Dove Creek 9, 18.Sanford 8.
