BY JIM THOMAS

Youth and inexperience will be the by-words early, but by the end of the season look out for the Montezuma-Cortez High School girls track and field team.

"We are really young. We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores. We will be green at the beginning of the year but by district time they will be competitive. They will get thrown into the lion’s den in a hurry," third-year head coach Doug Anderson said during a recent preseason practice.

There are 26 girls out and a few more will probably come out, according to Anderson.

"That’s pretty good numbers for us. That’s about as many as we have ever had," he remarked.

There are only two seniors listed so far on the team: Melissa Botswinnis and Brandi Benally.

The sprinting corps should be in good shape with veteran Gina West, Stefanie Allison, and Kendra Taylor among others. Most of the sprinters are sophomores and freshmen, according to Anderson.

A top weight person returning is Charlene Tipton, who placed at Regionals a year ago.

The distance runners have the most experience, according to Anderson. Julie Christenson, Hannah Mortensen, Benally, Krystal Begay, and Jessica Millican. Christenson placed at the district meet last year. The others all ran cross-country last fall.

"The middle distances look good, especially the 400 and 800 meters. We should do well there," Anderson commented. "That’s also where most of our numbers are right now."

Jumpers he is not sure about right now. He said it is too early to tell. Allison will probably high jump.

"We just started working on long jump and triple jump. They are still working on their steps. We are trying to find people who want to and who can do those jumps," he remarked.

Ashleigh Wilson is recovering from a stress fracture. She will compete in hurdles and some relays.

"We graduated five good seniors last year who scored a lot of points and ran a lot of events for us. So, we have a lot of young kids right now. But they will be good in a year or two. But right now we are starting at the bottom and we will work our way up," Anderson said.

The schedule looks pretty good with an interesting twist for the first meet of the year.

They will open with the Cortez Relays this Saturday, March 11, at Panther Stadium. The regular Cortez Invitational had to be cancelled.

A few days later the Panthers will compete at Durango on March 14. The indoor Round Valley Invitational in Springerville, Ariz., is set for March 17. Some competitors will be in Chandler, Ariz., while others will be Moab, Utah, on March 25. The Lions Club Invitational is set for April 8 in Grand Junction. A trip to the Window Rock (Ariz.) Invitational is set for April 14. Then it will be another return trip north to the Wildcat Relays hosted by Fruita-Monument but held in Grand Junction. The only jaunt into New Mexico will be the Aztec Invitational on April 29. Then it is back to Colorado for the Cheyenne Mountain Invitational in Colorado Springs on May 5.

Regionals is slated May 12-13 in Grand Junction. State is set for May 19-20 in Denver.

"It is a good schedule this year. It is a little bit different from last year. We are making a return visit to the Cheyenne Mountain Invitational which was canceled last season," he commented.

There is a new rule in Colorado which was passed recently by the Colorado High School Activities Association in which several meets will be designated as qualifying meets where the athletes need only to hit designated times, heights and distances in order to qualify. They don’t have to qualify only at Regionals as in past years. Certain criteria must be met in order for it to be a qualifier. Those meets are the Lions Club Invitational, Wildcat Relays, and Cheyenne Mountain.