It was a good opening track and field meet for the Montezuma-Cortez High School boys and girls teams. They hosted the first Cortez Relays on Saturday, March 11, at Panther Stadium.

The boys placed second behind Central of Grand Junction and just ahead of Bloomfield, N.M., out of a field of eight teams. The girls finished third, only five points out of second-place behind Central. Bloomfield won the meet going away. Also competing in the meet were Palisade, Montrose, Piedra Vista (Farmington, N.M.), and Chinle and Window Rock, Ariz.

"We ended up dropping a baton on a relay which probably cost us the meet," MCHS head coach Bob Archibeque said. "Early in the season we are going to have those kind of mistakes and our kids learn from it. That happened on our best relay team of the day. We ended up dropping it on the third exchange with about a 16-yard lead of the 4X100."

Everything was relays, or in the case of the field events, counted as relays with the top placers counted.

The Panther discus team finished third with the best throw Colin Tansey of 127 feet. In the high jump, Jeff Yarbrough cleared 5 feet, 10 inches and they finished second as a relay team. The long jump was a good one with Josh Lee leaping 19-2 1/2, Adam Williams 19-3 1/2, and Jerome Tryon 15-11 for first place. Jake Collett triple jumped 40-0 1/4 and as a team finished third. The 110-hurdle relay saw the team finish third with A.J. Herrmann doing the best at 19.3 seconds. The 300-meter hurdle relay saw Levi Hill turn in a clocking of 47.5 while the squad took third.

The 4X800 relay team of Walt Pape, Herrmann, Charlie Ream and Josh Mortensen finished sixth. The 4X200 relay squad of Collett, Lee, Adam Williams, Andrew Pearson took third with a time of 1 minute, 33.5 seconds. The 1600 relay team of Josh Mortensen, Nate Foster, Pape, and Ream took fourth place. The 1600 medley relay of Foster, Pape, Tryon, and Mortensen captured first. The team mile race (first place taking lowest score) came in sixth.

The shot put relay saw Pearson throw 40-7 and the team place third. The 800 medley squad of Yarbrough, Lee, Williams and Collett took first place in 43 seconds.

"It was a good way to start the season," Archibeque noted.

The girls also did well, according to head coach Doug Anderson.

"I thought they did real well. We came in third place," he reported.

The 4X200 relay team of Marie DeBolt, Gina West, Tessa Haukeness, and Stefanie Allison won in 1:57.7. The 1600 medley relay of DeBolt, West, Allison, and Julie Christenson also won in 4:44.3.

The 800 medley squad of DeBolt, West, Allison, and Christenson came in second in 2:04.6. The high jump relay took third with Allison jumping 4-feet-8. The 100 hurdles team also did well with Kendra Taylor and Dawn Keck leading the way. The 4X100 relay team of Taylor, Keck, Haukeness, and Marina Lippus placed third with a clocking of 55.6. The shot put relay unit placed fourth with Charlene Tilton tossing it 30-2 1/2. The mile relay team of Hannah Mortensen, Jessica Millican, Holly Smith, and Carrie Clay captured fourth.