The annual Mancos Invitational Track and Field Meet takes the spotlight today, April 20.

All the San Juan League teams plus teams from Ignacio and Bayfield among others are expected to participate in the meet which begins at 9 a.m. at the MHS Track. Dolores, Dolores County and Mancos all competed the day before at the Pine River Invitational which was a State (Class 2A) qualifying meet.

"It should be a real good meet," MHS head coach Tim Dunham said. "We will see how well we match up against schools about our size. We have been in so many large meets going against large schools. It will be interesting to see how well they do after competing the day before at the Pine River Invitational in Ignacio."

The Panther boys and girls are coming off competing at the annual Window Rock Invitational at Fort Defiance, Ariz. The Panther boys won the meet with a school-record 274 points. Ganado, Ariz., came in a distant second at 143. Window Rock too third with 120, followed by Monument Valley, Ariz. 118, Dolores 109, Chinle, Ariz. 109, Tuba City, Ariz. 29, St. Michael, Ariz. 28, Pinon, Ariz. 24, and Red Mesa, Ariz. 7. The Cortez girls, meanwhile, came in third. Window Rock won with 256, Dolores came in second at 168. Cortez, Monument Valley (129) and Ganado (85) rounded out the top five.

MCHS head boys track coach Bob Archibeque said he was pleased that a lot of his charges placed.

"This was a real good meet for all our kids because so many of them placed," Archibeque reported. "This was one of those meets where we could get a lot of people participating and placing. This was a real good meet for our younger kids. It was a good opportunity for them to place and score."

Archibeque could only give places of his individuals as the official results were not available.

Levi Hill took fifth in 110-meter hurdles. Jeff Yarbrough captured third place in the 300 hurdles and Hill came in fifth.

Adam Williams won both the 100 and 200 dashes. Josh Lee placed third and Adam Herrmann seventh in the 100. Lee took third, and Jake Collett fifth and Alex Bustillo eighth in the 200.

The boys relay teams did well. The 4X100 and 4X400 both captured first place while the 4X800 took third. The 4X100 featured Williams, Lee, Herrmann, and Andrew Pearson while the 4X400 featured Williams, Ream, Herrmann, and Mortensen.

The Panthers did well in the field events as well. In the high jump, Yarbrough captured first, and Jerome Tryon second. Lee and Collett went one-two, respectively, in the long jump. Collett won the triple jump, Jeff Anderson grabbed fourth, and Tryon eighth place. Herman took fourth, Pearson sixth, and Brian Balfour eighth in the shot put. Colin Tansey came in third, Derique Duran fifth, and Pearson eighth in the discus.

In the 400, Collett won and Bustillo finished sixth. The 800 saw Charlie Ream take second and Josh Mortensen place fourth.

The Panther girls also did well.

Stefanie Allison captured first in the high jump with a leap of 4 feet, 10 inches. Christina Tilton grabbed third in the discus with a toss of 91-7. Tilton also came in fifth in the shot put with a toss of 29-8 and teammate Misty Williams placed seventh with a throw of 28-8.

Allison won the 200 with a personal record of 27.9 seconds. Marie DeBolt came in fourth in 29.4 and Tessa Haukeness sixth in 30.4. Julie Christenson captured third in the 800 run in 2 minutes, 40.4 seconds. DeBolt took fourth in the 100 in 13.88 and Haukeness seventh in 14.3. Allison made another PR in the 400 with a clocking of 63.7.

Ashleigh Wilson captured second in the 100 hurdles in 18.3 while Kendra Taylor placed right behind her in 19.3 and Dawn Keck grabbed seventh in 19.9. Wilson captured fourth in 56.35 and Taylor fifth in 57.40 in the 300 hurdles.

The 4X400 relay team of Krystal Begay, Christenson, Allison, and DeBolt crossed the line in second in 4:34.0. The 4X100 relay squad of Taylor, Keck, Gina West, and Haukeness took third in 55.7. In a non-scoring relay, Danielle Ouellette, Williams, Caitlin Klaxton, and Tilton came in third in the weightman’s relay.

"I thought the meet went very well for us," MCHS head coach Doug Anderson said. "It was very dirty and windy at times. Stefanie did well in making PRs in both the 200 and 400. The hurdlers did well considering the wind. I thought the young ones also ran well. They all had a pretty good day."

Dolores girls had another good meet and the Bears held their own against some larger schools at the Window Rock meet.

Jennifer Trevillian continues to be impressive. She won the 100 dash with a clocking of 13.29 and she finished second in the 200. Tegan Brown finished eighth in the 300 hurdles in 58.80. Joni Everett won the 800 in 2:37. Tracy Everett finished seventh in the 1600.

Kayla Erickson threw a personal best toss of 86-7 in the discus which was good for fifth. Alix Skala finished fourth in the shot with her throw of 29-9 1/4. Daisy Ragland came in first in the long jump with a leap of 15-4 1/2 and she took third in the 200. Joni Everett finished fourth in the long jump.

The girls 4X100 relay unit of Ragland, Melissa Pellogrom, Sheena Burns and Trevillian placed second in 55.33. The 4X800 relay team came in fifth. The 4X800 placed third.

The DHS boys also had some impressive finishes.

The 4X800 relay team came in fifth. The 4X100 relay squad of Casey Garvin, Cody Beaver, Dustin Gilstrap, and Levi Frye crossed the finish in second in 48.03. The 4X400 relay placed third.