AZTEC, N.M. — The area prep track and field team members are putting the polish on their respective events.

The Bears, the Bulldogs, and the Blue Jays will join Telluride, Norwood and Nucla at the San Juan League Track and Field Championships this Saturday, May 6, at Panther Stadium in Cortez. The Panthers will compete at the rugged Cheyenne Mountain Invitational in Colorado Springs. The San Juan League meet is not a State qualifying meet but the Cheyenne Invitational is a qualifying meet.

Track powerhouse Mullen plus other Front Range schools such as Sierra, host Cheyenne Mountain, and many other Colorado Springs, Denver, and Pueblo area schools.

"This is a huge meet," MCHS girls head coach Doug Anderson said. "There will be 10 4A and 10 5A schools there. I don’t know how well we will do, but it should be enlightening. We are still young and we haven’t gotten any older. But their times are coming down and that’s all we ask for."

MCHS boys head coach Bob Archibeque said it will be a good chance to see what’s on the other side of the mountain.

"This is our only time we get to see athletes from the Front Range. This gives us a good idea of what we will be facing at State in a couple more weeks," he commented.

As for the San Juan League Meet, Mancos coach Tim Dunham said it will be a nice change in that his team will be able to compete against schools at Mancos’ own level.

"It will be nice to compete in track meet against schools our level," Mancos head coach Tim Dunham said. "This will be a good meet before Regionals. Unfortunately, this will not be a State qualifying meet. We will basically be seeing who is the best in our league. Since this is our last meet, I will use as many kids as possible. I want to give the younger ones a shot.

"They are coming along. I see improvement from week to week and that’s all you can ask of them. We’re getting them ready for Regionals."

These two track meets are the final tuneups for Regionals, set for May 12-13 at Stocker Stadium in Grand Junction. The top three individual placers at that meet automatically qualify for State, set May 19-20. The Class 4A meet will be at Jefferson County Stadium in Lakewood while the Class 2A meet will be at Dutch Clark Stadium in Pueblo.

Dolores, Dolores County, Mancos, and Montezuma-Cortez high schools all competed at the Aztec Invitational at Tiger Stadium. Many other teams from throughout the area also participated. In the boys’ division, host Aztec won with 84 points while Kirtland-Central finished a close second with 75. Cortez took third with 73, and the Panthers were followed by Bloomfield 48, Farmington 42, Mancos and Piedra Vista (Farmington) 36, Shiprock 33, Dolores 20, and Dolores County, Norwood, and Silverton did not score. In the girls’ bracket, Farmington blew away the field with 115 points. The Scorpions were followed by Kirtland with 73, Bloomfield 52, Aztec 49, Dolores 48, Mancos 41, Cortez 34, Shiprock 16, Piedra Vista 14, Norwood 9, Dove Creek 1, and Silverton 0.

"I expected it to be a three-team race and it was," Archibeque said. "We knew going in that Aztec and Kirtland had good teams. I thought it was a good meet, well run."

The area boys had some placers in the field events. A.J. Herman of Cortez finished fourth in the shot put with an effort of 43-feet, 8 1/4 inches. Panther Colin Tansey placed sixth in the discus with a toss of 127-2. Travis Clark of Mancos took third with a toss of 130-7. Mancos’ Gary Baker came in second in the high jump after clearing 5-10. Josh Lee of Cortez came in second in the long jump with a leap of 20-5 1/4. Ray Thomas of Mancos came in fifth with a leap of 19-2 1/4. Jake Collett of Cortez came in second in the triple jump with a hop, a skip and a jump of 40-3. Thomas finished in a tie for fifth with 39-3 1/2. None of the area teams compete in the javelin or pole vault.

Area relay teams did well in many events. The Panther 4X100-meter came in second with a time of 45.56 seconds. Mancos took fourth in the 4X100 in 47.03. The Panther 4X200 came in first in 1 minute, 34.26 seconds. Dolores took second the 4X200 in 1:36.25. The Panthers even did well in the medley relay by taking second in 3:40.35. Mancos came in third in the 4X400 relay in 3:45.35 and Dolores fourth in 3:48.97. In the 1600 medley, an event not run for boys in Colorado, the Panthers won in 3:56.97. Mancos placed fifth in the 1600 medley in 4:02.20.

In the short running events, many area individuals did well. Adam Williams of Cortez took second and Lee fourth in the 100 dash in 10.79 and 11.2, respectively. Phillip Wilson of Mancos came in sixth in the 100 in 11.52. Williams placed second in the 200 in 23.01. Wilson placed sixth in the 200 as well in 24.26. Collett grabbed second place in the 400 in 55.57. Walt Pape of Cortez took sixth in 58.57. Cody Beaver of Dolores captured third in the 110-hurdles in 15.71. Levi Hill placed sixth in the 110 in 17.69. Beaver also took third in the 300 in 43.02.

Several area runners did well in the 1600. Jordan Davis of Mancos took home a third-place ribbon with a time of 5:00.16 while teammate Sven McNeil grabbed fifth in 5:02.51.

"Williams did a nice job in the 100 and the 200. We had three in the finals of the quarter (400). We had some good times so it was a good meet for us," Archibeque added.

The area girls took home took home ribbons in the field events. Erica Russell of Mancos finished fourth in the shot put with a heave of 33-9. She won the discus with a toss of 115-11. Stefanie Allison of Cortez won the high jump event with a leap of 5-0. Jennifer Trevillian of Dolores placed right behind her as she cleared 4-8. Daisy Ragland of Dolores grabbed third in the long jump with a leap of 15-10 1/2 while teammate Joni Everett took sixth with a leap of 14-1 3/4. Kerri Morgan of Mancos came in fourth in the triple jump as she covered 29-6 1/2. No area girls placed in the pole vault or javelin events.

The girls did well in the relays. Mancos took fifth and MCHS sixth in the 4X100 in 54.31 and 55.07. Cortez took second in the 4X200 in 1:53.55 and Dolores followed in 1:56.52. Cortez placed third in the 1600 medley in 4:44.87. In the 4X400, MCHS came in second in 4:25.27, and Dolores fourth in 4:51.00.

"All our relays recorded best times," Anderson said. "Our 4X400 ran well. We had a best time (by Ashleigh Wilson) in the hurdles. She also had a season best in the short hurdles, also. Stefanie (Allison) did well again in the high jump."