The Dolores High School girls can claim they are the best in the San Juan League. The Mancos High School boys can claim they are tops in the league.

The Class 2A San Juan League Track and Field Championships were held all day Friday, May 5, at Panther Stadium in Cortez. When the last relay event was run, the Bears won their division with 210 points, easily blowing away the field. Mancos came in a distant second with 178, Nucla and Norwood tied for third with 41, Dolores County finished fifth and Telluride did not score. On the boys’ side, the Blue Jays won with 158, Dolores and Norwood tied for second with 135, Nucla came in fourth with 34, followed by Telluride 20, and Dolores County 19.

Some impressive performances, despite the steady wind, were turned in by the DHS girls. Daisy Ragland won the long jump with a leap of 16 feet, 4 inches. The Dolores 800-meter medley relay team captured first in 1 minute, 57.00 seconds. Tracy Everett captured a title in the 1600 in 5:47.95. She won the 3200 as well with a time of 12:51.02. Dolores also won the 4X100 relay in 56.14. Joni Everett won the 400 dash in 1:05.37 and the 800 in 2:40.43.

"The girls did great," DHS head coach Mitzi Wallace said following the meet. "This has been a long time coming since we have won. I’m just so proud of them. But I thought everyone did their job. I thought our 800 medley girls (Ragland, Tegan Brown, Jennifer Trevillian, and Joni Everett) did a heck of a job. We picked up points up and down in nearly every event. I was very happy with Kayla Erickson in the discus as she got a PR (personal record) by bettering her throw by more than 5 feet."

Erica Russell was a double-winner for Mancos in the shot put and discus. She tossed the discus 112-2 and the shot 34-8. Mancos’ Amanda Kennedy continues to be impressive in the 100 as she crossed the finish line in 13.59. She also won the 200 in 27.63. Rene Davis of Mancos won the 300 hurdles in 52.94.

Dove Creek blew away the field in the 4X800 relay with a winning time of 11:07.93. The MHS 4X200 won first in 1:57.85 and the Mancos 4X400 captured first in 4:34.94.

The Blue Jay boys took home several firsts on the day. Ray Thomas won the long jump with a leap of 18-11 3/4. He also showed he could triple jump as he hopped, skipped and jumped to a first in 40-4 3/4. Travis Clark won the discus with a toss of 127-0. Gary Baker cleared 6-2 to win the high jump. The 4X800 relay team won in 9:00.26. Jordan Davis won the 3200 with a clocking of 11:24.60. The 4X400 relay squad mined gold with a time of 4:34.94.

"The boys did an excellent job," Mancos head coach Tim Dunham commented. "Our relay teams ran real strong. I hope at Regionals that our guys can finish among the top three or four."

Cody Beaver of Dolores won both the 110 and 300 hurdles in 15.91 and 41.86, respectively. Brian Rantz of Dolores was the winner in the 1600 in 4:56.

Adam Priestly, a sprinter from Norwood, was certainly impressive on the day. He won the 100 in 11.27, 200 in 22.80, and 400 in 52.05.

Regionals (Region 5) in track and field for Class 2A are scheduled this Friday and Saturday, May 12-13, at Stocker Stadium in Grand Junction. Schools sending teams include Dolores, Dolores County, Crested Butte, DeBeque, Grand Valley, Hayden, Mancos, North Park, Norwood, Nucla, Ouray, Plateau Valley, Ridgway, Silverton, Soroco, Telluride and West Grand. The top three individuals in each event qualify for State. Several athletes also may have qualified early at other meets under new rules this year.

"I’m looking forward to a good week of practice," Wallace commented. "Everyone is healthy. Regionals is such a great meet because that track is so fast. West Grand, both boys and girls, is loaded. It should be fun. I think we should get some more qualifiers."

"I think we should do well at Regionals," Dunham said. "We should score in the girls’ division in the top three or four. I think the boys should be right in there at the top."