DURANGO — Many outstanding performances by Montezuma-Cortez, Dolores, and Dolores County thinclads were turned in Tuesday afternoon, March 13, at the annual Durango Invitational Track and Field Meet at DHS Stadium.

One of the highlights of the meet for the Panthers, competing in their second meet of the new season, was the throwers and jumpers. Colin Tansey captured first place in the discus with a toss of 132 feet, 7 inches. Derique Duran came in third with a throw of 128 feet, 6 inches. Brian Balfour placed fourth with a throw of 113-4. Tansey won the shot put with a heave of 43-9 while Duran came in third at 42-9 and Balfour fourth at 42-1. A surprise of the meet was the emergence of freshman James Durnin. He came in sixth in the high jump as he cleared 5-8. He placed third in the triple jump with a hop, skip and jump of 125-2. He also showed promise in the 200-meter dash with a clocking of 24.73 seconds.

Jeff Yarbrough left off where he did last year. He crossed the bar in 6-4 for first. He came in second in the 300 hurdles in 43.83. Josh Lee, another strong sprinter for the Panthers, almost won the race but slipped into third at the wire in 11.52.

The Panther 4X200 relay team of Lee, Levi Hill, Tansey, and Yarbrough came in second place in 1 minute, 36.95 seconds. The 4X100 relay squad (same group as 800 team) also came in second in 46.46. The 1,600 relay team came in third in 3:53.96. The 4X800 relay team came in fourth in 10:18.53.

Hill placed third in the 110 hurdles in 17.35 and A.J. Hermann came in fourth in 17.37.

"I was real happy with the kids’ performances," MCHS head boys track coach Bob Archibeque said. "We’re not yet at a good fitness level and we’re still not at full strength. Some of the longer races I can see we need to work harder. I thought our weightmen and jumpers did very well. We saw some kids surface (Durnin)."

Some of the Dolores and Dolores County boys also looked good. Cody Beaver looks every bit as strong a hurdler as he was last year. He won both events at the Class 2A State Meet last May. He battled right with Class 5A Durango’s Eric Dunn. While Dunn won the event in 43.18 Beaver came in third at 44.94, right behind Yarbrough. But the 110 hurdles was a much closer race, and it was Beaver who picked up the win in 15.49. The two runners ran side by side until the final hurdle, when Dunn hit the top of the barrier and stumbled a bit at the wire.

Chris Buckholtz of Dolores came in third in the 400 dash in 56.03. Lyle Joe of Dolores County came in sixth in 57.43. Buckholz placed sixth in the 800 in 2:24.26. Andrew Webster of Dolores placed fifth in the 1600 run in 5:38.36. Jake Williams of Dove Creek came in sixth in 5:39.91.

Dolores came in sixth in the 400 relay in 54.96. Dove Creek’s 1600 relay team placed sixth in 4:14.23.

Durango’s Beau Riddle earned MVP honors for the day for the boys by winning the 100 (11.38) and the 200 (23.62) while finishing second in the long jump (19 feet, 6 inches) and running a leg of Durango’s first-place 4x100 relay (44.99).

The Demon boys also won the team standings with 214.5 points. Cortez finished a distant second at 118, followed by Bayfield 105, Telluride 51, Ignacio 43, Dolores 30, and Dove Creek 4.

The are girls were impressive as well at times.

The Panthers’ Christina Tilton came in third in the shot put with a toss of 30-1. Ashleigh Wilson grabbed third in the 100 hurdles in 17.93 and teammate Dawn Keck followed in 18.17.

Tessa Haukeness came in fifth in the 200 in 30.34. Tasha Toles grabbed fourth in the 100 in 13.75.

Cortez grabbed fifth in the 4X800 relay in 12:26.04. The 800 relay team of Marie deBolt, Toles, Kendra Taylor and Haukeness came in second in 1:56.37. The 400 relay team of deBolt, Keck, Wilson, and Taylor took second in 54.40. The Panther medley relay grabbed third in 2:10.00.

"We looked a little ragged at times but we were missing quite a few girls who do not have enough practices in, ill, some were at a funeral, and a couple others injured," MCHS head coach Doug Anderson said following the meet. "But I thought our relays generally looked good. I thought our 4X200 kids did a good job. The 4X100 also was good. We need to do some more conditioning. It was a good early meet for us and hopefully we will have a few more bodies by next week. We have a very young team this year but I think they will come along."

Dolores’ Jennifer Trevillian, who recently came out after plying her trade on the basketball court, has not missed a step. In the 200 dash, she blew away the field as she turned the far corner way out front of everyone. She won in 27.53. Trevillian also placed third in the 100 in 13.45. She won the high jump with the fewest misses at 4-10.

Kristen Gustafson placed fifth in the 1600 run in 6:31.09.

Dolores placed third in the 4X800 relay team in 11:53.84. The Bear’s 800 relay team placed fifth in 2:02.63. The Bears came in sixth in the 400 relay in 57.46. Dolores placed fourth in the medley relay in 2:14.80.

Dolores County freshman Shandra Johnson showed some brilliance in her first meet. She won the long jump event with a leap of 15-1. She was sixth in the 100 hurdles in 19.90.

Teammate Alyssa Redshaw came in second in the 100 dash in 13.32. She also came in second in the 200 in 27.62. Charlene Atkins came in fifth in the 400 dash in 1:10.68 while Tia Wood placed sixth in 1:12.46.

Dove Creek’s 4X800 relay team of Amanda Johnson, Wood, Krystal Neely, and Christina Atkins came in second in 11:36.65. The Bulldogs came in fifth in the 400 relay in 56.79. Dove Creek’s medley relay placed second in 2:08.88. The 1600 relay team came in third in 4:59.91.

Durango won the girls’ meet with 188 points, Bayfield grabbed second at 138.5, while Ignacio took third with 72, followed by Dolores 62, MCHS 56, Telluride 45, and Dove Creek 40.

The Panthers hosted the largest Cortez Relays in recent memory on March 10 during a cold, often snowy day at Panther Stadium.

Fruita-Monument won the team points with 99 on the girls’ side of the ledger. Durango came in second with 90, followed by Farmington High 63, Shiprock 57, and MCHS 52. Seven other teams also participated.

The girls took second in the 100 hurdles, third in shot put, eight in 4X800, third in 1600 medley, second in 4X100, sixth in 1600 team race, fourth in discus, first in 800 medley, and fourth in 300 hurdles. Members of the 4X100 team were Wilson, Keck, Taylor and Kristi Christensen. Members of the 800 medley team were deBolt, Toles, Haukeness, and Julie Christensen.

Anderson said he was pleased with freshman Kristi Christensen who showed a lot of potential. She turned in a time of 17.8 in the 100 hurdles which is good for this time of year.

Cortez boys won the discus relay, shot put relay, finished second in 4X200, third in 4X100 and 800 medley and long jump, fourth in triple jump and 4X800, fifth in 110 hurdles, 1600 medley, and sixth in 4X200.

Central of Grand Junction won with 122 points while Durango came in second with 102. The Panthers placed third with 79.5 points.

"We certainly were not fully loaded for this meet. And we won’t be this weekend at Round Valley (Springerville, Ariz., on Saturday), either. Again, I thought our throwers did a good job. Lee looked good in the long jump. I thought our two short relays ran well. Our hurdlers are coming along," Archibeque added.