Panthers boys, girls take one, two; several athletes qualify for state

Panthers boys, girls take one, two; several athletes qualify for state

April 19, 2001

BY JIM THOMAS
Journal Sports Editor

Not many more regular-season meets remain in the 2001 prep track and field season, however, Montezuma-Cortez head boys coach Bob Archibeque is pleased with what he’s seen from his veteran performers as well as some talented up-and-coming youngsters.

The Panther boys won the Window Rock, Ariz., Invitational last Friday, April 13, by scoring 198 points. Flagstaff-Coconino High School finished a distant second with 118 and 78 for Window Rock. The weather was nearly perfect for track and field.

"The schools there were relatively our size and there were some smaller ones. I think there were 13 schools there (haven’t received official results yet in the mail). We saw some good competition. Coconino had a good little track team. They had some very good sprinters. In the finals of the 100, they had four of the six places. Their 4X100 and 4X400 were good. In the 4X400 it came down the stretch between us and them and they barely won in a photo-type finish."

On that 4X400 second place team, which dropped the baton and still finished with a 3 minute, 41 second time, were: Jeff Yarbrough, Josh Lee, Walt Pape, and James Durnin.

The Panther weightmen are doing well despite missing Brian Balfour who is still nursing an injury.

Cortez finished 1-2-3 in the shot put with Colin Tansey throwing 45 feet, 6 inches. Derique Duran came in second, and Nick Patterson took third. Tansey won the discus with a person record toss of 141-8. Duran placed second and Manuel Carrasco took sixth.

Yarbrough won the high jump event at 6-feet-2. Yarbrough also won the 300 hurdles in 42.3 seconds.

Lee came in second in the broad jump.

"Our jumpers are coming along well. We have four kids who are fighting it out in the triple jump. It should be a scoring event for us by the time we get districts," Archibeque remarked.

A lot of youngsters are emerging right now, according to Archibeque. Several freshmen, the core of future track teams, are doing well and progressing nicely. Durnin has really become a standout performer. Nick Martinez is doing well in the sprints. Bo Jorgensen also is doing well in the sprints and middle distances. Alan Winter also is emerging.

MCHS head girls coach Doug Anderson also is pleased with the progress of his team. The Panthers finished second behind Window Rock while Chinle, Ariz., took third (no official results have been mailed back). Anderson recalled some of the performances which stood or he happened to record.

Tasha Toles came in third in the 100 dash in 13.1. Gina West came in fifth in 13.27 and Marie deBolt seventh in 13.6 in that same event. Toles grabbed third in the 200 in 27.8 and two other girls placed.

Julie Christensen came in fifth in the 800 in 2:36. She also placed fifth in the mile run in 6:08. Kristi Christensen crossed the finish in second in 17.7 in the 100 hurdles. Dawn Keck came in right behind her in 18.5.

The 4X100 relay team of Kendra Taylor, Keck, Kristi Christensen, and Toles came in third in 53.86. The mile relay of deBolt, Tessa Haukeness, Kristi Christensen, and Julie Christensen placed third in 4:30.8. The 4X800 relay team of Hannah Mortensen, Chelsea Mortensen, Holly Smith, and Becca Whitehead came in fourth in 11:27.

Christina Tilton won the shot put with a heave of 34-5. Caitlin Claxton came in fourth with a toss of 20-6 1/2. Connie Burger won the high jump as she cleared 4-8. Whitehead came in fourth at 4-2.

"It was a good meet for us. We are really coming along. We saw some strong individuals," Anderson added.

He said Toles’ effort in the 100 and 200 were personal records. Julie Christensen’s mark in the 800 was a PR and Tilton’s throw in the shot also was a PR, according to Anderson.

The Panthers will compete this weekend in Grand Junction at the Wildcat Relays, hosted by Fruita-Monument High School. This is a State qualifying meet.

"The standards are pretty high this year," he said. "Hopefully, we can qualify two or three kids. They are so high, that it is really difficult to hit those times or distances at this point in the season. But we will get a chance to see some good competition and more importantly some teams from our district will be there."

"We will see some better teams than we did last week. We saw a lot of strong individuals but we will see some stronger teams as a whole. I don’t expect to qualify any but you never know," Anderson added.

Expected to join MCHS and host Fruita will be Delta, Montrose, Rifle, Moffat County, Palisade, and Central of Grand Junction and Grand Junction High.

At Bayfield last Friday, it was one of the few state qualifying track and field meet held in this area. Many teams throughout the area competed at this new facility during the annual Pine River Invitational.

Several Dolores, Dolores County and Mancos boys and girls got their tickets already punched for the Class 2A State Track and Field Championships, May 18-19 at Pueblo.

Hurdler Cody Beaver of Dolores qualified in both his primary events, the 110 high hurdles and the 300 hurdles. Beaver recorded an electronic time of 15.82 seconds and captured second in the 110. He was clocked in 41.37 in the 300 and captured first. Beaver won both the 110 and 300 hurdles at state a year ago.

Weightman Travis Clark of Mancos threw the discus 141 feet, 10 inches to take first place and earn a trip to state.

Mancos sprinter Amanda Kennedy took first in the 200-meter dash, not one of her favorite events, to qualify. She was timed in 27.16 on the new all-weather track at BHS.

Alyssa Redshaw of Dolores County showed why she is one of top sprinters around. She qualified in the 100 dash.

Several other good performances were turned in that day, but fell just short of a time, distance or heighth needed to qualify.

Just about the only good thing the Dolores’ girls did was that its 800 medley relay team of Jeanine Ramirez, Cory Ackley, Ashley Ramirez and Kristen Gustafson came in 10th. The boys did farely well, though. Weightman Derek Thompson set two personal records in the discus and shot put. He tossed the discus 105 feet and heaved the shot 38-8. Garrett Nielson came in seventh in the 200. The 4X800 relay of Andrew Webster, Chris Buckholtz, Will Moffit and Tierry Monville came in ninth.

Dolores County’s 800 medley placed fifth and the 4X800 took fourth. The 4X200 came in sixth and the 4x400 squad grabbed seventh. Redshaw came in second in the 200.

Mancos High girls did well. The 4X800 relay of Kerri Morgan, Lacey Morris, Jori Yeomans and Megan Doty came in fifth in 11:16. Rachel Russell tossed the shot 32-7 feet for second. Jori Yeomans grabbed eighth in the 1,600. Lacey Morris took eighth in the 400 in 1:07.3. Kennedy came in third and Morgan grabbed sixth in the triple jump with hop, skip and jump of 31-8 and 30-10, respectively. The 4X100 came in eighth. The 4X400 of Morris, Morgan, Yeomans, and Kennedy came in second in 4:33. Kennedy came in second in the 100 in 13.5. Yeomans finished eighth in the 1,600 in 5:58.

As for the MHS boys, they did well as well. Jesse Rousset placed eighth in the 400 in 54.71. Sven McNeil came in fourth in the 800 in 2:10 and Doyle Edgerton sixth in 2:15. The 4X400 relay of McNeil, Rousset, Edgerton and Philip Wilson came in third in 3:42. The 4X800 of Edgerton, McNeil, Preston Hennrich, and Micah Sucherman placed fourth in 8:57. Wilson came in seventh in the 100 in 12.18. Sucherman came in seventh in the 1,600 in 5:16. Daneil Wilson took seventh in the 110 hurdles in 18.01. The 4X100 finished eighth in 48.72.

"It was a very long and cold meet," MHS head track and field coach Tim Dunham remarked. "It was not the best of conditions for a State qualifier meet. But certainly was very competitive because of all the large schools at the meet. As far as our kids were concerned, I was happy with an eighth place at this meet."

The Durango boys and girls dominated the meet. The Demons finished first in both the girls’ and boys’ standings, scoring 145 and a whopping 178 points, respectively. The DHS girls were followed by Bayfield, which finished second with 139, while Centauri took third with 83. Ignacio had 49 points to finish fifth. Second in the boys’ race was Centauri with 139 points and Bayfield finished third with 55. Ignacio was sixth with 39 points.