Panther boys, girls win own Panther Invitational

Panther boys, girls win own Panther Invitational

May 3, 2001

A.J. HERRMANN of the Montezuma-Cortez High School boys track and field team gets ready to jump over a hurdle during action at the Panther Invitational at Panther Stadium. The Panthers will head to Colorado Springs today and compete at the Cheyenne Mountain Invitational on Friday. It is the last tune-up before the Class 4A Regional Meet the following week and the State Track and Field Championships, May 18-19.

BY JIM THOMAS
Journal Sports Editor

All four of the local high schools participated in the Panther Invitational Track and Field Meet which was held last Saturday, April 28, at Panther Stadium in Cortez.

This was a good tune-up meet of what is yet to come. Montezuma-Cortez boys and girls will compete Friday, May 4, at the Cheyenne Mountain Invitational in Colorado Springs. This will be a state qualifying meet (Class 4A) as AccuTrack and electronic timing will be used. The Dolores, Dolores County, and Mancos boys and girls will be in Bayfield (changed from Panther Stadium) to compete in the San Juan Basin League Meet on Friday (moved from Saturday this year), May 4. Bayfield High School has AccuTrack and electronic timing equipment so it will be a state qualifying meet (2A).

Regionals, all area teams will be at Stocker Stadium in Grand Junction, on May 11-12. The 4A State Track and Field Championships will be held at Jefferson County Stadium in Lakewood, western suburb of Denver, May 18-19. The 2A State Track and Field Championships will be held for the second year in a row at Dutch Clark Stadium in Pueblo that same weekend.

The Panther boys and girls both won the meet, which also featured Nucla plus Red Mesa, Ariz., and Silverton (girls only). Cortez boys finished with 250 points, Mancos was a distant second at 113, followed by Dolores with 64, Red Mesa 31, Nucla 20, and Dolores County 19. On the girls’ side of the ledger, MCHS won with 218, Mancos came in second with 94, Dolores had 85, Dolores County 74, Red Mesa 17, Nucla 10, and Silverton 6.

Cortez took one, two, three in the boys’ high jump event with Jeff Yarbrough clearing 6-feet-2 while teammates Joel Tryon and Jeff Anderson both went over 6-0. Cody Beaver of Dolores cleared 5-10.

In the long jump, Josh Lee of Cortez jumped 20-1 3/4 for first while Kent Russell of Mancos jumped 18-6 1/2. A.J. Hermann of Cortez leaped 16-10.

Mancos’ Travis Clark toss the discus 131-10 1/2 to easily win. Colin Tansey of MCHS threw it 128-3 and Derique Duran 121-9. Kelley Smith of Mancos threw it 113-2 and Brian Balfour, who is coming off an injury, threw it 110-9. Derek Thompson of Dolores threw the disc 109-4.

Tansey heaved the shot put 45-1 3/4 to take first. Duran grabbed second with a toss of 44-10 1/2 and Balfour grabbed third at 41-1/2. Jesse Rousset of Mancos threw it 40-3/4.

Mancos came in first place in the 4X800 with a time of 8 minutes, 54.75 seconds. Cortez came in second at 9:01.60 and Red Mesa third at 9:49.30.

Beaver returned to form by capturing the 110-meter hurdles in 15.08. Hermann came in at 17:18 and Phil Wilson took third in 17:35. Tryon placed fourth at 17.68 and Russell fifth at 19:27. In the 300 hurdles, Beaver won in 40.97. Yarbrough, coming back from an injury, posted a time of 42.15 for second. Hermann took third in 43.49 and Wilson grabbed fourth in 45.60. Beaver, the Class 2A defending state champion, missed qualifying in both the 110 and 300 last week at Bloomfield, N.M.

The 400 dash was an exciting race as Lee won in 52.87, Walt Pape of MCHS came in second in 53.41, and Mancos sprinters came in third and fourth, respectively, as Rousset clocked 54.23 and Jakob Tallent 55.60. Lee won the 200 in 22.73, Garrett Nielson of Dolores took second in 23.50 and Wilson took third in 23.62. In the 100 dash, it was Lee finishing first in 11:13, Beaver came in second in 11.43, Wilson third in 11:47, Nielson fourth 11:55 and Bru Meyer of Dolores County came in fourth in 11:77.

Jordan Davis of MCHS easily won the 800. Panther Jake Conrads followed in 2:22.43 while Levi Martinez of Mancos grabbed third in 2:24.32 and Andrew Webster of Dolores captured fourth in 2:24.44 and Lyle Joe of Dove Creek fifth in 2:28.01.

The 4X400 relay saw Cortez take first in 3:40.59, Mancos second in 3:52.90 and Cortez no. 2 third in 4:08.80. MCHS also won the 4X100 in 46.47 while Mancos came in second in 47.56 and Dolores third in 48.80. The Panthers also won the 4X200 as they were timed in 1:35.36, Mancos was next at 1:37.56 and Dolores finished third in 1:40.80.

Mancos’ Preston Hennrich came in fourth in the 3,200, the only local player to place in that event. In the 1,600, Matt Sucherman of Mancos placed fifth in 5:17.31 and Andrew Webster of Dolores followed in 5:23.47.

Some outstanding performances were turned in by area girls.

Shandra Johnson of Dolores County won the long jump with a leap of 15-3/4. Connie Berger of Cortez came in second in 13-8 3/4 and Joellen Nidiffer of Dove Creek grabbed third in 13-7 3/4. Amanda Kennedy of Mancos won the triple jump with a hop, a skip, and a jump of 32-3. Kerri Morgan of Mancos came in second in 31-9 3/4. Berger won the high jump as she went over the bar at 5-2. Jennifer Trevillian of Dolores cleared 4-10 and Jori Yeomans of Mancos went over 4-4.

Christine Tilton won the shot-put with a heave of 33-11 3/4. Rachel Russell of Mancos came in second at 32-3. Tilton won the discus with a throw of 94-8.

Cortez won the 800 medley in 1:58.33 while Red Mesa came in second in 2:29.77. Mancos won the 4X400 in 10:56.98 while Dove Creek took second in 10:57.65, and Cortez third in 11:09.44. Cortez won the 4X200 in 1:52.51 while Dolores took second in 1:56.86.

Kristi Christensen of Cortez won the 100 hurdles in 17.73, Johnson grabbed second in 18.26 and Dawn Keck third in 18.53. Johnson won the 300 hurdles in 52.53 while Christensen took second in 53:51.

Kennedy won the 100 dash in 13:23, Tasha Toles took second in 13:33 and Trevillian, coming off an injury, came in fourth in 13:41. Sheena Burns of Dolores won the 400 in 1:06.22. Lacey Morris came in second in 1:07.11 and Tessa Haukeness of MCHS third in 1:07.48. Julie Christensen won the 800 in 2:33.83 and teammate Hannah Mortensen followed in 2:48.50. Kristen Gustafson was next at 2:49.68 and Charlene Atkins and Christine Atkins, both of Dove Creek, were next at 2:50.69 and 2:55.50, respectively. Marie DeBolt of MCHS won the 200 in 27.38. Trevillian came in second in 27.63 and Burns finished in 28.23.

Yeomans won the 1,600 in 6:08.07. Chelsea Mortensen took second in 6:11.72 while Krystal Neely of Dove Creek placed third in 6:11.97 and Gustafson fourth in 6:21.90. Cortez’ Becca Whitehead captured first place in the 3,200 in 15:39.13.