The Colorado State Track and Field Championships begin on Thursday in Lakewood, and Montezuma-Cortez, Mancos, Dolores and Dove Creek all send qualifiers.
M-CHS
The Lady Panthers will be competing in five events, and Senior Amy Campbell is currently the highest ranked of the M-CHS athletes, sitting at No. 10 in the 100-meter dash with a qualifying time of 12.63.
Campbell has continued to improve all season, and she won the 100 at the Tiger Invitational in Grand Junction last weekend. She has a good shot at making the finals and winding up on the podium on Saturday.
Seniors Weslie Kirks and Tayla Topaha will also participate in individual events, with Kirks running in the 100-meter hurdles and Topaha throwing the discus.
Kirks is currently ranked No. 17 with a time of 16.10, and hurdle coach Kristi Christensen said that they are focused on getting a good start this weekend, with a goal of setting a personal record.
Topaha is sitting at No. 14 with a qualifying throw of 113-6, and throwing coach Daria Sparks said that they worked this week in practice on getting more aggressive with her release.
“We want her to make finals again like she did last year,” Sparks said. “She really just wants to beat her PR of 116, and she’s about three feet away, so that’s the goal.”
Finally, the Lady Panthers will send two relay teams, featuring Kirks, Campbell, Morgan Short and Anna Bullock.
The 4x1 team snuck in at No. 18 and the 4x2 relay is ranked No. 15, but with such narrow margins between the first and eighteenth seeded times, the Lady Panthers are right in the mix.
Mancos
The Blue Jays will have a strong presence in the Class 2A mid-to-long distance events this weekend.
Ro Paschal and Adrian Hernandez both qualified in the 800, Paschal, Hernandez and Simon Kearns will all run the 1,600 and Kearns will also compete in the 3,200.
Paschal also qualified in the 400 and 3,200 – and he broke the school’s 3,200 record last week with a 9:51.83 – but he will not run them at state.
Paschal, Hernandez, Andrew Christensen and Caleb Yoder make up the Jays’ qualifying 4x400 team and Paschal, Hernandez, Kearns and Jake McKie will run the 4x800.
Andrew Plunkett will hold down field events for Mancos, qualifying in both the high jump and triple jump.
The Jays have a good chance to medal in multiple events.
Paschal is sitting at No. 5 in the 800 and No. 3 in the mile, Plunkett is No. 5 in the triple jump, the 4x4 team is ranked seventh and, after returning three members of last year’s second-place 4x8 team, this year’s squad is currently ranked No. 4.
“I think all of the events we qualified in are events that the athletes can make the podium (top 9) in this week,” said head coach Brady Archer. “All of these athletes we are taking have proven themselves all season. They all know what they need to do to be successful at this point. Now, it’s down to going out and competing.”
Dolores
Dolores is the only area school to qualify both boys and girls.
The Bears will send Forest Pejsa, Tristen Medina, Skieler Grooms and Cael McHenry to run in the 4x1, and then Medina and McHenry will each run in the 110 and 300-meter hurdles.
The 4x1 team snuck in at No. 18, but will look to make some noise, and head coach Nick Kohler is excited to see what Medina and McHenry can do in their hurdle races.
Medina is currently ranked No. 11 in both events, while McHenry is sitting at No. 14 in the 110’s and No. 15 in the 300’s.
“You just keep your fingers crossed and hope that one or both of those guys will make finals in either the 110’s or the 300’s,” Kohler said. “Both of them can, you just never know what’s going to happen at state. But both of them have the potential to be all state.”
The Lady Bears will have an even better showing, sending three relays and qualifying in five individual events.
Sierra Schwartz, Shavargus Noyes, Cameron Elder and Josie Bernholtz will run in the 800-meter sprint medley, Schwartz, Elder, Larissa Umberger and Noyes will run in the 4x1 and Schwartz, Elder, Umberger and Bernholtz make up the 4x2 team.
Kohler said that he believes the medley and 4x1 are the strongest relays, but noted that the 4x2 has the most room to improve.
Umberger and Schwartz also qualified as individuals in hurdle events.
Umberger is currently ranked No. 9 in the 100-hurdles and Schwartz sits at No. 18 in the 300’s.
Finally, freshman Aryelle Wright qualified for the 100, 200 and 400.
She is currently ranked No. 12 in the 100, eighth in the 200 and sixth in the 400, and Kohler said that the longer the race, the better chance she has to claim a top spot on the podium.
Dove Creek
In Class 1A, distance events are the only events with prelims, so the Dove Creek Lady Bulldogs jump right into the finals in their three events.
LaRissa Randolph is the Lady Bulldogs’ lone individual qualifier, and she is currently ranked sixth in the 100-meter hurdles.
And then Randolph joins Savannah Ayers, Kiera Baughman and Madilyn Hankins to form the Bulldogs’ 4x4 and 4x8 teams.
The 4x4 squad is currently seeded sixth and the 4x8 is 12th, but as head coach Jason Fury pointed out, anything can happen.
“Last year, we were seeded 10th in the 4x800 and then dropped about 20 seconds and ended up 5th,” he explained. “So we are hoping for similar results in that race this year.”
