Fresh off of Spring Break, the Mancos High School boys' and girls' track teams returned to competition at the Abel Velasquez Invitational in Ignacio on April 11.
Girls finish 4th overall
On the girls' side, Mancos benefited from several top-five individual finishes and finished 4th in the seven-tem competition.
Pacing the Lady Jays individually was junior Kaylee Rose, who finished 1st in the 800-meter run (2:56.23). Brittney Peacock finished 2nd in the 800 (3:05.84) and Mimi Archuleta finished 3rd (3:21.91).
Other Mancos athletes cracking the top-five included Olivia Winter-Holm, whose career best throw of 88 feet, 3 inches was good enough to place 2nd in the discus.
Taylor Goff finished 3rd in the 100-meter hurdles (19.14) and the 4x400 relay team made up of Emma Most, Hannah Skinner, Peacock and Rose finished 1st overall (12:12.05).
"It was great to get back into competition after Spring Break," wrote Mancos head coach Brady Archer in an email to the Mancos Times. "We had a number of good performances from our athletes."
Boys place 3rd overall
On the boys' side, Mancos continued its season-long trend of solid performances in distance events and finished 3rd overall in the seven-team field.
The Bluejays were especially impressive in the 3200-meter run as Ro Paschal finished 1st (10:30.55), Simon Kearns finished 2nd (11:10.10) and Asa Kearns placed 3rd (12:16.97).
Other Mancos athletes cracking the top-five included Andrew Plunkett, who finished 1st in the high jump (5 feet, 10 inches) and Jake McKie, who finished 4th in the 1600-meter run (5:25.07).
Jayden Peacock finished 5th in the 200-meter dash (25.43), Adrian Hernandez placed 5th in the 800-meter run (2:17.11) and Zane Goodell placed 5th in the 3200-meter run (12:53.30).
After competing at the Ron Keller Invitational in Bayfield on April 14, both Mancos teams will return to Bayfield for the Pine River Invitational on April 18.
"We should really start to see some times drop over the next two weeks," wrote Archer, discussing his expectations for his team's upcoming meets.