Boys finish 7th in 20-team field
Highlighting the day for the M-CHS programs was the performance of the M-CHS boys team, which put together its finest performance of the season and finished seventh out of 20 teams. Eagle Valley High School finished first at the meet.
“All the kids are getting better,” said M-CHS head coach Bob Archibeque. “Their times are improving, and the relays are coming together.”
Among the Panthers’ top performing relays was the 4x400-meter relay, made up of Justice Ramos, Josh Ramos, Elisha Vaquera and Randy Haley, which finished first overall (3:30.75).
M-CHS’s 4x200-meter relay finished second (1:35.64), as did the Panthers 800-meter sprint medley relay (1:41.00).
Justice Ramos paced the Panthers individually with a second-place finish in the 800-meter run (2:00.19), and Josh Ramos placed sixth in the same event.
“It was a good race for Justice,” said Archibeque. “He took off a little fast. He got boxed in earlier in the year and was afraid that he was going to be boxed in at the end. He ran a season-best time.”
Other M-CHS competitors who cracked the top 10 included Randy Haley, who finished second in the triple jump (40 feet); Dante Dennison, who placed sixth in the shot put (44 feet, 9¾ inches) and Skylar Yarbrough; who tied for eighth in the high jump (5 feet, 6 inches).
Chandler Dee placed 10th in the 3200-meter run (11:30.60), and Seth Long finished 10th in the discus (115 feet, 10 inches).
Girls finish 19th overall
As good as the meet was for the boys, it was equally disappointing for the M-CHS girls, who scored just one point and finished 19th overall. Paonia High School finished first.
Head coach Paul Koops said that his team’s low finish resulted when numerous athletes missed the meet to participate in band and dance competitions.
“We were missing about 50 percent of our people,” Koops said. “When you’re missing that many kids, you can’t score in relays. It wasn’t a day that had any particularly noteworthy things happen.”
Koops said that one of the team’s few highlights came from freshman Ashley Wood, who placed eighth in the 100-meter hurdles (17.91).
Amy Campbell placed 11th in the 100-meter dash (13.22) and 15th in the 200-meter dash (28.81). Kristine Candelaria finished 11th in the shot put (29 feet, 8 inches).
“(Campbell) looked pretty good in the sprints,” Koops said. “She is starting to come around and feel some good speed.”
Next up for the M-CHS track teams will be the Southwest League Meet in Grand Junction on May 1.
“At this point, we’re going to work on polishing up some speed things and make sure that the kids are ready to run come race time,” said Archibeque the Panthers goals for their upcoming meets.