The Montezuma-Cortez High School track and field teams performed well in Montrose on Saturday with the Lady Panthers finishing first out of six teams and the Panthers taking second.
The Lady Panthers edged Grand Junction 130 to 128 for the top spot.
The girls performed really well. I thought we had a couple of standouts, Lady Panthers coach Paul Koops said. Our throws continue to be really strong. Im really proud of those girls in Amanda and Laura. They keep making progress. Our depth showed really well, too, with Randy Elliot taking second in the discus. On the running side, they competed really well. The times werent great because we had some strong winds, but they all placed well. Carly Wolf ran great, and she looks like shes getting back to running form. Imari Black looked like she was really ready to start running. Shes working her way into shape and showing a lot of promise. It was a great day for us to win that meet against some bigger schools. It was really encouraging for us.
Junior Ashley Lingo finished first-place in the discus with a throw of 116-00 and placed second in the shot put tossing it 31-04. Lingo was right behind first-place teammate Laura Heaton, who won the shot put with a heave of 32-07.50. Randy Elliot came in second in the discus (93-06) and fifth in the shot put (25-01.50). Senior Carly Wolf took first in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:38.50. Imari Black had second-place finishes in the 100-meter dash (14.04) and the 200-meter (29.49). Sophomore Amanda Gallegos finished fourth in the 400-meter with a time of 1:05.80. Angelita Topaha came in sixth in the 3,200-meter run (17:20.16), Arrela Jorgensen was eighth in the 100-meter hurdles (20.61), junior Bailey Morris recorded a fifth-place time of 58.08 in the 300-hurdles, and junior Sydney Bayles was third in the high jump (4-06) and eighth in the long jump (13-01). The 800-sprint medley relay team of Black, Bailie Pierce, Gallegos and Wolf took the top time of 2:02.40.
For the Panthers, they placed second as a team with 138.5 points behind first-place host Montrose (156).
Overall, the environment with the wind, rain and snow plays a big part in the meet. Anytime we were running the 100-hurdles, we ran into a headwind. It wasnt a god day to run on that track. The times could have been a lot better, Panthers coach Bob Archibeque said. Max in the long jump had a spectacular day. Hes ranked fourth in the 4A division in the long jump. I think that is going to stay for a while. I was happy with the relays even though the times werent what we wanted, but considering the circumstances, we did good.
Senior Corey Adams had a busy and successful day with second-place finishes in the 110-and-300-hurdles (16.14) and (44.29), and came in third in the triple jump (39-01) and placed fifth in the long jump (5-06). Senior Max Demby was first in the long jump (21-05) and fourth in the 100-meter (12.34). Senior James Sprague had third-place finishes in the 400-meter (55.73) and 800-meter run (2:11.50). Nick Haukeness was third-place in the 110-hurdles (18.77), fifth in the 300-hurdles (47.98) and ninth in the high jump (5-02). William Wright was fourth in the 100-meter (12.37), Brady Yates was second in the 200-meter (25.24), Cody Sprague was sixth in the 3,200-meter run (12.40), Wiley Kirks was third in the long jump (18-09.50) and Jonathan Vallegos took fifth in the triple jump (36-04). The 800-sprint medley relay team of Kirks, Adam Burris, Destry Smith and Yates won the event with a finish of 1:44.67.
M-CHS will host the Cortez Invitational today at 4 p.m. at Panther Stadium.
Reach Bobby Abplanalp at bobbya@cortezjournal.com.