The Montezuma-Cortez Panthers are peaking at the right time.
Competing in the Class 4A Southwestern League track meet at Stocker Stadium in Grand Junction last weekend, the Panthers put together a list of season-best performances.
“Both the boys and girls had great performances,” said girls head coach Paul Koops. “The kids worked really hard and I was very proud of the fact that they had that desire. Even the kids that aren’t getting all the spotlights on them are steadily improving and working hard.”
Starting with the 100-meter dash, Amy Campbell ran a season-best 12.63 in the preliminaries and finished second in the finals with a time of 12.68, and Anna Bullock ran her best time of the season (13.67) to finish ninth.
Campbell (26.38), Bullock (28.68) and MaKayla Gray (32.34) all topped their season bests in the 200, finishing third, eighth and 15th respectively.
Kailey Case set her season record of 1:12.07 in the 400 to finish 13th, while Regina Schuster (1:05.51) took sixth in the finals and Journey Noyes (1:14.39) came in 15th.
Emma Thissen (2:36.47) led the Lady Panthers with a fourth-place finish in the 800, and Ayanna Silas (2:44.16) and Julia Damore (3:11.31) each ran their best times yet to finish ninth and 13th.
Thissen (6:02.86) and Silas also (6:09.84) bested their previous 1,600 times to finish seventh and ninth, and Madelyn Smith (7:31.17) finished 14th.
“My gosh, their times were just huge improvements and they ran competitively and ran strong,” Koops said of his milers. “I was really proud of them.”
Rachel Zetts (15:57.24) set a new best in the 3,200, and Mandy McAfee (15:50.07), Zetts and Lynda LaPaz (16:33.35) finished consecutively in 10th, 11th and 12th.
Senior Weslie Kirks (16.47) took home second place in the 100-meter hurdles, Ashley Wood (18.11) ran her fastest in the prelims and finished fourth in the finals and Kaleen Boggs (20.04) finished 12th.
Wood (53.24) ran her best in the 300-hurdles as well, finishing six, with Boggs (55.12) following in 9th.
The Lady Panthers’ 4x1 team of Boggs, Anna Bullock, Kirks and Wood finished third (54.98), and the 4x8 team of Damore, Sila, Thissen and Zetts came in fourth (11:46.38).
And then the 4x4 team of Morgan Short, Trinity McCain, Schuster and Campbell (4:20.01) and the 4x2 team of Kirks, Short, Bullock and Campbell each ran season-best times to finish in second.
“The 4x2 is really strong,” said Koops. “If we can improve a second-and-a-half or two seconds I think we can sneak into the state meet. Which would be a great reward for those seniors for four years of dedication and it would be a great motivator for those young kids.”
In field events, Short’s best long jump of the year (16-0) landed her in second place, and Gabby Begay topped her previous best in the discus (74-5) to finish 13th.
Tayla Topaha tossed the disc 108-4 to finish second, Kirks took second in the triple jump (32-3.75), Kristine Candelaria finished fourth in the shot put (30-4.25) and McCain placed seventh in the high jump (4-4).
The Panther boys were not to be outdone, also setting new season bests on Saturday.
“We’re improving,” said boys head coach Bob Archibeque. “We’re getting better and better, and that’s what it’s all about. We’re a young team, and if you look across our roster, we only have one senior.”
Sophomore Trey Yarbrough’s best 200-meter dash time of 25.16 was good for tenth place, Obed Simental (26.08) was 16th and Tyler Case (27.12) ran his fastest 200 yet to finish 17th.
Elisha Vaquera took fifth in the 400 finals (53.39), while Jesus Ruiz (55.97) and Harley Benally (1:08.83) ran their best times of the season during prelims to finish 11th and 18th.
Josh Ramos (2:07.56) finished seventh in the 800, while Sonny Boren’s best season mark of 2:10.64 was good for 10th place and Colton Reynolds (2:17.21) took 14th.
“I really think he might surprise people this week,” Archibeque said of Ramos. “He came off that injury after having treatment for weeks, and then he ran a 52 second split in the 4x4.”
The Panthers’ milers all set new personal bests on Saturday, as Juan Arballo (5:06.84), Reid Littlefield (5:12.05) and Caleb Hughes (6:05.28) finished 13th, 15th and 16th respectively.
Littlefield (11:15.97) also set a new personal record in the 3,200 to finish ninth, and Noah Peterson (14:13.54) came in 12th.
Hurdler Micah Hightower set new bests in both the 110’s (17.23) and 300’s (45.63).
He finished fifth in the 110’s, ahead of Blair Rice (17.83) in seventh and Marcus Amrine (22.24) in 14th. And in the 300’s, Skyler Yarbrough’s new best of 44.16 was good for seventh place, while Rice (44.96) and Hightower followed in ninth and 11th.
The Panthers’ 4x2 and 4x8 teams were both disqualified for dropping the baton, but the 4x4 team of Coby Baer, Boren, Ramos and Vaquera finished third (3:34.00) and their 4x1 team of Simental, Ruiz, Austin Wagner and Trey Yarbrough finished fifth (47.26).
Coby Baer was the Panthers’ high finisher in field events.
After catching in the morning baseball game, Baer jumped 20-1.5 in the long jump to place fourth, while Vaquera leapt 17-9 to finish 13th.
Wagner placed second (39-1.75) in the triple jump and Trey Yarbrough (33-09.75) finished tenth. And Kyle Talley threw a new best 21-2 in the shot put to finish in 17th, behind teammates Aaron Galyon (31-8.5) and Cade Partington (31-1.5) who finished 13th and 14th.
The Panthers have one final meet before state, this weekend at the Tiger Invitational in Grand Junction.