Competing at the Chandler Rotary Invitational against some of region’s top athletes on March 24, several Montezuma-Cortez High School runners, jumpers and hurdlers turned in impressive performances.
Leading the way for M-CHS was senior middle distance runner Josh Ramos, who won the varsity meet portion of the 800-meter run with a time of 1:59.40. Ramos also helped lead M-CHS’ 4x400 relay team, which included Sonny Boren, Skylar Yarbrough and Elisha Vaquera to a fourth-place finish (3:31.98).
A lot of kids competed and our kids were competitive against a lot of Arizona schools with two or three thousand kids,” said M-CHS boys coach Bob Archibeque. “I was very proud of the way that our kids responded to the venue that they were in.”
Complementing Ramos’ solid performance in the middle-distance events were triple jumper Austin Wagner, who finished second overall (42 feet, 4¼ inches), long-jumper Coby Baer, who placed 23rd overall (18 feet, 4 inches) and high jumper Skylar Yarbrough, who finished fourth (5 feet, 10 inches).
Panthers’ hurdlers also enjoyed solid days as Yarbrough placed 12th overall in the 300-meter hurdles (43.09) and senior Micah Hightower placed 15th in the 110-meter hurdles (17.11) and 23rd in the 300-meter hurdles (44.76).
“We’re strong in the hurdle, we’re strong in the relays, and we’re strong in the jumps,” Archibeque said.
Although very few members of the M-CHS girls team competed, some solid performances were turned in by Kaleen Boggs, who finished 33rd in the 300-meter hurdles (53.93) and 48th in the 100-meter hurdles (19.60).
A total of 154 teams competed in the Rotary Invitational, which included athletes from seven different states.
The M-CHS boys and girls teams will next return to the track at the Mickey Dunn Invite, April 1 in Grand Junction.