1A/2A - Cedaredge boys go grappler, Paonia girls gear up for 6-peat
With the team title well in hand, the Cedaredge Bruins boys 4x400 team broke out wrestling singlets for their final race. The team of Ty Grant, Jordan McMillan, Drew Markley, and Danny Mendoza ran the first three legs back and forth with Hotchkiss and Vail Christian. The Bruin's anchor (to this observer it was Ty Grant, but that's unofficial) sat on the other two anchors and took off down the homestretch for the win. The times turned in by the top three teams moved them all into the top four in 2A with Cedaredge leading in 3:32.21, Hotchkiss in second in 3:32.79 and Vail Christian in fourth, 3:33.20.
The Bruins' three-peat state title hopes will rely on big points in 100 and 200 from league champion Ty Grant (11.26 and 23.01). The boys in blue have depth in the speed department. Alex Barron was second in the 100 (24.26) and Wyatt Camp was third (24.92) and fourth in the 200.
Mendoza is the hurdle specialist for Cedaredge, he was third behind 1A state leader Blayden Fletcher (15.57), and he won the 300s in 41.38, just in front of Peebles (41.61).
The Western Slope 2A boys are primed to be regulars on the top of the podium in two weeks. In addition to Grant in the springs, Rangely's Patrick Scoggins, who won the 400 this weekend (52.12) has the top time in the 400. Soroco's Ben Kelley, who didn't run an individual race at the WSL, has the top times in the 800 and 1,600. Depending on how heavy the Rams go on workload, Kelley could go for a triple in Lakewood.
Some Other notable performances from the 1A/2A meet were Soroco's Grant Redmond's win in the high jump (6-4.5 and he leads the classification with a 6-6.5 jump), Hotchkiss' Darrin Young's win in the shot put (47-2 and he leads 2A with a 48-2) and Plateau Valley's third place finish in the 4x100, which put them in the lead in 1A with their time of 45.93.
The bobsled tradition lived on at the end of the WSL meet the Paonia Eagle ladies joined the Cedaredge boys to celebrate their titles by taking a seat in a chain and moving their arms in sync back and forth - a tradition that has been alive for the Eagles during a five-year span of state titles. The Eagles know this year won't be an easy one, but they showed their depth and experience could at least get them a League title this year.
The Eagles won primarily because of depth. They only had three titles - McKenna Palmer in both horizontal jumps (15-6 in long and 35-02 in triple) and Sabrina Leighton in the discus (36-8.25). They managed the title by having multiple entries in all but three finals throughout the meet and finishing in the top four of every relay.
Individuals to shine on the girls side were: DeBeque's Faith Novess who won three titles with both hurdle races -and the high jump - she currently owns top performances in 1A in all three with her winning times (15.95 and 47.3) in the hurdles and a previous jump in the HJ of 5-5. Hayden's Hannah Wilkie is priming for a repeat in the 800 state title and she held of Soroco's Chloe Veilleux in the two top times in 2A thus far - 2:18.27 and 2:20.13, respectively. Veilleux cruised to a victory in the 1,600 in 5:25.96.
Depth the name of the game for 4A champs, Glenwood boys, Battle Mountain girls
"Break them up," were the words from Eagle Valley's camp to Bailey Scrivens and Miguel Castillo prior to to keep Eagle Valley out of the top three for the coveted 24-point sweep with Olson (who also won the 200) first (50.32), Smith second (52.63) and Angeles third. (52.89) The sweep was instrumental for the Demons who won their second-consecutive Western Slope 4A title by a slim three-point margin.
The Demons also received point boosts in the hurdles with Bryce Risner finishing second (15.27) in the 110s and fourth in the 300s (42.43) and Aj Crowley third (15.33) in the 110s and second in the 300s (39.67). Eagle Valley's Harrison Trotter played the spoiler in the hurdles with wins in both races (15.29 and 39.67) All of the aforementioned hurdlers have a chance to make finals at state, so keep an eye on the Western Slopers over the barriers in two weeks.
Trotter put in a heavy workload for the Devils with four individual wins. He showed he can jump high and long with a win in the high jump (6-3) and triple jump (42-1.25 - out-jumping Palisade's Jacob Mattingley by the slimmest of margins - .25 of an inch.)
The Demons also padded their repeat championship effort with a 1-2 finish in the 3,200 from Gavin Harden, (9:41.77) and Henry Barth (9:54.30) and points from multiple finals with multiple athletes.
Outside of the Devils and Demons battling for a title, another highlight was Palisade's Brody Bittner who doubled with a 1,600 (4:27.23) and 800 (1:58.96) win.
On the girls side, Battle Mountain has been known for it's distance accomplishments for a long time and they still got their points there, but this weekend it was accomplishments in shorter races that helped make a difference. Sabrina Sutter won both sprints for the Huskies. Naomi Harding and Alex Raichart moved down to the 400 to go 1-2 in the race (59.89 and 1:00.14, respectively). The Huskies scored 19 points in each of the 800 and 1,600 with 2-3-4 place finishes. The spoiler for the gold medals was Eagle Valley's Joslin Blair who won the distance trifecta (800, 2:15.05 - 1,600 5:01.16 - 3,200 11:05.13).
Glenwood hurdlers dominated with Ginny Bergstrom and Sequoia Kellogg finishing in the top two. Bergstrom won the 100s in 15.15 with Kellogg in 15.8 behind her and followed up in the 300s with a time of 47.06 and Kellog right behind her in 47.82. Bergstrom also brought home gold in the high jump (4-7.25).
One other double winner came in the throws with Eagle Valley's Cassie Jaramillo winning the discus (110-02) and shot put (37-01).