Montezuma-Cortez hosted a track and field party for the whole of the San Juan Basin. Durango and Dove Creek declined the invitation, but the rest of the San Juan Basin was there, plus an additional school out of southern Utah.
If you've been around Cortez in the spring, you know that dealing with the wind is more or less a constant. And so it was this time as well, but the wind was not nearly as bad as it has been in a few previous installments of this meet.
Tymbree Florian looks to be a name we will be hearing more of for the next three years. The Bayfield freshman won the 100 meter dash in 13.70, though not with a legal wind. She also won the long jump at an even 16 feet (0.4), and took a leg on Bayfield's winning 4x100 meter relay.
Teammate Brian Mashak had similar problems with the wind, winning both the 100 and 200, but having neither one count on account of the wind.
Weslie Kirks of Montezuma Cortez produced still another event double out of the meet, winning the 100 hurdles without a legal wind, but got the wind to cooperate enough to make her 31-10 (0.4) triple jump winner count.
In a bit of a change of pace, though not much of a change of place, Ro Paschal of Mancos took second in the 200 with a 25.00. If you thought all along that Paschal was probably faster than that, you might be right. Paschal's 200 came on the heels of a winning 2:05 800. And, Paschal also had a leg of a winning 4x800 (8:45.86) on his legs from earlier in the meet.
Jacob Hughes of Pagosa Springs won both the 1600 and 3200 and was the lone person on the day to crack either five or 11 minutes.
Carl Heide extended his local domination of the hurdle events, winning the 110s by a little over a half second and the 300s by a little over a second, both at the expense of Tristan Medina of Dolores.
Pagosa freshman Cade Cowan won the long jump at 19-6.5. That mark is easily enough to find him a set of coordinates on our freshman radar screen. But, as things have been going in the San Juan Basin for a while now, Andrew Plunkett of Mancos took the other two jump titles.
And, finally, the showdown of the shot put went the way of Bayfield's Sam Westbrook. Westbrook threw 45-11 to beat Montezuma-Cortez's Victor Perez by nearly a foot.