Friday
Loaded relays were a big part of the weekend. The girls 4x800 relays teams kicked off the meet with top teams slicing off times from their previous bests. The Palisade girls (Alex Macaskill, Kendyl Macaskill, Hailey Langer and Alexis Chelle) just missed breaking the 10 minute barrier with the win in 10:01.85, a double-digit improvement, which looks like it will be good enough to earn the Bulldog foursome a trip to Denver. Second-and third-place finishers Moffat County (Halle Hamilton, Kelsey McDiffett, Emma Jones and Lydia Berkoff) - 10:04.57 - and Fruita-Monument (Mekenzie Clark, Kylee Quarnberg, Jadyn Heil and Ashlynn Squires) -10:04.93 dropped their previous bests.
The boys' 4x800 was won by Palisade in 8:28.78, which wasn't enough of an improvement to get the Bulldogs to the 4A state race, but second-place Montezuma-Cortez (John Whyte, Stevie Fuentes, Tyler Cutrone and Jayden Karo - 8:32.99) and third-place Delta (Shad Lewis, Goff Hunter, Andrew Toole and John Ames -8:35.23) appear to have improved enough to make it to the 3A showcase in Lakewood.
In the girls field events Fruita's Kenley Kohls continued to win the high jump (5-3) and Dolores' Jordan Elder moved into second in 2A with a clearance of 5-2.
In the 3,200s the small-class stars didn't win, but they improved their standings in a primer for state. Caprock Academy's Ashleigh Gardner finished second with a huge PR of 12:08.13 to move into the top five in Class 2A. Ignacio's Elco Garcia dropped 20 seconds off his previous best to finish third in 10:00.16 and he now owns the second-best time in 2A.
Out at the throws the elements were flying to new distances for several top athletes. Mancos' Caden Showalter won the discus with a sling of 2A's second-best 160-2. His teammate Show Showalter PRd with 139-01 to move into the top five in 2A. Palisade's Carl Cox finished second with a launch of 157-06. In the girls shot put, Montrose's Kelly Drye was just short of the 40-foot mark in 39-10 for the win.
Saturday
Kade Christensen has been the fastest man on the slope all spring, and on Saturday, his last competition on his home track, he won the 100 (11.19) and 200 (22.26). The 200 was a PR and looks like it be fast enough to keep him in the top 18 in Class 5A.
There weren't a lot of state meet caliber performances from the big-school boys in the distance races, but Jaden Evans from Telluride moved into second in 2A with his second-place time of 4:29.14 in the 1,600.
The Grand Junction boys of Christiansen, Colin Mortensen, Austin Hille and Ky Oday blew away the competition in the 4x100 with a time of 42.90, which is sitting in the top eight in the ultra competitive Class 5A sprints.
The Grand Junction Central 4x400 team of Max Marsh, Justin Blanton, Zach Warren and Kaelen Vance broke the 3:30 barrier in 3:29.68, but it won't be enough to get to Denver for Class 5A. Behind Central was Class 3A Coal Ridge (3:33.47) and Moffat County (3:34.13) and those teams will be able to move on to next week with those season bests.
In the boys' field events, Mancos' Caden Galloway won the high jump in 6-4, just off a season best and the returning top-3 placer in 2A goes into Denver ranked second. Durango's Alex Hise did not improve on his season best, but 4A's third ranked long jumper won the event with a jump of 22-08.
In the boys shot put Mancos' Showalters (junior Caden and freshman Show) took the top-two spots with tosses of 48-8.75 and 46-09 respectively.
On the girls' side of things fans got to watch two of the state's top freshmen, regardless of class, go after it. Montezuma Cortez's Avery Wright won the 100 (12.46). Fruita Monument's Kristin Cook and Coal Ridge's Peyton Garrison were neck-and-neck in the 200 with Cook just getting the edge 25.52 to 25.75. Cook is ranked 13th in 5A and Garrison goes into the Big Show second in 3A.
Cedaredge's Megan Jenkins is another freshman phenom on the Slope. She ran a PR to win the 100 hurdles (15.82) to move into the top 8 in 3A. In the 300 hurdles Durango's Anna Plyar was victorious with a 47.60 and she will look to improve that next week.
In the sprint relays Garrison and her teammates (Mary Bolitho, Phoebe Young and Kara Morgan) flew away from the field in 50.36 and they are now third in 3A. Fruita's 4x200 team of Cook, Ashlyn Erekson, Eliana Arcand and Aspen Hoffman) improved to 1:44.91 and could very well get to run next week.