Relays were a big part of the arsenal for Paonia last spring. They figure to be that again this spring. Photo by Paul Jaeger.
If you already know something about the community of Paonia, you can skip over the next paragraph--or you can check it for errors. If, however, you're among the majority of people in Colorado who have little to no knowledge of Paonia, I thought I'd offer a little background information.
Paonia is situated on the southern slopes of the Grand Mesa, up the valley from Delta and over the pass from Carbondale. The scenic north rim of the Black Canyon is nearby. Historically, it's been a blue-collar community with coal mining and fruit growing supporting most of the local economy. Paonia is the smallest of the four high schools in the Delta County school district. Recently, the school's greatest successes belong to the wrestling program, but the Eagles are consistently competitive in track and field as well. Although Paonia has no cross country program, their athletes have contributed heavily to the successes of the Hotchkiss cross country program.
One of the biggest reasons for the success of the Paonia track and field program is that they have refused to be one-dimensional. Every year, Paonia manages to score points in a nice array of events at the state meet.
While Paonia isn't a one-trick pony in track and field, you would be mistaken to think they don't have a specific area of strength. That specific area of strength would be the sprints. And, since sprints account for more points in a track meet than any other event group, it's not a bad strength to have.
It may be that Paonia has more horses in the sprint stable for 2011 than any other 2A program. Steven Voight will start the 2011 season ranked among 2A's top three at both 100 and 200 meters. Not a bad start. Adrian Penny will likely be heard from at both 100 and 200 meters as well, though his 2010 season saw a bit more success at 200 meters. And then there would be Richard Emmons. Emmons is among the top five 2A returners at 400 meters, but also dabbles a little at 100 and 200 meters.
It's not difficult to read the writing on this wall. Figure that each of these three guys goes one or two individual events and then contributes on the sprint relays with his other allowed events. Very few 2A programs are going to be able to keep pace with Paonia's point production in the sprints and sprint relays.
Paonia also annually produces one of the classification's top 4x800 relays. Coach Brian Mitchem typically borrows a little from his sprint surplus to get this done, but guys like Trevor Walters and Alex Flynn, who are best suited toward going a little longer, also figure to be fixtures on the relay.
Walters finished fourth in last year's 2A 3200 and will be looking to improve on that this spring. Although Walters did not run the 1600 at state last spring, there's a good chance he will be in that field this spring. If Walters' name seems vaguely familiar but somehow misplaced to you, it's probably on account of the fact that he runs cross country for Hotchkiss in the fall. For years on end, Hotchkiss has picked up the interested cross country runners from both Cedaredge and Paonia high schools.
Alex Flynn, an 800-meter specialist, will be back as well and should be good for points at state in that event. Flynn improved dramatically in both the 800 and 400 over the course of the 2010 season and could be capable of advancing to state in the 400 as well if the trend continues into this year.
With sprints and distance covered, we would move to the hurdles except that that is the one area in which Paonia has very little tradition. So, we move to field events instead.
Barring the arrival of a name or two that may slip in under the radar, Paonia figures to have two big contributors in the field events. Both could be capable of scoring points at state.
Anthony Roeber is a solid high jumper and long jumper, and likely figures to contribute some on relays as well. Zach Solaas is the big gun in the throwing ring. To date, Solaas has enjoyed more success with the metal ball than with the wooden disc, but he should not be taken lightly in either event. For Paonia to make a serious run at a state title, but Roeber and Solaas need a stronger set of performances in May than what they produced last year. Both struggled a little in their main events late last spring and missed the cuts for state. Both were young last year, however, and figure--with the requisite dedication--to be improved this year.
This is as good of a point as any to note that the strategy for success changes ever so slightly this year for 2A and 3A schools. Instead of trying to advance to state through regionals, athletes and relays will now advance to state through rankings. That means you fix attention on where you shake out across the entire state rather than simply within your own region.
While that means you can still qualify for state even if your region is "loaded" in your event of choice, it also means people won't be slipping into state through weak regions. You can no longer afford to ignore what's going on around the state in your event.
Paonia figures to fare well under the new scenario. In fact, the big new dilemma for Coach Mitchem may become one of selecting which events to use to advance his athletes to state.