The Durango track and field team showed its speed and strength on Saturday at the Piedra Vista Turner Invitational at Farmington High School. The Demons boys finished first out of seven schools and the Demons girls finished second as a team out of seven schools as well.
“I think we're performing really well right now for this early in a season,” Durango track and field coach Johnny Bertrand said. “Especially with a lot of our younger athletes, freshmen and sophomores on the sprint side for sure are scoring a lot of points for us. We had a lot of kids out of town, we had a lot of our distance kids out in town and some of our other top athletes. It was nice to still get first and second.”
On the girls side, sophomore Juliana McKown finished fourth out of 62 finishers in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.48 seconds. She also finished third in the 200 with a time of 29.17. Sophomore Molly Bertrand finished fifth with a time of 30.69.
Junior Sofia Voss finished second in the 1600 with a time of 5:40.22. sophomore Mira Quayle then finished second in the 3200 with a time of 13:50.34.
Sophomore Evie Morris led the Demons in the 100 hurdle. She finished sixth with a time of 18.75. Morris then finished second in the 300 hurdles with a time of 51.87. Sophomore Aileen McManus was fourth with a time of 54.28.
Durango girls were victorious in the 4x400 relay and the 1600 sprint medley. The foursome of junior Annie Becholt, Bertrand, Voss and junior Ainsley Simpson won with a time of 4:29.40. Aztec High School finished second with a time of 4:33.25.
The 1600 medley is comprised of two 200 legs, one 400 and one 800 leg. McManus, Morris, sophomore Joey Rohde and sophomore Rye Standifer finished first with a time of 4:51.39. Farmington High School was second with a time of 5:03.45.
It’s even more impressive for the Demons that the 1600 medley isn’t an event that is run in Colorado.
“I was proud of those girls in the medley for getting first because all of those girls are sophomores,” Bertrand said. “Evie Morris, who anchored it, that's only the second 800 she has ever run. Joey had a great leadoff leg for it and then Evie finished really strong with the 800.”
In girls long jump, McKown finished fourth with a jump of 14-03. McKown finished second in triple jump with a jump of 31-09.25 and McManus finished third with a jump of 30-02.25.
Junior Violet Mazenko finished first in discus throw ahead of her teammate sophomore Oshi Reider. Mazenko threw 101-10 while Reider threw a PR of 96-07.50. In shot put, Mazenko was second with a throw of 30-05.50, junior Megan Hutchins was third with 29-11.25.
Bertrand said to make a good throw in discus and shot put, a thrower needs to work on their speed and release angles.
On the boys side, senior Jaxon Fancher finished fifth in the 100 with a time of 12.15. In the 200, sophomore William Zahradnik finished second with a PR time of 23.85, senior Kaleb Roberts finished third at 24.72, freshman Mason Miller finished fourth with a PR time of 24.83, senior Ethan Flores was fifth at 25.02.
“There are more guys that are fast that didn't even run it,” Bertrand said. “So our boys sprint is looking really strong this year.”
In the 400, Fancher finished first with a 52.36. Sophomore Seb Tripp finished third with a 53.96. Senior Kaleb Roberts finished fifth with a 54.80.
Freshman Benjamin Lively was the lone Demon in the top 10 of the 800 with a time of 2:27.57. Junior AJ Bonanno was second in the 1600 with a time of 4:52.15.
Senior Charlie Dillman finished first in the 3200 with a time of 10:08.43 and Bonanno was fourth with a 11:04.16.
Bertrand believes Dillman can go below 10 minutes in the 3200 but since he won by 16 seconds it can be tough to push and pace himself when he was ahead by so much.
Junior Xavier Sutherlin finished second in the 110 hurdles with a PR time of 15.90. He also finished third in the 300 hurdles with a time of 44.53. Flores was fourth in the 300 hurdles with a time of 45.03.
The Demons boys were strong in the relays, winning the 4x100 and the 4x400 relays.
In the 4x100, Tripp, Zahradnik, Miller and Fancher combined for a time of 44.03. Farmington High School was second with a time of 45.54. In the 4x400, the foursome of Tripp, Fancher, Zahradnik and Roberts finished with a time of 3:37.20. Piedra Vista finished second with a time of 4:06.20.
“For the 4x100, 44:03, that's pretty fast,” Bertrand said. “I don't think we've run that in a few years.”
Bertrand said the coaches will play around with who’s on the relay teams so they can find not only the fastest runners but the runners who work well together. Bertrand thinks the 4x400 will be the strongest relay for the boys.
Freshman Donovan Whitehead impressed in numerous field events. He finished first in boys high jump by clearing six feet. He also finished first in triple jump with a jump of 41-10.25. Whitehead finished third in long jump with a jump of 19-09.
“With triple jump, he just started at our first meet so this is only the second time he's ever competed in it,” Bertrand said. “This, in 18 years of coaching, is the best boy triple jumper I've seen come through.”
Miller was also finished fourth in high jump with a 5-08. Zahradnik finished first in long jump with a PR of 21-03.25. Miller was fifth with a jump of 19 feet.
In shot put, junior Bryce Hughes finished fifth with a throw of 35-10.25.
The Durango track team is back in action at Bayfield High School for the Pine River Invitational on Saturday.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
