BMS track team ends season

MEEKER — Barone Middle School tracksters competed in their final meet Saturday in Steamboat Springs, and certainly saved the best for last.
The season began with a meet in Rangely April 11, where three of the four divisions were won by the Meeker kids. Meeker hosted the meet the following week and managed to win the eighth-grade girls’ division.
On April 25, the meet was in Craig, where the eighth-grade girls kept their two-year winning streak alive and were joined by the seventh-grade boys as meet winners. The official results are not in from the Steamboat meet, but preliminary scores showed the eighth-grade girls ahead and the seventh-grade boys winning once again.
Each meet is divided into four categories — seventh- and eighth-grade boys’ and girls’ divisions. This season Barone Middle School was competitive in each division as the team had 55 eager kids running, jumping, and throwing for points. Throughout the season four school records were broken with incredible improvement from individuals.
The seventh-grade boys’ relay teams proved to be the teams to beat as the 800-meter relay team of Jake Boesch, Bruno Juarez, J.C. Henderson and Bailey Mantle won every meet and broke the record in the third meet and again in the last meet. The 400-meter team of Jake Boesch, J.C. Henderson, Julio Villapondo and Bruno Juarez also beat the record and won the biggest meet of the year in Steamboat. Not to be outdone, the 1,600-meter relay team of Bruno Juarez, Fabian Jones, Cody McLaughlin and Willis Begaye took an amazing 16 seconds off their previous time and also broke the school record in the Steamboat meet with a time of 4:39. The final record to fall was in the eighth-grade girls’ shot put. Bailey Atwood holds the seventh-grade record and beat the eighth-grade record as well with a throw of 35-5.
Meeker had many event winners in the meets with the relays once again proving to be their strong point as Debbie Cook volunteers to help in this area. The eighth-grade girls’ 400-meter team of Perye Walters, Bailey Atwood, Cassie Fronatt and Savannah Johnson (alternate Kaysyn Chintala) won two out of four of the meets and were leading in the fourth meet against six other teams when the wet baton fell to the ground in the final exchange. The team was only .5 from the record.
The seventh-grade girls’ 400-meter team was extremely successful with Shelby Burke, Aly Ridings, Taylor Ahrens and Mariah Jensen anchoring. The 800-meter and 800 medley teams also finished in the top two every meet with Kaysyn Chintala, Kaylyn Edwards, Cassie Fronatt and Jordan Brown (alternate Perye Walters) making up the 800-meter team and Nicole Hilkey, Kacey Collins, Jordan Brown and Kristin Rowland composing the medley team. The seventh-grade girls’ medley of Liz Fellows, Dannon Bolton, Taylor Morris and Alexis Gutierrez were very successful, winning three meets and placing second in the third. The eighth-grade boys’ team of Nate Walsh, Drew Collins, Ben Fitzgibbons and Wyatt Rowlett also won or placed in the top two in every meet.
The BMS jumpers had a great deal of success with the volunteer help of Kristen Henderson. Tristen Nielson won two meets, with Jordan Brown, and Kaylyn Edwards also placing in the triple jump for the eighth-grade girls. The seventh-grade girls were led by Aly Ridings in this event, with Piper Haney, Taylor Ahrens, Anna Ducey and Taylor Morris improving through the season.
Seventh-grade boys J.C. Henderson and Truman Titler improved through the season, as J.C. was second in the long with a jump of 12-6. Eighth-grade boys found Wyatt Rowlett, Ben Fitzgibbons, Nate Walsh and Stefan Cochran having success in the triple and high jump. All three kids had great seasons and were among the top in every meet. Joey Scherbarth and Stefan Cochran also acquired points for the eighth-grade team in the high jump and hurdles.
Last, but certainly not least, were the distance kids coached by assistant coach Adam Hoatson. Mariah Jensen broke a seven-minute mile twice in the season with her best time a 6:57, and Piper Haney took an incredible 19 seconds off her 800 meter time, finishing the season with a 3:13 for the seventh-grade girls. Cortnie Blazon ran the 800 for the first time in Steamboat for the eighth-grade girls and placed with a time of 3:14. The seventh-grade boys had Bailey Mantle, Cody McLaughlin and Fabian Jones all running the 800 and all shaving seconds and finishing under three minutes in the final meet.
The three boys also ran the mile joined by Asa Kelley and Kenny Kohls. Scott Smith ran the mile for the eighth-grade boys and his sister Jordan ran the event for the seventh-grade girls. The 400-meter dash was always an exciting event to watch as Lathrop Hughes placed in every meet and ran an exceptional 63.77 in the last meet. J.C. Henderson won his final meet with a personal best 64 seconds and outleaning the second-place runner in Steamboat to hold on to his winning streak in the 400 meters. Baily Mantle took of seven seconds from the start of the season finishing at a 1:13.
Hoatson also worked with the throwers and all saw improvement throughout the season. Ohana Mat and Bailey Atwood won the seventh- and eighth-grade girls’ events in every attempt, and Scott Smith and Willis Begaye also placed consistently. John Mac Sheridan, Truman Tittler, Jake Massey, Justine Fronatt, Kacey Collins, Savannah Johnson, Maclaine Shults, Jordan Smith and Stefan Cochran also threw the shot put and worked hard every day to improve.
The dedication and hard work of these 53 kids outweighed the cold weather, and proved stronger then the constant rain as they competed well in all their events and made the 2009 track season extremely successful.
Thank you to all the volunteers that made the Meeker meet go smoothly and once again to Debbie Cook, Kristin Henderson, and Adam Hoatson for their time and effort. Also thanks to Rhonda Hilkey for always helping with whatever needed to be done at meets and practice.