RANGELY | The Rangely Panthers track and field team had its first meet on Friday, March 16, in Rifle, Colo. When they arrived they thought they were in the Winter Olympics, but doing Summer Olympics events. The infield was covered with snow, the outside lanes had ice on them, the rings were wet and the wind was blowing a cold breeze of 11 mph. As the starting time got closer the snow a began to melt and the rings dried up but the wind continued to blow all day long and the temperature never rose above 47.
The Panthers took 11 athletes to the meet. With it being the start of spring break, several families took advantage of the time off and left town for the week. Senior Patrick Scoggins scored in all of his individual events: he took first in the 400-meter dash with a time of 50.99, first in the 800-meter with 2:05.54, and fourth in the 100-meter dash with a 12.10. Senior Cameron Filfred threw the shot put for a distance of 31-1 and the discus for a distance of 82-3 1/2. Miekka Peck, senior, threw the shot put for a distance of 26-2 1/2 and the discus for 87-11, taking sixth place overall.
The junior class was represented by Riley Boydstun, Marshall Webber, Anna Forbes and Elena Forbes. Riley Boydstun was both a thrower and runner this meet, throwing the shot for a distance of 33-8 and the discus 92-6. He ran the 100 dash for a time of 14.78 seconds. Webber ran the 110 high hurdles for a time of 20.45 taking 13th place, and the 300 hurdles for a time of 47.95 for ninth place. Anna Forbes is returning from taking the year off last year and threw the shot put for a distance of 22-7 and the discus for 47-10. Her sister Elena, also a thrower, threw the shot for 23-8 and the discus for 72-3.
Brady Bertoch and Chloe Filfred were the only two sophomores competing this weekend. Bertoch, a thrower, was able to get new personal records in both the shot and discus. He threw the discus for a distance of 78-8 and the shot for 27. Chloe Filfred ran the 1600-meter and the 800. She got 3 minutes, 30.72 seconds in the 800 and 8:14.51 in the 1600.
Gabe Polley and Dixie Rhea made their debut in track and field at this meet. Gabe ran the 200-meter dash in 28.43, long jumped 14-2 1/2 and attempted high jump. Dixie Rhea is recovering from an injury and attempted the triple jump.
The boys put together a 4×400 relay team which took ninth overall with a time of 4:07.43. The relay was made up of Marshall Webber, Patrick Scoggins, Gabe Polley and Cameron Filfred. The Panthers will compete again on Saturday, March 24 in Hotchkiss.
