Both county baseball teams play in Rangely on Saturday
MEEKER | “I think it has been at least 12 years since we have hosted and roughly 30 years since we hosted a meet with pole vault,” Meeker High School head track and field head coach John Strate said about Friday’s meet on the newly made and recently named Bob King Track at Starbuck Stadium. “We are really excited to be able to host.”
Nine teams, including both Rio Blanco County boys and girls teams, Coal Ridge, Rifle, Moffat County, Soroco (South Routt County) DeBeque, Little Snake River (Baggs, Wyo.) and Steamboat Springs will be in attendance, while Rio Blanco County’s high school baseball teams will both play in Rangely on Saturday.
“Friday will be a great opportunity to show other schools in our area, what a great facility we have,” coach Strate said. “Hopefully the meet continues to grow. I am also excited for our athletes to have the opportunity to compete at home. We have nine teams coming, so it should be a nice-sized meet, with solid competition.”
Pole vaulting was added to Meeker’s field events last year, when a new pit was purchased for the field and both MHS boys and girls competing in the event for the first time in the new millennium.
The pole vault will be the first field event, starting the meet at 9 a.m., with all other field events starting at 10 a.m. The starting gun for the first-ever high school races on the Bob King Track will be fired at 11 a.m.
Both Rio Blanco County baseball teams will play two games in Rangely Saturday but neither against each other. The Panthers will host Dolores at noon on the high school field, while the Cowboys will play Ignacio on CNCC’s field at the same time. Rangely will play Ignacio at 3 p.m., the same time Meeker plays Dolores, all will count as league games.
Both Rio Blanco County baseball teams opened their season with non-league losses to bigger schools, Meeker losing to the Roaring Fork Rams in Carbondale before going on spring break and the Panthers lost a home game to the Moffat County Bulldogs. The 2A Panthers played the 3A Grand Valley Cardinals in a doubleheader Tuesday at home.
