MHS tracksters earn bests

RBC I The competition at the annual Frank Woodburn Invitational Track Meet included all classifications on Saturday at Stocker Stadium in Grand Junction, where several Meeker athletes placed, while others set personal-best performances.
“We had great weather and great competition,” assistant coach Kris Casey said of the team’s performance on Saturday. “The season is going well, as this was only our third meet. We have seen some great things out of the kids so far and are expecting continued improvement as we move into the season. There were quite a few large schools there so our kids had to work quite hard.”
Meeker sophomore Jake Phelan led the Cowboys with a third place finish in the triple jump. Phelan recorded a hop, skip and jump of 39-7 1/4 for his best of the year. Aly Ridings continues to improve her jumping as she finished sixth in the long jump and eighth in the triple jump, setting personal bests in both events.
Senior Bailey Atwood placed seventh in the shot put with a 36-4 personal best for the season while freshman T.J. Shelton recorded a personal best time of 11.72 in the 100-meter dash, good enough for seventh place.
The Meeker girls’ 4×200 relay team of Linda Olivas, Jordan Brown, Brianna Holding and Taylor Ahrens also finished seventh with a time of 1:58.71.
“We had a few problems with hand-offs in quite a few relays this weekend,” Casey said. “Once we get hand-offs looking right, we should start seeing some of our relay times coming down and being competitive in the next few meets.”
Casey said quite a few other Meeker athletes turned in personal bests.
The team is looking forward to a full weekend schedule — at Coal Ridge on Friday and in Glenwood Springs Saturday,” Casey said.