Team preps for last regular week of the season; one meet left to qualify for state
(Bottom) Austin Ficken took the win in the discus with a 136 foot throw and nabbed third in shot put. He threw 43 ft. 1 in at the Grand Junction league meet.
Special to the Herald Times
RANGELY | The RHS track and field team spent May 4-5 at 2A’s toughest league meet, racing, jumping, and throwing against the likes of quadruple league champs Cedaredge and quintuple state champions Paonia. With a two-day format, many events had prelims Friday and finals on Saturday, and despite the stiff competition, the Panthers had several athletes make finals.
On Friday, the freshman duo of Gabe Polley and Phillip Noyes competed hard in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, long jump and high jump. While neither were able to get into finals, Polley saw new personal bests in the 100 dash and long jump while Noyes ran a personal best in the 200 dash.
Ana Forbes and Kaylee Mecham joined the Panthers on the track Friday, both running personal bests in the 100 dash. Elena Forbes ran the 100 dash as well in personal best fashion along with throwing the discus 80 feet 2 inches.
Marshall Webber was having a terrific day of prelims, running a strong 110-meter high hurdles. Going through the 300-meter hurdles, Webber was leading the way by several meters until he hit a hurdle and went down hard. Webber ended up sitting the rest of the weekend out in order to heal and rest for the next meet. Patrick Scoggins ran the 400-meter dash prelims in 52.12 seconds, qualifying for finals with the fastest qualifying time. Later, Scoggins defended his 800-meter title with a win in 1:59.93.
The lady Panthers distance crew of RaeLynn Norman and Chloe Filfred competed well in Friday’s heat. Norman cut 30 seconds off of her previous best in the 3,200-meter run, taking third in 12:58.71. Filfred ran a new personal best as well in the 800-meter run, finishing in 3:05.25.
Austin Ficken and Mckenze Cochrane continued to lead the Panther throwers over the weekend. With each day hosting a different throwing event, the throwers were able to really focus in on their event for the day. Ficken won the Western Slope League discus title with a throw of 136-00 then finished third in the shot put in 43-01.5. Cochrane finished fifth and sixth in discus (106-07) and shot put (31-00.75), respectively. Riley Boydstun got into finals with a personal best throw of 119-00 in the discus, placing eighth as well as taking 12th in the shot put. Miekka Peck just missed finals in the discus, finishing in 10th with a throw of 89-06. Peck also placed 12th in the shot put. Breanna Davis threw the shot put 30-01.50 for an eighth place finish in finals. Brady Bertoch threw as well as running a new personal best in the 100 dash.
While Saturday was even hotter than Friday, the Panthers continued to improve and compete for top spots in the finals. While the throwers started the day off with their performances, Patrick Scoggins was the first runner on the track with the 400 dash finals. Scoggins won the race in 50.69, more than two seconds ahead of the second place finisher.
RaeLynn Norman and Chloe Filfred ended the weekend for the Panthers, competing in the 1,600-meter run. Filfred ran a new personal best of 7:01.76, while Norman pressed herself into a fifth place finish with a time of 6:05.23.
The weekend proved very successful for the RHS track and field team, as all of their hard work started to really show. This upcoming Saturday, the Panthers will be traveling to compete on Grand Valley’s new track with one last chance to qualify for state.
