Three Meeker D.I. teams go global

MEEKER I Meeker was well represented in Colorado’s Destination Imagination competition Saturday on the Auraria Campus in Denver. Five teams competed for Meeker and three teams are advancing to the global competition in Knoxville, Tenn., in May.
The competition was composed of six categories divided into elementary, secondary and high school divisions with more than 250 teams competing from schools of all sizes, private and public from around the state.
The Western Slope will be represented by four teams, three of which are from Meeker.
The first team earning a spot on Team Colorado includes Kenzie Turner, Gracie Bradfield, Kassie and Krissie Luce, Pake and Kale Burke and Charlie Day, with their team managers Marnell Bradfield and Travis Day. The team was third in the “In the “Zone” category, advancing them to globals for their second time as a team. Two years ago, the team advanced when competing in the elementary division. This year they moved up to the middle school division, competing against several older teams.
With no classifications based on school size or grade separation other then elementary and secondary, this was a tremendous accomplishment for this veteran DI team.
The second team qualifying for globals was composed of Kelton Turner, Connor Blunt, Colton Nielsen, Aspen Merrifield, Porter Hossack, Tatumn Kennedy and Hadley Franklin. The team placed second overall in the “Twist-a-Rama” category earning them a spot on Team Colorado.
The third team advancing is the team of Addie Joy, Cole Rogers, Tevin Pelloni, Makenna Burke, Colby Franklin, Annelise Amack and Jeniffer Kincher, who did a fantastic job in their “Real to Reel” category. The team has been competing together for three years.
The team of Lane Anderson, Braydon Garcia, Mason Holliday, Colby Clatterbaugh, Sophia Goedert, Brynlee Williams and Ryan Phelan proved they were among the top teams in the state, finishing eighth in the “Windvisible” catagory. They still have one year left to compete in the elementary division.
The second-grade team of Brealyn Garcia, Melayni Wangnild, Ruby Holliday, Kaden Franklin and Elijah LaBlanc competed in the “In The Zone” division but had a little car trouble as they had difficulty getting their cars to the target per category guidelines.
Destination Imagination participants had been practicing and preparing for the competitions since November and the remaining teams will continue practicing until May in Tennessee.