Weather ends first track meet of year

MEEKER I It was a track meet. Almost.
Meeker High School’s track team competed in its first meet of the season Saturday at West Grand Invitational in Kremmling. However, the meet was called because of weather, before the final events were completed.
“The snow came in waves all day long and finally ended the meet with three events left to run,” said Meeker track coach Andy Goettel.
Still, the Meeker track coach put a positive spin on the partial event.
“It was a team bonding experience,” Goettel said. “We got snowed out after the 800, so we did not finish the meet.”
The girls’ sprint medley team of Nicole Hilkey, Perye Walter, Cassi Fronatt and Tristen Nielsen placed fifth to start the scoring for Meeker.
Sophomore Toby Casias placed sixth in a field of 47 in the 100 meters and teammate Kathryn Doll took fourth in the girls’ 100.
The 4×200 relay team of Adrienne Wix, Timbre Shriver, Cassi Fronatt and Kaysyn Chintala placed third, while the guys 4×200 relay of Toby Casias, Brock Campbell, Jake Nieslanik and Jared Frantz dropped the baton but still managed to place third.
Freshman Cody Pfau ran an “excellent” 1,600 to place second and teammate Lathrop Hughs ran a strong 1,600 for the boys, Goettel said. In the 400, Katie Morgan ran a “great race” to place eighth, while for the boys, Frantz took second in his first 400 of the year. Timbre Shriver placed eighth place in the 300 hurdles.
In the field events, junior Ryan Wix led the way, placing first in the shot put with a heave of 40-6 1/2 and second in the discus, throwing 115 feet. Jarrett Waldref made the finals in both throwing events and placed fourth in the discus. Freshman Bailey Atwood took third in the shot put, throwing 30-8 1/2. Kathryn Doll went over 31 feet in the triple jump to take sixth and jumped 15 feet in the long jump for second place. Cody Pfau jumped over 14 feet for fourth place.
Moffat County won the meet with 188 points, followed by Eagle Valley 175, Middle Park 139, D’Evelyn 100, Meeker 94, West Grand 90, Hayden 66, South Park 60, Vail Christian 31, Summit 30, Soroco 29 and North Park 10. Goettel said he and fellow coaches Kris Casey and John Strate were pleased with the first-meet results, with Meeker being the top scoring 1A team.
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Next up for Meeker is the Palisade Invitational on Saturday. Originally, the Meeker Invitational was scheduled for April 20, but Meeker won’t have any home meets this season, for a couple of reasons.
“As far as our home meet is concerned, we canceled because of conflicts with other meets,” Goettel said. “The way CHSAA is doing things now you must pre-qualify in a pre-qual meet — you need wind equipment and electronic timers to be in compliance — or place in the top three at regionals. If you are not hosting a pre-qualifying meet now, you will not get many schools to come to your meet. Our track is also deteriorating badly and in need of repairs to be safe for a meet.”
Superintendent Doug Pfau added, “There are no funds at this time for fixing the track.”