MEEKER | The Barone Middle School track team competed in two meets this past weekend, hosted five other teams at its home invitational on Friday, and then traveled to the Glenwood Springs Middle School Invitational on Saturday.
The home meet saw some strong performances across the board. The seventh grade girls division included Bella Blazon in a third place shot put throw of 22 feet 2.5 inches, a third place finish at 14.52 seconds in the 100-meter dash for Natalie Kracht, and Jayda May taking second in the 400-meter dash in 1 minute 15 seconds. Meeker also had great success in the relays, with the 4×100-meter relay team of Kracht, Celine Lozano, Ellie Hossack, and Ainsley Selle taking first place in 59.00 seconds. Successful relays continued with a first in the 4×400-meter relay, of Kracht, Hossack, Kassidy Wille, and Selle, wrapping up seventh grade relays Sophi Cox, Amy Rosendahl, Lozano, and Hossack finished in first place in the 800-medley relay, in 2:25.56.
“The eighth grade girls also had a number of good early season results,” commented head coach Marty Casey. Jayden Overton took first place in the 100-meter hurdles, in 17.62 seconds, and at 19.56 Autumn Hobbs took second. Brighton Bair ran the 1,600-meter run in 6:26.69 for second place. Third place in the 100 dash was Emma Luce, with a 13.72. She also ran the 200-meter dash, in 29.59 seconds, taking first place by almost two seconds. The 400 dash had Gwyn Hooks in second at 1:15.85, and Ruby Holliday at 1:16.34 for third. Hobbs, Luce, Ariel Gallegos and Overton took second in the 4×100 relay. Jasmine Long, Bair, Hooks and Overton won the 4×400 relay in 5:07.25, and Hobbs, Luce, Gallegos and Hailey Larson were third in the 800 medley, with a 2:20.02 finish. Meeker had a smaller number of boys competing this weekend, but still saw some good performances. In seventh grade, Ryan Sullivan was third in the 100 dash at 14.18. Connor Padilla won the 400 run in 1:06.55, and those two ran with Gabe Smithers and Teagan Sheridan in the 4×100 relay in 57.41 for second. Sheridan and Sullivan also ran the 200 dash, taking second and third places, in 30.37 and 30.38. Sheridan also won the long jump, with a distance of 14 feet 2.5 inches. Jon Cardile had third place in the long jump in the eighth grade division, at 14-11.75. In team scoring, the seventh grade girls were fourth, the eighth grade girls girls won their division, the seventh grade boys took third, and the eighth grade boys were sixth.
In team scoring the seventh grade girls were fourth and eighth grade was first. For the boys seventh was third and eighth was sixth.
“On Saturday, despite fatigue and some amount of sunburn from the previous day, the Cowboys continued to impress,” said Casey.
Amid higher temperatures and twice the number of teams, Padilla, Sullivan, Smithers and Sheridan took third place in the 4×100 relay in 57.88. Sullivan also had an excellent showing in discus, with a winning throw of 82-8.5 inches. The seventh grades boys scored seventh as a team. Bella Blazon also had a good day in the throwing events, 23-11 in shot put, and 51 feet in discus; she took third place in both. Jayda May was second in the 200 hurdles, in 37.67. Kracht, Lozano, Hossack, and Selle were first in the 4×100 relay for the second time that weekend, finishing in 1:00.49. Kracht, Cox, Lozano, and Hossack teamed up for a second place finish in the 800 medley, in 2:27.06. Averee Woodward cleared 3-10 inches for third place in high jump. These all contributed to a third place team finish for the seventh grade girls. The eighth grade girls also had some great performances, with Overton taking second place in both the 100 and 200 hurdles, in 17.98 and 32.93, respectively. Hobbs, Luce, Gallegos and Overton ran the 4×100 relay in 56.78, for second place. Ruby Holliday had a great day at high jump, clearing 4-8 inches for second place. The ladies finished fourth in team scoring.
“It was great to finally see the results of all of the hard work of the past few weeks,” Casey said. “We saw some room for improvement, and are excited to see what our kids can do in the remaining season.”
By Tiffany Jehorek | Special to the Herald Times
