MEEKER — The Barone Middle School track team traveled to Craig this weekend for its first meet of 2008.
The meet was divided into four divisions, seventh- and eighth-grade boys and seventh- and eighth-grade girls with Craig, Rangely, Steamboat and Baggs attending.
Meeker won the seventh-grade girls division, which is the first team victory in any division in many years for Barone Middle School. The eighth-grade girls finished a close second behind Craig. The eighth-grade boys also finished second edging past Steamboat and Baggs by only one point, and the seventh-grade boys finished fourth.
Although there were great individual performances, the team relays were the most exciting part of the day. Meeker’s seventh-grade girls won the 400-meter relay with the team of Bailey Atwood, Perye Walters, Savannah Vaden and Cassie Fronatt.
The 800- and 1,600-meter relay teams were composed of the same girls and Kaysyn Chintala, Tristen Nielsen, Anna George and Jordan Brown won both events convincingly seven and 17 seconds ahead of their closest opponent respectively.
The 800-medley team of Courtnie Blazon, Nicole Hilkey, Kristen Rowland and Amanda Kindall got second in a close race. The eighth-grade girls were first in the 400-meter relay as well with the team of Adrienne Wix, Randia Rule, Katie Morgan and Kathryn Doll.
Eighth-grade boys held up to the pressure the girls put on them with a win of their own in the 400 relay by Trey Morris, Nick Brink, Christopher Ruckman and Toby Casias. Ethan Overton, Aaron Pena, Charlie Scherbarth and Christopher Ruckman also placed third in the 800 medley relay. The seventh-grade boys team of Nate Walsh, Wyatt Rowlett, Lathrop Hughes and Drew Collins took third in the 400 relay.
The Cowboys had outstanding performances by individuals with Toby Casias breaking the 100-meter dash record with a time of 12.11, and he was only .05 seconds off of the 200-meter record and .40 from the 400-meter record held by Shane Phelan with a time of 55.6. He has yet to receive anything but blue ribbons in his track career. Classmate Christopher Ruckman finished third in the 200-meter dash and fourth in the high jump and Jordan Haney finished fifth in the triple jump for the eighth-grade boys. Kathryn Doll was enjoying success as she was .15 seconds off of the 100 dash record set in 1991, she also won the triple jump with a jump of 29-4, and was second in the long jump. Wix was second in the 100 dash and triple jump, and third in the long jump. Randia Rule was second in the 200 dash and fourth in the 100 dash. Drew Collins lead the way for the seventh-grade boys anchoring the relay team and finishing second in the mile and fifth in the 100 dash. Wyatt Rowlett was third in the high jump.
The meet winning seventh-grade girls have a long list of first place finishers beginning in the 100 dash with Cassie Fronatt first, Bailey Atwood second and Jordan Brown fifth. Fronatt won the 200 dash with Perye Walters finishing second. Tristan Nielsen won the triple jump with Amanda Kendall finishing second, and Savannah Vaden was second in the long jump with Anna George finishing fourth. George ran a great 800-meter race and finished second for the girls team, and Kaysyn Chintala placed third in the high jump. The seventh-grade girls looked extremely strong throughout the day and finished the meet 25 points ahead of the second place team.
The Meeker team hosts the meet this weekend with Craig, Steamboat, Hayden, Soroco, Rangely, Little Snake River and Meeker attending. Weather permitting the team should have another day of breaking records and winning relays. The field events start at 8:30 a.m. and running events at 9 a.m. Saturday.