Meeker boys second, girls third at league

MEEKER I The Meeker tracksters put together some of their best performances of the year Saturday in Kremmling at the Western Slope League Meet.
Senior three-sport athlete Brock Campbell earned all-conference honors winning the 800 run. Track standout Kathryn Doll led the scoring for the girls’ team by winning three events and placing second in one. She is all-conference in the triple jump, long jump and the 100 dash.
West Grand High School hosted the meet and the weather was mild with little wind. The guys started the meet with an event they never ran this year — the 4×800 relay. J.J. Wyatt, Joe McPhail, Tala Atoafa and Lathrop Hughes placed fourth. Toby Casias took third in the 100 dash. He ran an 11.87 in a very tight finish. Paonia and Meeker battled it out all day in the relays with one team or the other coming out on top. Toby Casias, Jared Frantz, Colton Brown and Jake Nieslanik won in the first race winning the 4×200 relay in a season best 1:34.6. Brock Campbell ran a gritty 1,600, placing third. The 4×100 relay of Casias, Brown, Ryan Wix and Nieslanik came in second behind Paonia. They did improve their time and are only .2 seconds behind the state-qualifying mark. Colton Brown had a banner day in the high jump going over 6-3 for the first time. He placed second behind state champ Rene Valdez of Hayden. Wix, Jarrett Waldref and Tyrell Gerloff all had personal records in the shot put to score a combined 16 points for the team. Wix was second throwing 41-6, Waldref was third just an inch back and Gerloff improved by almost a foot to take seventh. Jake Nieslanik triple jumped for the first time this season and went 38-9 to take third place. Junior Jared Frantz also had a personal record in the 400 in a time of 53.2 to take second place. Wix picked up points in the discus throw with another PR of 116-2.25 for second place. Toby Casias found himself in a dogfight in the 200-meter dash with the top four sprinters neck and neck. Casias came in fourth but was the only sophomore in the finals. Alema Atoafa surprised himself and his coaches jumping more than a foot better in the long jump. He went 18-8.25 to take third place. Lathrop Hughes and Joe McPhail placed sixth and eighth, respectively, in the 3,200 run. One of the most exciting and last events of the day was the 4×400 relay with Paonia nipping Meeker at the line to take gold. The quad of Frantz, Atoafa, Pat Love and Campbell ran with heart.
Meeker finished second with 117 points, 22 behind first-place Paonia.
The girls scored lots of points placing third in the meet behind some personal-record efforts. The sprint medley relay of Adrienne Wix, Kacey Collins, Cassie Fronatt and Kaylyn Edwards took first place. Just after they ran, the 4×800 relay of Tristan Nielsen, Kaysyn Chintala, Kaylyn Edwards and Cody Pfau also took gold. Doll won the 100 dash with Perye Walter not far behind for sixth place. The 4×200 relay of Wix, Walter, Edwards and Fronatt placed fourth. Pfau ran through stomach pains to take fourth in the 1,600 and Wix, Collins, Edwards and Fronatt cut off two seconds but came in fifth in the 4×100 relay. Krystal Otwell ran the final 400 of her career and placed eighth and Pfau and Tristan Nielsen ran together to come in third and fourth in the 800. Doll was second in the 200 with Fronatt placing fourth. The 4×400 relay of Wix, Edwards, Nielsen and Kaysyn Chintala ran a season best and came in third in the final running event of the day.
Jordan Brown had a standout day like her brother did in the high jump improving by four inches and clearing 4-10 for fourth place. She improved by almost three feet in the triple jump going 29-7. Pfau also made huge improvements going 30-1 in the triple to place fourth. All three girls; Doll, Pfau and Brown placed first, fourth and sixth to score 18 points for their team. Bailey Atwood struggled to get a good throw off in the shot put but still managed to place eighth.
Meeker was third with 109 points.
The Meeker teams will travel to Grand Junction to compete in the regional meet today and Friday.