The high school track and field season is officially underway for the Rangely Panthers who traveled to compete in the Rifle High School Invitational this past week. At the Rifle home meet, you can always be sure of a few things: rusty veteran competitors, fresh faces to the sport, and snowy mornings. This year was no exception to the trend as juniors and seniors prepared themselves for another great year, freshmen and sophomores got their first taste of high school track and field, and athletes huddled together under tents to stay warm as snow fell.
The meet was kicked off on the field with the girls pole vault, boys discus, girls shot put, boys high jump, girls long jump, and boys triple jump. Miah Wren was the lone lady Panther in the pole vault, but got her season off to a great start with a 7-6 clearance and 4th place finish. Justin Allred threw the discus 65-1 as Aubriana Tapia led the girls shot put throwers with her 6th place throw of 28-10.5. Miley Francis threw the shot put 18-6.5 and Amber Castillo threw 15-3.75. In the boys high jump, Landon Bollinger cleared 5-1 and Kacey Allred and Davon Lucero each cleared 4-11.
As the field events continued throughout the morning, the running events got underway for the Panthers with the 100 meter dash. Miah Wren led the trio of Lady Panthers with a time of 14.52. Aubrianna Tapia ran 15.54 and Miley Francis ran 16.71. In the boys race, Logan Peterson’s 12.69 finished just ahead of Jordan Irwin’s 12.75 and Davon Lucero’s 13.10. Taya Wren made her high school debut in the mile running 5:34.22 and finishing 3rd. James Talbot finished 5th in his mile opener with a time 4:41.21. Joseph Valdez completed the mile in 5:17.50 and Justin Allred ran 5:35.67.
Both the girls and boys put together a 4×100 meter relay team, with the girls running 59.13 and the boys 49.12. Kacey Allred and Dylan Moran each braved the 1 lap race, finishing their 400 meters in 1:01.27 and 1:07.86, respectively. In the 800 meter run, Joseph Valdez led the way for the Panthers with a time of 2:19.15. Justin Allred completed the race in 2:20.73 and after a very short rest Dylan Moran returned to the track to finish the 800 meters in 2:36.22.
Out on the field, the first events of the day started to wrap up and the next wave of competitions got underway. Jordan Irwin cleared 10-6 for fourth place in the boys pole vault and Kacey Allred cleared 6-6. In the girls discus, Miley Francis threw 59-8 and Amber Castillo threw 38-9. Kaelyn Geer leapt 28-1 in the girls triple jump alongside Aubrianna Tapia’s 27-0. In the boys long jump, Logan Peterson led the way with his jump of 17-8.75 as Landon Bollinger lept 16-7 and Davon Lucero reached 15-9.
To complete the running events, Miah Wren ran the girls 200 meter dash in 29.46. Logan Peterson ran the boys 200 meter dash in 26.51. In the final event of the day, Taya Wren and James Talbot each competed in the 2 mile. Taya Wren got Rangely their first win of the day, finishing her eight lap race in 12:17.99. James Talbot finished 4th in the boys race with a time of 10:28.88.
“It was a great meet,” said head coach Beth Scoggins. “There certainly is a lot of work to be done between now and May when we hope to take as many athletes as possible to the state championships, but it was a lot of fun getting this first meet in and seeing where we are at. It’s going to be a fun season and I’m really excited to be coaching this group of athletes.”
The Panthers will be competing next at the North Fork Invitation in Hotchkiss, Colorado on March 23.
The next stop for the Rangely Panthers track team will be March 23 in Hotchkiss, Colorado.
