RANGELY | This past weekend the Rangely High School track and field team traveled to Glenwood Springs to compete in Demon Invitational, a meet in which the Panthers s howcased their rampant growth and success. Of the 17 teams competing at the meet, the lady Panthers scored enough points to finish third overall as a team and the boys’ team placed seventh, impressive considering the Panthers were competing against some of the Western Slope’s top 3A and 4A talent.
Kenyon Cochrane placed fourth in the shot put with a personal record of 43-00.25 and earned another PR in discus, finishing second at the Demon Invitational. Tiffany Jehorek Photo
The girls’ 800-meter sprint medley relay got the races going for Rangely, finishing in third with a time of 2:07.71. MacKenzie Manchester was next up, completing the 100-meter hurdles in 21.13. Aubrianna Tapia and Emma Smith were neck and neck in the 100 as they finished in 14.82 and 14.84, respectively. Logan Peterson ran the 100 in 13.01 as the boys’ top finisher, followed by Robert Murray in 13.79, and Caiden French with 15.56.
The girls’ 4×200-meter also had a great showing, finishing second overall in 1:55.76. The boys’ 4×200 took to the track shortly after and logged a 1:48.13. Andrew Dorris was the next individual on the track for the 1,600-meter in which he finished second with a new personal best of 4:48.34. Justin Allred and Gage Nielsen also competed in the 1,600, running 5:55.92 and 6:53.60, respectively.
The lady Panthers ran the 4×100-meter in a time of 59.33 before Ashlynn Ducey and Tylee Fielder braved the 400-meter. Ducey completed her lap in 1:05.70 and Fielder ran a 1:07.08. On the boys side of the 400, Justin Allred ran 1:00.51, Joseph Valdez 1:01.89, and Gage Nielsen 1:22.99. Manchester ran the 800-meter for the first time, finishing in 3:33.28.
Dorris returned to the track for his second PR of the day, winning the 800 in 2:02.43. Also running the 800 was Clay Allred in 2:18.72 and Joseph Valdez in 2:28.44. Fielder and Miah Wren were on the track next for the 200-meter, running 30.60 and 31.03, respectively. Peterson ran the 200 in 27.79 and French finished in 31.30.
James Talbot stepped onto the track for the 3,200-meter for his first race of the day. Having fresh legs apparently paid off, as he won the race with a 9:51.69 en route to a nearly 30 second PR and breaking a 10-year-old school record. The boys’ 4×400-meter wrapped up the track events for the day with a time of 3:49.62.
In the field events, Kastyn Dembowski and Wren each cleared 7-05. Dembowski and Annika Cantrell went 1-2 in the high jump, each clearing 4-09. Smith and Ducey each leapt 13-07.25 in the long jump and Addison Scott jumped 12-06.25. Anthony Dorris placed fifth in the long jump with his PR leap of 18-08.5. Fisher Winder jumped 17-08 and Peterson 16-08.25.
Smith had a big personal best in the triple jump with a distance of 31-01, good enough for third place. Kaelyn Geer leaped 28-01. Winder jumped 37-08 in the triple jump, along with Clay Allred’s 34-0. In the shot put, Kyrah Phelps led the way with a third place finish of 30-10.5. Rylee Allred and Manchester each qualified for the final as well, throwing 28-04 and 28-00.5.
Kenyon Cochrane placed fourth in the shot put with a PR of 43-00.25. Chase Cochrane threw 34-02.5 and Malcom Osborn went for 30-00. Once again, all three lady Panther throwers made the finals in the discus. Phelps was third with her throw of 101-06, Rylee Allred threw 87-03, and Tapia 80-06. Kenyon Cochrane threw another big PR in the discus as he finished second with 150-06. Chase Cochrane threw 106-05 and Justin Allred went for 90-04.
The Panthers have just over a month left in the season and are making great strides towards being ready for the state championships. The team will host the Rangely Panther Invitational next weekend at Yeager Field. Events start at 10 a.m.
Special to the Herald Times
