In getting the Spring 2022 track-and-field season underway Friday, March 18, nobody apparently bothered to inform Lady Bobcat Lexy Young it was only her team’s first meet.
Equaling her fastest ’21 time in the 100 meters and missing her best mark in the 200 by four-hundredths of a second, the Ignacio senior placed second in the former sprint, clocking 13.77 seconds (Mosca-based Sangre de Cristo junior Peyton Metz clocked 13.61), but won the latter in 28.41 (0.69 ahead of runner-up Metz) as she racked up 18 of IHS’ 35 team points at the Bayfield Invitational.
That total earned the Lady ’Cats a share of ninth place, as San Juan Basin League rival Dolores also tallied 35. Both squads, however, ended up just 4.5 points out of the standings’ top five – headed by winners Durango (160.5) and second place Pagosa Springs (87.5), and filled out by Sargent (47), SJBLers Mancos (44) and La Jara-based Centauri (39.5).
Sophomore Maci Barnes earned second in the 400 meters, clocking 1:09.28 and finishing less than a tick behind PSHS freshman Rylie Carr, and also placed sixth in the 800 with a 2:57.76 as – surprise, surprise – Durango recorded a 1-2-3 sweep, led by senior Angela McManus’ 2:32.51.
Prior to hustling back down to IHS Field that same afternoon for Ignacio Soccer’s match versus Ridgway, senior thrower Alexis Pontine earned second place in the discus (91’8.5”) and tenth in the shot put (26’2.5”) but did not score in the latter; Durango freshman Megan Hutchins and Sangre freshman Presley Wilson split the last available point with matching 26’4” bests.
TOUGH GOINGS FOR BOYS
Sophomore Camron Cooper’s sixth-place 18’9” long jump was, according to head coach Aimee Larsen (née DeSouchet), and looked even better considering that of the five competitors placing ahead of him, only one (second-place Tay Wheat of M-CHS; 19’11”) had a distance less wind-aided.
Cooper was credited with three team points, but IHS totaled only five – the fact Cooper, due to a fall suffered in the 4×200 relay, didn’t compete in any running events didn’t help – in placing 12th out of 13 squads. Durango won with 159, Centauri took second with 109.5 and MHS earned third with 70. Montezuma-Cortez (58.5) and SJBLers Dove Creek (49) rounded out the top five, while Sargent placed 13th with three points.
A promising specialty for the Bobcats this season, the 4×2 also included junior John Riepel, senior Tyler Barnes and freshman Lincoln Gillespie, and began well with Barnes – who was unavailable to compete in other events due to painful shin splints – logging a hand-timed 25-second leg.
Riepel’s 12.65 in the 100 meters was reportedly 0.13 off his 2021 best and held up for 14th place inside Wolverine Country Stadium while Gillespie (13.10) ended up 20th.
Sophomore Kyle Rima did set a new PR in the discus and earned Ignacio a team point with his eighth-place 91’5” (Durango senior William Knight won with a 150’11.5” whopper), and also placed 18th in the shot with a 25’7” maximum.
Sophomore Corey Gomez earned the ’Cats their other team point with his eighth place 14:59.78 in the 3,200-meter run, and narrowly missed scoring in the 1,600 with a tenth-place 6:48.85. He also finished top-15 in the 800 with a 3:09.83; senior teammate Deekon Gillespie clocked 3:28.18 in the same event and was top-15 in the 400 with a 1:08.47.
Lincoln Gillespie placed 14th in the long jump (15’5”), while Deekon Gillespie ranked 22nd (13’10.5”).
After Spring Break, Ignacio will return to action Friday, April 1, at Mancos’ Blue Jay Invitational, then return to BHS the next day for the Pine River Invite.