Beginning the season’s final month, the Ignacio Track & Field team traveled to Aztec, N.M., for the April 21-22, 2017, Tiger B&B Invitational and found goings there as difficult as expected of a two-day, interstate event.

Coming off a 20.5 team-point performance at Durango’s Ron Keller Invitational on the 18th, the Lady Bobcats managed just four inside Fred Cook Memorial Stadium – but did so in true team-first fashion.

With sprinting proving to be the squad’s strength this spring, it was somewhat odd that no points were earned individually. But when Azala Perez, Kiana Valdez, Rachel Cooper and Jaylynn Herrera combined to run the 4×200-meter relay on Day 2, the quartet hustled the baton around in one minute, 57.97 seconds to place fourth.

5A Farmington, N.M., won in 1:52.49, and 5A Bloomfield, N.M., tied 2A Dolores for second in 1:53.41.

Valdez just missed scoring at least one point in the high jumps – tying three others for eighth place with a 4’4” best – but that would be as close as the girls would get to improving their 13th-place total. 3A Bayfield won the meet with 70, with AHS (63) second and 4A Durango (58.5) third out of 15 scoring teams.

Out of a field of 87, Perez finished 11th in the 100-meter dash preliminaries on Day 1, clocking 13.65 seconds, and Valdez tied for 38th in 14.78. Herrera took tenth out of 70 in the 200 heats by running 29.15, with Perez close behind in 14th (29.64) and Valdez ending up 30th (30.85).

Sixteenth in the long jump (13’0”), Herrera was 17th in the 400 meters with a 1:07.83, and Cooper was 26th in the 100m hurdles (21.07). She fared slightly better in the less-contested 300m hurdles, however, taking 16th in 58.82. Briana Duran was 25th in the shot put (25’6”).

The IHS boys’ trip to the Tiger Invite was just as much a struggle, and after managing only five points at the RKI, the Bobcats logged just one – via Natoni Cundiff’s sixth-place 125’11” discus throw – in Aztec. He’d taken fifth in the specialty at the Keller, scoring four of the gents’ five points there with a 126’7” maximum.

FHS captured the boys’ title in Aztec with 92 points, with the hosting 5A Tigers (79) finishing second and 5A Kirtland, N.M., Central (75) third. Ignacio finished 13th out of 13 teams registering at least a point.

Elco Garcia, Jr., came the closest to earning at least one more, placing ninth in the 3,200-meter run on Day 2 with a 10:50.12 effort. He also took 13th in the 1,600 as the last of 13 entrants finishing in less than five minutes with his 4:59.65.

Bryan Gram took 14th in the 200 prelims, clocking 24.56, but Esteban Romero was his next closest teammate, finishing 41st (25.60) out of 92 entrants. Cundiff was 18th in the shot put (38’10”) and Mitchell Neil was 31st (34’8”). Romero took 24th in the triple jump (33’5”), and Colten Smithson 40th in the long jump (15’3”) with Neil following in 44th (14’9.5”).

Gram did not run the 400, and Isaiah Jacket ended up the Bobcats’ top finisher by coming in 63rd (1:04.19). Neil finished 64th in the 100 (13.47) with Smithson 72nd (14.01) out of 90 competitors.

Up next for IHS will be the 59th Annual Bloomfield Invitational on Saturday, April 29, starting at 9:00 a.m. The team will then hit Pagosa Springs’ Terry Alley Invitational on Saturday, May 6 (also a 9 a.m. start). Results from the 4/25 San Juan Basin League Championships were unavailable at press time.

 

2017 B&B GIRLS’ TEAM STANDINGS

1.Bayfield 70, 2.Aztec 63, 3.Durango 58.5, 4.Farmington 53.5, 5.Kirtland Central 53, 6.Bloomfield 49, 7.Gallup (N.M.) Miyamura 41, 8.Farmington Navajo Prep 32, 9.Dolores 19, 10.Pagosa Springs 9, 11.Dove Creek 8, 12.Mancos 5, 13.IGNACIO 4, 14.Newcomb (N.M.) 2, 15.Antonito 1.

 

2017 B&B BOYS’ TEAM STANDINGS

1.Farmington 92, 2.Aztec 79, 3.Kirtland Central 75, 4.Bayfield 58, 5.Farmington Piedra Vista 43, 6.Bloomfield 36, 7.Durango 35, 8.Gallup Miyamura 28, 9.Pagosa Springs 18, 10.Farmington Navajo Prep 9, 11.Dolores 4, 12.Mancos 3, 13.IGNACIO 1.