’Cats collect nine top-tens in Cortez
Junior Kyle Rima’s third-place 110-foot, 11-inch throw of the discus and junior Maci Barnes’ fourth-place 5:53.82 in the 1,600-meter run ended up being Ignacio Track & Field’s top results Friday, April 28, at Montezuma-Cortez High School’s 2023 Panther Invitational.
Just one inch short of Alamosa junior Jace Montoya’s runner-up 112’0” best, Rima scored six of the Bobcat boys’ eventual 12 team points – equaling the total of fellow San Juan Basin Leaguers Mancos, and earning each a share of tenth place overall. At the top of the standings was M-CHS, who piled up 135.5 points – barely enough to edge AHS (132.5), but adequate to outdo third-place Bayfield (100) as all three sought superlative status in the 3A Intermountain.
Rima would score three more points in the shot put with a sixth-place, 38’9.5” maximum, and freshman James Martin swiped one by taking eighth in the boys’ 1,600 with a time of 5:39.74. IHS’ 800m relay clocked 1:49.30 and placed seventh, earning the remaining two team points.
Freshman Lincoln deKay was a top-ten near-miss in the 110m hurdles; he finished 11th in 19.68 seconds. Junior Corey Gomez took 12th in the 1,600 (5:43.89) and 14th in the 800 (2:29.60), freshman Dillon Brann placed 16th in the 110 hurdles (20.87), and freshman Evan Perkins ended up 20th in the discus (55’8”).
On the girls’ side, Ignacio managed to tally 15.5 points but finished 13th. AHS bettered IML contender Pagosa Springs 166-155 to claim first place, with SJBLers Nucla (60) rising to third over both league rival Dove Creek (56) and BHS (54).
Barnes also placed fifth in the 200m dash with a time of 28.68 seconds, and junior Lauren deKay finished fifth in the pole vault by clearing the bar set an even seven feet high. Freshman Juliann Avila snatched seventh place in the triple jump (26’10”) and also earned eighth in the high jump (4’4”). Freshman Samantha Riddell also cleared the height, but required more attempts, and ended up in 11th place.
Avila finished 11th in the 100m hurdles (19.80), Barnes missed a top-ten in the long jump by half an inch and ended up 12th (13’5.2”), and junior Kacey Brown placed 13th in the 800 (2:59.13). Other top-20 results included Brown’s 63’1” in the discus (16th), deKay’s 1:18.81 in the 400 (17th), Riddell’s 14.54 in the 100 (18th) and junior Moriah Ashley’s 3:33.80 in the 800 (20th).
Looking ahead at the schedule, IHS was to next compete at the Mancos-hosted SJBL Championships Tuesday, May 2, but results were unavailable at press time. Ignacio will then take some time off from competition before traveling to Grand Junction, May 12-13, for GJHS’ Tiger Invitational.