Fourteen Pirate athletes will represent Pagosa Springs High School at the Track and Field State Championships at Jeffco Stadium Thursday, May 16, through Saturday, May 18.
The state qualifiers were released earlier this week, after the Pirate teams rounded out the regular season at the 29-team Dennis Teeters Tiger Invite in Grand Junction on May 10 and 11, where the Pirate athletes logged more personal records (PRs) and broke school records.
“It’s fun to have so much success at the end of the season,” coach Connie O’Donnell wrote in an email to The SUN. “The kids are really excited to be able to compete with the best of the best in the state.”
According to O’Donnell, the qualifiers for the Pirates are:
• Colton Lucero in the 100-meter dash, long jump, 4x100-meter relay and 4x200-meter relay.
• Creede Dozier in the high jump, long jump, triple jump and 4x100.
• Jeremiah Jones in the high jump.
• Harley Armijo in the 4x100 and 4x200.
• Blake Laner in the 4x100 and 4x200.
• Gavin Carter in the 4x200
• Rylie Carr in the 100, 200-meter dash, 4x100 and 4x200.
• Sienna Rose in the 400, 4x100, 4x200 and 800-meter sprint medley.
• Jordan Lindstrom in the high jump.
• Lexi Campbell in the triple jump, 4x100 and 4x200.
• Abigail Nehring in discus.
• Annabelle Parker in the 4x100 and sprint medley.
• Aspen Pitcher in the sprint medley.
• Annie O’Donnell in the 4x200 and sprint medley.
“The weather looks good in Denver this weekend,” the coach wrote. “We are on pace to have a great three days of competition.”
The Pirate teams got a taste of tough competition at the Tiger Invite, with the coach pointing out the Lady Pirates placed fourth at the event, but didn’t win a single event.
“That just shows the amount of talent at this meet and we were right in the mix,” she wrote.
The Lady Pirates also broke multiple school records at the meet.
Carr broke her own school record in the 100, running multiple PRs in the process.
“Rylie had an outstanding couple of days in Grand Junction,” Connie O’Donnell wrote. “She is peaking at the right time. It was the smoothest that I have seen her run this year. She ran a PR in the prelims of the 100 and then turned around the next day and ran another PR in the finals. She broke her own school record. She also ran close to a PR in the 200 and anchored both relays. She qualified in four events and has set herself up to be able to place in four events at the state meet.”
Carr finished second in the finals with a time of 12.50 seconds. She tied for first in the prelims with a time of 12.58 seconds.
Annabelle Parker placed 16th in the prelims with a time of 13.43 seconds. Aspen Pitcher placed 19th in the prelims with a time of 13.61 seconds.
Carr also finished second in the finals of the 200 with a time of 26.13 seconds. She also took second in the prelims.
Campbell took 13th in the prelims with a time of 28.51 seconds, and Pitcher finished 25th in the prelims with a time of 29.41 seconds.
Rose finished second in the prelims of the 400 with a time of 59.88 seconds, and set a new school record in the process.
O’Donnell explains the previous record, 60.09 seconds, was set by Madi Lewis in 2014.
“Sienna finally broke a minute and ran 59.88,” the coach wrote. “The great thing is that she did it in a prelim with very little competition. She got out fast and had a very determined look on her face as she ran down the homestretch. Last week, she was worried about getting to qualify in the 400 and now it is very possible for her to place at state in the event.”
Rose finished third in the finals with a time of 1 minute, 1.18 seconds.
Annie O’Donnell took fourth in the prelims with a time of 1:02.11 and fifth in the finals with a time of 1:02.51. Adelyn Hittle finished 16th in the prelims with a time of 1:06.50.
Honestye Sweet finished 31st in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:40.91, Madisen Stretton finished 36th in 2:45.48 and Marie Smith finished 58th in 3:09.71.
Sweet finished 20th in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 6:05.05. Charlotte Duranton finished 30th in 6:29.19. Smith finished 37th in 6:46.33.
“Honestye Sweet took 20 seconds off her mile time. She ran such a strong race and has really improved her running this year,” the coach highlights.
Duranton took 11th in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 13:15.35, with the coach noting she took 30 seconds off her time. Stretton finished 13th with a time of 13:48.92. Sweet finished 22nd in 14:50.92.
Kylie Ketchum took eighth in the prelims for the 100-meter hurdles in 17.76 seconds and seventh in the finals in 17.93 seconds.
Elissa Mars finished 10th in the prelims in 17.97 seconds. Eden Connor took 28th in the prelims in 22.44 seconds.
In the 300-meter hurdles, Mars finished seventh in both the prelims and the finals, running a time of 51.74 seconds in the prelims and 53.14 seconds in the finals.
Ketchum finished 10th in the prelims in 51.70 seconds, and Connor finished 23rd in the prelims with a time of 1:00.30.
The 4x100 team finished second with a time of 50.94 seconds, with the coach highlighting they broke their own school record and will go into the state championships ranked seventh in the state.
The 4x200 team will enter the state championships ranked fourth after placing third in Grand Junction with a time of 1:46.84 seconds.
They also, Connie O’Donnell highlights, broke an 18-year-old school record held by the team of Mia Caprioli, Nikki Kinkead, Kim Fulmer and Janna Henry.
The sprint medley team finished fourth in Grand Junction with a time of 1:55.18.
The 4x400-meter relay team finished 13th with a time of 4:32.36.
Lindstrom finished fourth in the high jump with a height of 5 feet, 1 inch — her season best, according to the coach, which put her ranked eighth in the state. Ketchum finished sixth with a height of 4-9.
Campbell took fourth in the triple jump with a distance of 33-7.5.
“Lexi Campbell jumped a PR in triple jump with a distance of 33’7.5”, but the wind was just slightly over the legal limit,” Connie O’Donnell wrote. “Still, that puts her in 3rd place of all time PSHS athletes in triple jump.”
Lindstrom finished 24th with a distance of 27-1.5.
Nehring finished third in the discus with a distance of 114-10, and Malorie Morton finished 21st with a throw of 83-3.
Nehring finished 13th in the shot put with a distance of 30-0, and Morton finished 18th with a distance of 25-0.
On the boys’ side, Lucero finished seventh in the 100 prelims with a time of 11.33 seconds and fifth in the finals in 11.25 seconds. Laner finished 20th in the prelims in 11.61 seconds, and Armijo finished 32nd in the prelims in 11.87 seconds.
Lucero finished eighth in the 200 prelims with a time of 22.84 seconds.
“Colton Lucero had a really successful meet,” the coach notes. “He made finals in both the 100 and 200. Grand Junction is a huge meet with a ton of fast kids from bigger schools so that’s quite the accomplishment.”
Carter finished 24th in the 200 prelims with a time of 24.12 seconds. Armijo finished 31st in the prelims with a time of 24.44 seconds.
In the 400, Miles Baker finished 23rd in the prelims with a time of 56.55 seconds, Jesse Beck finished 27th in 56.80 seconds and Jeremiah Dean finished 30th in 57.41 seconds.
Baker ran a personal best in the 800, according to the coach, finished 17th in 2:09.29. Beck finished 27th in 2:11.42. Thomas took 41st in 2:16.13.
Baker also ran a PR in the 1,600, according to Connie O’Donnell, finishing 24th with a time of 5:02.25. Beck took 30th with a time of 5:09.96. Thomas finished 35th in 5:19.59.
Eli Nehring finished 28th in the 3,200 with a time of 12:35.06.
Jones finished 30th in the 100-meter hurdle prelims with a time of 18.73 seconds. Jaxten Schiel finished 35th in 20.34 seconds. Tristan Frame finished 37th in 21.31 seconds.
Jones finished 28th in the 300 hurdles, running a time of 46.38 seconds, and Frame finished 36th in 52.26 seconds.
The 4x100 relay team finished fifth with a time of 44.81 seconds.
The 4x200 team finished fifth with a time of 1:32.45 — a PR in a really fast heat, according to the coach.
The 4x400 relay team finished 20th in 3:52.56.
Dozier finished seventh in the high jump and Jones followed in eighth, with both logging heights of 5-9.
Dozier finished 18th in the long jump with a jump of 18-11.25, with Schiel following in 19th with a distance of 18-9.5. Milo Deitemeyer finished 23rd with a jump of 18-2.
Dozier took eighth in the triple jump with a distance of 40-1. Schiel finished 17th with a result of 36-1. Deitemeyer finished 23rd with a distance of 32-10.25.
In the discus, Aidan Vega finished 28th with a distance of 99-4.
Vega finished 37th in the shot put with a throw of 31-7, and Emile Schneider finished 41st with a distance of 26-10.
randi@pagosasun.com
