Southwest Colorado will have plenty of representatives in the state track meet at Jefferson County Stadium this weekend.
Montezuma-Cortez, Dolores, Mancos, and Dove Creek will all get a chance to have their say in Lakewood from Thursday through Saturday, May 15-17 in their respective classifications.
M-CHS qualified eight individuals and two relays into the 3A meet, with both the boys and girls earning a 4 400 relay, while senior Colby McMillian will enter the 400 meters, while classmate Houston Hurst is in the pole vault, fellow senior Tay Wheat will long jump, and sophomore Trey Hall prepares to high jump. The M-CHS girls send sophomore Tessa Jackson in the high jump, junior Tatum Endres to pole vault, and the freshman and sophomore tandem of Faith Muzzy and Hayden Matthias to race the 300 hurdles.
For Dolores, three individuals join four relay teams in the 2A state field, as both the boys and girls earned spots in the each of the 4 x 400 and 4 x 800 relays. The Bears will add senior Coralea Wright in the 100 hurdles, while the boys will send junior Michael Rantz in both the 100 and 400 meters, while sophomore Aaron Nielson will join Rantz in the 100 field.
Mancos juniors Jonah Ritter and Brooke Jabour will have busy weekends – Ritter will participate in four events – the maximum allowed in the state meet. He’ll be in the 100, 200, and 400, along with running a leg on the Bluejays lone relay qualifier – the 4 x 100. Jabour, meanwhile, looks forward to the 100 and 200, and junior Destiny Kramer and senior Sarah Knezek enter the high jump field.
Dove Creek’s lone qualifier is senior Jessica Alexander, who will run the 1,600 in the 1A championships, her first opportunity to race that distance in the state meet.
Action for the 3A, 2A, and 1A classifications kicks off on Thursday afternoon from Lakewood, with top nine finishers in each event earning podium positions.
