MANCOS – A drama-filled afternoon in Mancos turned into a two-horse race for the boys San Juan Basin League title. With Dolores and Ignacio trading major point swings on April 28 at Bluejay Field, the Bears produced the final punches in their narrow 133-131 margin over the Bobcats and the rest of the field to end a SJBL title drought for DHS boys athletics. The Dove Creek boys (92 points) finished ahead of Mancos (76) in the battle for a top-three position.
On the girls side, Ridgway ran away with the team title to repeat as SJBL champs, but Mancos (93 points) turned in six top-three performances to earn third-place behind the Demons (158.5) and Nucla (98). The Dolores girls took fifth (56) with points from a variety of sources, while Dove Creek claimed ninth (25) on the strength of their throwers.
The Bears knew they’d have to overcome an early hole – Ignacio’s pole vaulters swept the top three positions and bagged an early lead for the ‘Cats – but DHS spread their deep team across the remaining events to begin their pathway back into contention. Big point-piling events in the 400 and 3,200 turned the tide, as DHS scored 36 combined points in the two races in the latter stages of the meet. Dolores’ Michael Rantz, Bridger Beyhan and Nathan Gaddis finished 1-5-6 in the 400, while Joseph Padilla, Bodie Fischer and Corvin Smith went 1-4-5 in the 2-mile.
An overall balance, however, spelled the biggest difference for Dolores and their title aspirations – the Bears scored in every event outside of the vault, and won three of the four relays on their way to the team title. Aidan Sweat took third in the triple jump, Aaron Nielson nabbed fourth in the 100 dash, and Evan Elder fired the shot put to a fifth-place effort to help the Bears to a memorable day.
The DC boys leaned on their field events, as has been their strength over the years, while also adding key points in the distance events and hurdles to earn their third-place team finish. Josh Kibel collected the team’s lone champion honor with a victory in the shot put, and the ‘Dogs added a runner-up discus throw from Gavin Gill, a second-place triple jump by Nicholas Aragon, and 21 combined points from Jonathan Davis, Mason Forst, and William Arellano in the 800 and 1,600. Daniel Gray scored in both hurdle disciplines, and the Bulldogs claimed top three in both the 4 x 200 and 4 x 400 relays.
For Mancos, Jonah Ritter continued his impressive career by tallying 28 points in the 100, 200, and 400 races, winning the shorter two events, while the Jays added a third-place 400 dash from Levi Priestley and a runner-up 4 x 800 relay to their resume. Cuinn Archer took third in the 2-mile and Jacob Martin finished fourth in the discus for the hosts.
In the girls championships, Mancos’ Tymbri Priestley made her mark with a trio of titles in the 200, 400, and long jump to accompany Laney Palmer’s 100 hurdles victory to account for Mancos’ four individual titles. MHS’ Chelsey Kramer took second in the discus on a tiebreaker to Dolores’ Eleri Brown, and Destiny Kramer added a third-place triple jump to go along with a runner-up 4 x 100 and third-place 4 x 400 relay.
Along with Brown’s discus title for Dolores, the Bears added a runner-up 300 hurdles performance from Addy Thompson and fourth-place 100 dash from Emma Nielson, while Izzy Akin finished sixth in the shot put.
Dove Creek’s Ayla Coffey took runner-up in the shot put to lead the ‘Dogs, joining Grace Myers’ scoring effort in the discus, and a third-place run by the DCHS 4 x 100 relay to account for the top point-scorers on the day.
With the league championships in the books, the Bears, Jays and Bulldogs look forward to sizable invitationals over the coming two weeks to improve their standing in their respective state qualification pursuits. Dove Creek heads to Pagosa Springs on Saturday for the Terry Alley Invitational, while Mancos will participate in the Pueblo Twilight on Friday, and Dolores travels to Canon City for the Blossom Invitational, also on May 1.
