Cortez Middle School hosted five other track teams in the CMS Invitational on Saturday at Panther Stadium. The Lady Jaguars won the team title with 73 points, and the Dolores Middle School Cubs won the boys championship with 60 points.
Mancos, Dove Creek, Nucla and Kayenta (Ariz.) middle schools all competed as well. Mancos, Dolores and Dove Creek all practice at Panther Stadium, so it was a home away from home meet for them.
Thats why I love track. These kids all grow up. They all shop together at Walmart. They see each other. They know each other, Mancos coach Kyle Graff said. In football and basketball and most sports, it kind of gets intense, but in track, they all hang out together, get to know each other. Its a lot more fun.
The Mancos boys 4 x 200-meley relay team of Rudy Archeleta, Adrian Hernandez, Zebadiah Eden and Everett Strazza-Whalen won the event in a time of 1:57.83. As a team, the Mancos boys placed third with 25 points.
The Dolores boys got first-place finishes with Abrign Loboto in the discus (120-50), and Michael Ford in the high jump (5-4), 100-meter dash (12.14) and 200 (24.00). Miguel Perez won the 110-meter hurdles (16.74) and 800-meter run (2:28.69).
Kaleb Burrs led the CMS Jaguars with the top throw in the shot put at 33-11.
S. Fury had a fourth-place time of 6.88 in the 50-meter.
On the girls side, the Lady Jaguars dominated. Rachel Demby led the way with first-place finishes in the long jump (13-75) and 100-meter (13.83).
Our girls team is really good. Were doing really good. The meet is doing really good today, too, Demby, an eighth-grader, said. Im pretty confident that I won (the long jump and 100-meter).
Twin sister Nicole Demby won the high jump at 4-8. Chantell Ford won the 400 in 1:09.29, Gabby Wolf won the 1,600-meter run in 6:25.30 and Amy Campbell won the 50-meter at 6.56.
The girls are doing great, and thats because we have the numbers out here, CMS coach Bill Faught said. Weve won quite a few meets and well continue to win and look towards that league championship. Just overall, everything weve done, weve done well today.
S. Christensen and O.Wright won the shot put and discus for the Lady Cubs at 22-5 and 70-00. A. Lee was third for Dove Creek in the shot put (22-00) and the Mancos 4 x 100 team placed third at 1:04.40.
Reach Bobby Abplanalp at bobbya@cortezjournal.com.