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Track finding footing in Farmington

Teams heading there tonight, Cortez on Wednesday

Three second-place finishes helped the Wolverines girls finish fifth at the Piedra Vista Panther Invitational last Saturday in Farmington, where both they and the Bayfield boys, also fifth at the event, will yet again find themselves for this afternoon's FHS Invite, their third San Juan County outing of the new season.

Fifth place out of 13 teams at the previous weekend's Farmington Early Bird, BHS' girls rode Jessica Cusick's 2:23.41 in the 800-meter run, Jessie Roukema's 5'2" high jump, and Katie Hawkins' 8-foot, 3-inch pole vault to a team total of 25 points-well behind the winning 116 amassed by the hosting Lady Panthers and District 1-5A rivals Aztec, and fewer than their own 32 the week before.

The 4x100-meter relay of Morgan Allred, Roukema, Amber Johnson and Amy Roach was fourth in a time of 53.77 seconds, and the 4x2 (Miranda Talbot, Courtney Bayles, Emily Bauer, Roukema) was fourth in 2:06.14.

Sophomore Maddi Foutz was fifth in the 200-meter dash, clocking 28.72 seconds, and Bridget Goddard was fifth in the 3,200-meter run with a 13:17.72. Johnson's 30'7" best in the triple jump also held up for a fifth, while Allred's 7'3" in the high jump was good for sixth.

Sprinter Gabe Kaufmann's 11.56 in the 100 and 53.45 in the 400 earned him and the Wolverine boys first-place points. He also took first in the 100 at the Early Bird with an 11.73-towards an eventual fifth-place total of 53, and he also snagged a second in the 200 with his 23.62.

Runner-up at the Early Bird-helping the boys rack up a fourth-place 50 points-in his two trademark disciplines, senior Aubry Brown's even 132-foot fling of the discus at the Panther Invite also ranked second, as did his 43'10" heave of the shot put, in which teammate Sam Westbrook was right behind in third with a 41'6.5" best.

Senior Michael Voss also contributed a third to the cause with his 12'3" peak pole vault, as did the 3-minute, 49.70-second time achieved by the 4x400 (Brady Fields, Sloan Mazur, Colter McMenimen, Ethan Tate) relay. Mazur took third in the Early Bird in the 800 meter open run, while Alex Knight took fourth.

Carl Heide was fourth in the 110-meter hurdles with a 17.57-second pass, while the 4x2 (Ryan Nava, Jesse Westbrook, Heide, Jaden Vitagliano) and 1,600 medley (Josh Westbrook, Jesse Westbrook, Dawson Heide, Jackson Sibley) relays each finished fifth in, respectively, 1:44.37 and 4:29.27.

Josh Westbrook was fifth in the 400 with a 54.88, and the 4x1 (Anthony Chamblee, Kaufmann, Samuel Kundrik, Josh Westbrook) was sixth in 46.98 ticks of the clock. Kaufmann was also sixth in the javelin with a maximum throw of 131 feet, 9 inches. In the boys' team standings, PVHS and in-town 1-5A foe Farmington each registered a winning 88 points.

ABOUT IGNACIO: The Bobcat boys' track-and-field team also began its slate at the Early Bird, finishing ninth (10 points) out of 14, with senior Mike Perez's third-place 53.83 in the 400 and fifth-place 24.42 in the 200 leading the way. Keith Joosten's 36'10" in the triple jump also earned IHS third-place points.

The 'Cats competed at last week's Panther Invitational as well, but posted no team points as the team awaits the return of its basketball players. Perez did not run in either sprint, but did take ninth in the 110-meter hurdles with an 18.29. Joosten was 20th in the 300 hurdles with a 51.16 and Tyler Riepel was 24th in 1:00.24.

Ignacio's 4x100 was eighth (51.01 seconds), and Joosten was eighth in the pole vault at 11'3". Bryan Gram was 24th in the long jump at 16'0.5", Joosten 16th in the triple (35'5"), and Blaine Mickey 21st in the shot (34'4.25").

On the girls' side, IHS also failed to crack the team standings as in the Early Bird. Alana Watts' 27'10.75" in the shot held up for 12th place and was the team's top individual result at the Panther Invite. Isis Gonzales was 19th in the 400 with a 1:15.74 and Azala Perez tied for 26th in the 100 with a 14.70.

Tonight's Farmington High School Invitational starts at 3 p.m., and both teams journey to Cortez on March 25 for a 1 p.m. start.

Home meets start on April 4 at Bayfield and April 11 in Ignacio.