In hot pursuit of the 14-foot height barrier in the pole vault, Bayfield senior Michael Voss, who'd cleared 13'7" at last Saturday's Abel Velasquez Invitational in Ignacio, had to settle for second place at Tuesday's Ron Keller Invite. His 12'6" jump was eclipsed by DHS senior Justin Marcum's winning 15-footer.
In addition to equaling the stadium record, Marcum's effort contributed to a meet-winning 210 team points. Voss and the rest of the BHS boys scored a second-place 110. The Wolverine girls' collective 88 was good for fourth, also trailing 4A Durango's victorious 216.
DHS held their meet inside BHS' Wolverine Country Stadium rather than at Durango High School due to crumbling facility conditions in Durango.
For the Wolverine boys, junior Gabe Kaufmann, senior Preston Hardy, senior Conner Kennedy and sophomore Brian Mashak won the boys 4x200 relay in 1:34.24, while seniors Morgan Allred, Jessica Cusick, Amy Roach and Jessie Roukema captured the girls' sprint medley in 1:55.10-over 3.2 seconds ahead of second-place 3A La Jara Centauri and third-place 2A Del Norte.
Allred, sophomore Amber Johnson, Roach and Roukema finished second in the girls' 4x100 (53.15 seconds), as did senior Anthony Chamblee, Kaufmann, Kennedy and Mashak in the boys' 4x100 (45.98). The boys' 4x400 (Kaufmann, Mashak, Hardy, senior Colter McMenimen) finished third in a time of 3:38.10.
Sophomore Maddi Foutz teamed with Johnson, Cusick and Roukema on the second-place girls' 4x200 (1:50.31), with Johnson then leading individually in the open 200 with a fourth-place 28.95.
Sophomore Bridget Goddard was fourth in the girls' 800-meter run (2:39.92), but Cusick was not in the field to challenge 4A Durango's Shannon Maloney, who won in 2:33.26.
Senior Aubry Brown won the boys' discus with a best of 140'7" and the shot put at 45'7", while junior Katie Hawkins was the team's leading lady in the discus with a fifth-place 87'5" effort and freshman Tiarra Christensen led in the shot with a seventh-place 28'3.25" heave.
Senior Blane Barnes was fourth in the boys' shot (41'6") and sophomore Sam Westbrook was sixth (40'10.25"), and the duo was sixth (111'7") and ninth (103'8") in the discus.
Mashak prevailed over all in the boys' 200 with his 23.72-second pass, just two-hundredths faster than DNHS senior Matt Mueller. Roukema was second in the girls' high jump at 5'0", while Hawkins, Allred and sophomore Miranda Talbot went 3-4-5 in the pole vault at 8'0", 7'6" and 7'6" respectively.
Junior Tori Tate was second in the girls' triple jump to 3A Pagosa Springs senior Payton Shahan (33'4") with a 32'5.5" best, and Kennedy likewise in the boys' high jump (6'0") to Durango senior Gabe Gilleland (6'2").
McMenimen and sophomore Ethan Tate went 7-8 in the boys' 400, clocking 54.49 and 57.34 seconds respectively, while sophomore Alex Knight's 2:11.78 earned the Wolverines a point in the 800.
Knight also scored in the 1,600 with a 5:06.91, and Brady Fields did likewise in the 110m hurdles (18.16) and 300m hurdles (45.07), placing fourth in each discipline.
