His final season of lacrosse with 4A Durango High concluded, Bayfield's Trevor Gabbard wasted little to no time looking for one more athletic adrenalin rush before graduation.
Having already run cross-country and played basketball at BHS, in addition playing lacrosse for DHS, he found one more cure for senior-itis: Joining the track team.
Teaming with Alex Knight, Sloan Mazur and Cash Snooks, Gabbard helped the Wolverines' 3,200-meter relay post a second-place 8:55.45 (only Pagosa Springs' 8:52.08 was faster) at last Saturday's Intermountain League-Southern Peaks League Challenge in Monte Vista, and help the Bayfield boys rack up a first-place 105 points to cop the championship.
Continuing to fine-tune their respective events one last time before this weekend's Class 3A state championships up at Jeffco Stadium in Lakewood were Conner Kennedy, Brady Fields and Aubry Brown.
The state meet began Thursday and will finish Saturday.
High-flying on the basketball court, Kennedy again was farthest-flying in the long jump with a winning best of 21 feet, nine inches-an awesome 11.5 inches ahead of Alamosa's Jahlil Plant.
Fields' 17.46-second work in the 110-meter hurdles bettered Pagosa's David McRee (17.72).
Brown launched the discus - in which he'll enter state as the #1 overall in 1A-5A - 160 feet, four inches to easily outdistance the 136'4" of Centauri's Jareb Aziz. His 47'0" shot put also won, over the 45'10" of Fairplay South Park's Clae Walters.
Senior Jessica Cusick again showed no slowing in securing another victory in the 800-meter run, with her 2:25.03 good enough to hold off Pagosa's Madison Lewis (2:27.68). And in a jump-off against Pine River Valley familiar Chrystianne Valdez of 2A Ignacio, senior Morgan Allred won the pole vault competition with an 8'0" best, helping the Wolverine girls build up a third-place 77 points.
Second-place results came from the crew's 400-meter relays. Fields, Kennedy, Brian Mashak and Preston Hardy posted a 44.94 on the boys' side, crossing the line behind only MVHS' 44.78. (Earlier this season, with Gabe Kaufmann in place of Hardy, the 4x100 had set a school-record 44.21.) And Allred, Amber Johnson, Amy Roach and Jessie Roukema clocked a second place 52.18 for the girls.
Roukema also was runner-up in the high jump, losing a jump-off at 5'0" to 2A Sargent's Kelci VanTreese.
Kennedy's 11.91 in the open 100 was good for third, as was Carl Heide's 17.97 in the 110m hurdles. Maddi Foutz notched a third for the girls with her 27.93 in the 200-meter dash, and also helped-with Johnson, Courtney Bayles and Jade Sanders-the 4x2 finish third with a 1:55.04.
Senior Blane Barnes was fourth in the boys' discus with a 122'8" throw, as was Cash Snooks in the high jump (5'6") and Zane Westbrook in the shot at 41'7.5" (Barnes was right behind in fifth at 40'7.75").
For the girls' cause, Bridget Goddard was fourth in the 800 (2:39.62), as was Roach in the 100 (13.85), Tori Tate in the triple jump (32'2"; she was fifth in the long jump at 15'2") and Emily Bauer in the pole vault (7'0").
BOYS' TEAM STANDINGS: 1.BAYFIELD 105, 2.Alamosa 90, 3.La Jara Centauri 61, 4.Monte Vista 60.5, 5.Sanford 54, 6.Del Norte 53, T-7.Crested Butte Community/Mosca Sangre de Cristo 40, 9.Pagosa Springs 36, 10.Center 29, 11.IGNACIO 26
GIRLS' TEAM STANDINGS: 1.Alamosa 100, 2.Pagosa Springs 89, 3.BAYFIELD 77, 4.Crested Butte Community 71, 5.Fairplay South Park 60, T-6.La Jara Centauri/Mosca Sangre de Cristo 57, T-8.Sargent/Del Norte 41, 10.Center 35, 11.IGNACIO 24,
