Eleven Pirates will represent Pagosa Springs High School at this week’s state track and field meet, with coach Connie O’Donnell noting she anticipates most of the team’s qualifiers returning with medals “if all goes well.”
“The state track meet is really fun,” O’Donnell wrote in an email to The SUN. “There are so many people since it includes all classifications. We have upperclassmen that have been there a few times and will be able to help out our first time qualifiers. I anticipate most of our qualifiers getting medals this weekend if all goes well.”
The top 18 in each classification advance to state in each event.
The meet will take place at Jefferson County Stadium in Lakewood between Thursday, May 15, and Saturday, May 17.
Pagosa’s state qualifiers include Colton Lucero, Creede Dozier, Jeremiah Jones, Alex Pacheco, Tommy Nigro, Rylie Carr, Sienna Rose, Lexi Campbell, Abigail Nehring, Malorie Morton and Molly Washburn.
The Pirates will be represented in 13 events at the state’s final meet, with multiple Pirates going into the meet with high seeds.
In the boys’ 100-meter dash, Lucero is the No. 1 seed. Lucero entered the 200-meter dash as the No. 4 seed.
The boys’ 4x100-meter relay team of Lucero, Dozier, Pacheco and Nigro enter the event as the No. 10 seed.
In the boys’ high jump, Dozier entered as the No. 4, with Jones entering as the No. 10 seed.
Dozier earned the No. 2 seed in the boys’ long jump and the fifth seed in the triple jump.
On the girls’ side, Carr earned the No. 10 seed in the 100, with Rose entering as the No. 16 seed.
Carr entered the state meet as the No. 18 seed in the 200, and Rose entered the 400-meter dash as the No. 7 seed.
The Lady Pirate relay team — Carr, Rose, Campbell and Washburn — earned the No. 14 seed in the 4x100 and Nov. 15 in the 4x200-meter relay.
Campbell earned the 16th spot in the triple jump.
Nehring earned the top seed in the discus and No. 7 seed in the shot put.
Malorie Morton advanced to state as the No. 14 seed in discus.
O’Donnell also highlights that the Pirates had three athletes who qualified in four events.
“Creede qualified in 3 individual events which is incredibly impressive,” she wrote.
O’Donnell notes she thought the Pirates would be able to qualify more for state at last week’s Friday Night Lights meet in Pueblo, but they weren’t able to make it happen.
The Pirates did, however, walk away with two event winners from their final regular-season meet.
Carr, she highlights, won the 200, while Rose won the 400.
“The Friday Night Lights meet was competitive and well run,” she wrote. “There were 55 teams so there were so many heats and flights of everything.”
The May 9 meet was a change from how the Pirates usually cap off the regular season, with O’Donnell indicating she hopes the team can return to that normal in the future.
“I really like the Grand Junction meet that we usually go to as a last chance qualifier because the distance races and the field events are split over two days,” she explains. “It gives athletes a better chance to qualify when they are not running between field events and races all of the time. Hopefully, Grand Junction will have their meet next year.”
She adds she’s note sure why the Grand Junction meet didn’t take place this year.
The Friday Night Lights meet allowed up to three entries per team in each event.
In the girls’ 100, Carr took second with a time of 12.83 seconds. Rose notched 10th with a time of 13.28 seconds. Washburn finished 37th with a time of 14.03 seconds.
Carr won the 200 with a time of 26.48 seconds. Campbell took 11th in 27.58 seconds, and Amber Snarr finished 54th in 30.69 seconds.
Rose won the 400 with a time of 59.86 seconds.
Honestye Sweet took 18th in the 800-meter run with a time of two minutes, 43.33 seconds.
Sweet finished 17th in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 6:10.47, and Madisen Stretton finished 20th in 6:13.85.
Stretton notched 13th in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 13:24.94.
The 4x100 relay team finished seventh in 51.59 seconds, and the 4x200 relay team took fifth in 1:49.74.
Campbell earned ninth in the triple jump with a distance of 33 feet, 2 inches.
Nehring took second in the discus with a throw of 124-7, and Liana Vega finished 10th with a distance of 97-5.
Nehring finished third in the shot put with a throw of 34-10. Morton took 27th with a throw of 28-1.
On the boys’ side, Lucero took third in the 100 with a time of 11.10 seconds. Nigro finished 27th in 11.84 seconds. Pacheco notched 61st with a time of 12.32 seconds.
With a time of 24.61 seconds, Jonathan Baker finished 33rd in the 200. Gavin Carter finished 44th with a time of 24.94 seconds.
Jones finished 12th in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 17.05 seconds, and Tristan Frame finished 25th in 19.52 seconds.
Jones took ninth in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 43.39 seconds. Frame finished 42nd in 49.26 seconds.
The 4x100 relay team ran a time of 44.72 seconds to finish ninth, and the 4x200 relay team ran a time of 1:33.25 to finish 11th.
Dozier logged a new personal record (PR) in the high jump with a height of 6-4.5.
“It has been a while since he got a PR in high jump so it’s nice to see it happening before the state meet,” O’Donnell wrote.
Jones finished 12th in the high jump with a height of 5-8.5.
Jaxten Schiel finished seventh in the long jump with a distance of 20-2.5.
Dozier took sixth in the triple jump with a distance of 42-0.5. Jones notched 13th with a distance of 39-6. Schiel finished 15th with a result of 39-2.
In discus, Emile Schneider finished 32nd with a throw of 106-4.
randi@pagosasun.com
