More Pagosa Springs High School records were broken at last weekend’s 36-team Thunder-Storm Invitational in Pueblo, despite the team being without some of its athletes, who were performing in the school’s production of “The Wizard of Oz.”
The meet was held at Colorado State University Pueblo’s Thunderbowl on April 12.
“The Thunderbowl is a beautiful facility,” coach Connie O’Donnell wrote in an email to The SUN. “It was really quite the experience to compete there. The weather was beautiful and there was very little wind. The best part is that we competed with some of the top ranking athletes in the state.”
Breaking school records for the second week in a row were Colton Lucero and Abi Nehring, with Creede Dozier also setting a new school record.
“Colton Lucero was absolutely on fire at the Thunder-Storm,” O’Donnell wrote. “He took even more time off of his 100 Meter record. He broke the school record in the 200 meter dash. The record was held by Jason Schutz in 2003. Right now, Colton is ranked 1st in the 100 and 5th in the 200.”
Lucero took second overall in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.85 seconds and first in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.39 seconds.
O’Donnell notes Lucero also ran the opening leg of the 4x100-meter relay, which is now a tenth of a second off of a relay school record after finishing second at the meet with a time of 43.83 seconds.
The other members of that relay, she notes, are Tommy Nigro, Alex Pacheco and Dozier. The relay team is currently ranked fourth in the state.
Dozier also set a new school record at the meet, besting the long jump record set in 2005 by Daniel Aupperle.
Dozier jumped a distance of 22 feet, 2.75 inches to take first at the Thunder-Storm and is now ranked second in the state in the event.
O’Donnell noted Dozier also “ran the 100 for the first time this season and ended up running a time that makes him 5th on our high school top ten list.”
Dozier took ninth overall in the event with a time of 11.52 seconds.
Nehring, according to the coach, “bettered her school record in the discus by over 4 inches. She got to throw against a girl from Manitou who is ranked 2nd in the state.”
That thrower, who took second at the meet, threw a distance of 135-2, compared to Nehring’s first-place throw of 142-10.
Nehring also notched first in shot put with a throw of 33-4.
In addition to the school records being broken, a number of other Pirate athletes competed at the event, with several logging new personal records (PRs) and showing progress.
Nigro also ran the 100 for the Pirates, finishing 19th with a time of 11.81 seconds.
Nigro took 14th in the 200 with a time of 24.51 seconds, with Pacheco running a time of 25.60 to secure 33rd.
Jeremiah Dean earned 14th in the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.17 seconds.
“Jeremiah Dean took a full second off his 400 time in the 90 degree heat, O’Donnell highlights. “He looked so strong in the race.”
In the 800-meter run, Eli Nehring ran a time of 2:38.06 to finished 33rd, and he finished 23rd in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 12:04.04.
Dozier finished fourth in the high jump with a height of 5-8, with Jeremiah Jones taking 13th with the same height.
Lucero finished 11th in the long jump with a distance of 19-1.
In the triple jump, Jones took third with a distance of 38-9, with Milo Deitemeyer finishing 11th with a result of 34-11.
Emile Schneider finished 12th in the discus with a throw of 112-0, with Aidan Vega following in 19th with a distance of 104-7.
On the girls’ side, Rylie Carr finished 14th in the 100 with a time of 13.40 seconds, Lexi Campbell took 18th with a result of 13.51 seconds and Molly Washburn finished 32nd with a time of 14.10 seconds.
Campbell took ninth in the girls’ 200 with a time of 27.76 seconds, which O’Donnell notes was almost a full second faster than the previous week and a new PR.
Carr took 15th with a time of 28.42 seconds and Washburn finished 28th with a time of 29.75 seconds.
“We didn’t run a girls’ relay in Pueblo because we were missing Sienna Rose,” O’Donnell explained. “It was for a good reason; she played the role of Dorothy in the school’s spring musical. We were missing a few other athletes because of their involvement in the Wizard of Oz as well. I like that we have kids that are talented in other areas outside of running.”
Madisen Stretton finished 16th in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 6:42.93, and 14th in the 3,200 with a finish time of 13:58.85.
Carr, O’Donnell highlights, added another 2 inches to her high jump to finished ninth with a height of 4-10.
“She is getting better at this event every meet,” O’Donnell wrote.
Campbell set a new season PR in triple jump with her third-place finish of 32-11.
This week, the Pirates will be in action in Durango for the Ron Keller Invitational, which is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.
“The weather doesn’t look great, but we are still looking forward to the competition,” O’Donnell wrote. “We will be running more relays than we have been so far this year.”
