Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The Steamboat Springs Middle School track teams will race in an official meet this Saturday at the Steamboat Springs High School.

It will be the first time the local squad's have ever raced at home, and the meet will cap the 2000 season.

"It's going to be nice, not having to get in a bus and travel," Sailors track coach Kevin Ford said. "The kids are all really excited about getting a chance to compete at home."

The meet will get under way at 9 a.m. Saturday on the new all-weather surface at the Steamboat Springs High School. The track has been used for a couple of regional high school scrimmages this spring, but Saturday's events will be the first official meet.

Steamboat, Hayden, Moffat County and Rangely will compete in the middle school meet. It is the fourth meet of the season and the finale for the local middle school runners.

Ford's programs are at a high right now with 110 seventh- and eighth-grade students competing for the team. The numbers are the highest they have been in several years, and Ford said the team's results at the squad's last meet in Meeker reflect the amount of talent the teams have.

In that meet, both the seventh-grade boys and seventh-grade girls finished in first place in the team standings.

Jennifer Hooper led the girls team with a first-place finish in the 1,600-meter run at 6 minutes, 7 seconds. She also won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:48.

The Steamboat girls won three out of the four relays, taking the 800-, 1,600- and medley relay events.

In the girls 800 relay, the team of Kelly Berig, Jessica Scholl, Brittany DeGroff and Allison Lewis posted a time of 2:10.9 en route to the victory.

In the girls 1,600 relay, the team of DeGroff, Berig, Shauna Hyde and Scholl out paced the field with a time of 5:15.

In the medley, it was Jenna Conlin, Madison Proper, Kristyn Bradbury and Hooper winning with a time of 2:16.

The Sailors accumulated 91 points in the meet. Meeker was second with 82 and Moffat County came in third with 70.

The seventh-grade boys also won.

That squad collected 109 points to beat out Rangely (89) and Hayden (66) in the meet.

Galen Dahl led the squad with first-place finishes in the 100-meter dash (14.2) and 400-meter dash (64.8). He was also third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 29.2.

Andrew Zopf won the disc with a throw of 95 feet. Adam Tilley won the high jump with an effort of 5 feet.

Mike Gleason was second in the triple jump at 29-7. He was also third in the 1,600-meter run at 5:58 and third in the 800-meter run at 2:47.

Once again, Steamboat dominated the relay events, winning the 800-meter relay with a time of 2:05, the 1,600-meter relay at 5:09 and the 800-meter medley at 2:09.9.

The eight-grade team also posted some impressive results with the boys and girls both placing second at the meet.

Moffat County won the girls meet with 144.5 points. Steamboat was second at 138.5 and Hayden third with 20.

Thrower Shelley Dunlop led the team with a first-place throw of 91.3 in the disc. She also won the shot put with a throw of 28.1. She was second in the 100-meter dash and third in the 200-meter dash.

Lisl Pearson placed first in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 6:13 and also won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:50.

Teammate Tara Wernig was second in the 1,600-meter run at 6:22 and also second in the 800-meter run at 5:56.

Steamboat also won the 1,600- and 800-meter relay events.

Moffat County topped the boys eighth-grade results with 165 points. Steamboat was second with 103 and Rangely was third with 40.

The team was led by the 1,600-meter relay team's first-place showing. The squad of Niles Nelson, Davis Miller, Cody Badaraca and Alex King completed the race in a time of 4:26.34.

Nelson led the individual finishes by winning the shotput with a throw of 36-3.

Tyler Johnson was second in the high jump with an effort of 5-3, second in the 200-meter run at 26.8 and fourth in the 100-meter run at 13.4.

King placed second in the 100-meter hurdles at 17.5 and second in the 400-meter run at 64.9.

Ford expects his teams to be tough at home in the final meet of the 2000 season. The team has competed in four meets this season, but the first two were impacted by spring break.

"I told the kids this was going to be a short two-meet season," Ford said. "So I expect them to go out and give it their all this weekend."

To reach John F. Russell, call 871-4209 or e-mail jrusssell@amigo.net