Steamboat Pilot & Today

"Where's Soroco?"

It's a question the South Routt track athletes get a lot from their competitors.

"I say it's by Steamboat," Rams junior Trevor Ellis said. "Nobody's heard of Soroco."

That could change this weekend.

Ten Rams -- Trevor and Lindsay Ellis, Jessie and Andy deGanahl, Kory and Karli Babcock, C.J. Remick, Melissa Roy, Hallie Shiner and Nicole Wilson -- will represent South Routt County at the Class 2A State Track and Field Meet at Dutch Clark Stadium in Pueblo Friday and Saturday.

The Rams have a shot to place in all eight individual events or relays they have qualified for after taking regional titles in seven of those eight last weekend in Grand Junction.

The deGanahl siblings have legitimate hopes of winning state titles.

"I've been so nervous all week that I haven't been able to think about it," Andy deGanahl said.

Andy deGanahl qualified for state in the 200 and 400 meters and in the 1,600-meter relay. His performance in all three races was easily one of the highlights of the entire regional weekend.

Though his spot in the state field for his individual events was secured prior to the regional meet, he solidified his standing as one of the state's premier sprinters in Class 2A by winning two regional titles and anchoring the 1,600-meter team to a top finish.

"It's nice having the fastest guy in the state on your team," Ellis, the first leg of the 1,600-meter relay, said.

Before the final event in the Class 2A regional meet last weekend, it appeared as if deGanahl would be the lone male -- other than coach Gary Heide -- on the bus to Pueblo.

"It was getting scary," Ellis said.

Heide has been waiting to form a competitive 1,600-meter team at Soroco. In years past, he would watch the top 400 runners in the state and dream about having just one of them to anchor his boys' relay team.

Heide found his anchor and his team in Ellis, Kory Babcock, Remick and deGanahl.

"This year, the last two weeks, the team hasn't relied on Andy," Heide said. "That's why they were regional champs. All four were running hard and making a statement."

The Rams girls certainly plan on turning heads this weekend, as well.

Jessie deGanahl heads to Pueblo as a regional champion in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles after winning in convincing fashion last weekend.

While many of the state's top hurdlers are able to three-step between hurdles in the 100-meter race, deGanahl's height prevents her from being comfortable running that style.

She's content to win running her way.

"She's just so quick over the hurdle," Heide said. "I tell Jessie and Andy to dream of being a state champion. It's not a failure if you dream and don't achieve it, because success is in the process."

And in qualifying.

Shiner, Roy, Wilson and Karli Babcock all earned their trip to Pueblo via relays, which is fine by Babcock.

"I do better in relays than in individual events," Babcock said.

This will be Babcock's first trip to state after taking last year off from track.

It will be the second appearance, however, for sophomore Nicole Wilson, a staple on all three of the Soroco's girls' state-bound relays -- the 400-meter, the 800-meter and the 800 medley.

Last weekend, the 800-medley team of Shiner, Wilson, Babcock and Ellis took 4 seconds off their personal record and won a title.

"The best feeling is finding out you beat your time and you're going to state," Wilson said. "Last year we were not very competitive with two girls hurt. This year we are better."

The success the Rams had at regionals, headlined by the seven titles, prompted people to ask Wilson where Soroco was.

She's likely going to get asked again this weekend, but continued success should turn everyone on to what's going on in South Routt.

"I hope so," Wilson said.

--To reach Melinda Mawdsley call 871-4208

or e-mail mmawdsley@steamboatpilot.com