Steamboat Pilot & Today

The sky was cloudy, but there was no snow in Delta during the weekend. It was a welcome sight for Steamboat Springs track coach Andy Reust and the 14 members of the high school track team that made the trip.

"It was about 50 degrees and windy," Reust said. "But it was OK."

The team had fewer members than in previous years, but Reust said he was thrilled with how the eight boys and six girls competed.

"I think if we would have had a full team on the boys side, we could have won the meet," Reust said. "We were missing a couple of key athletes, but look at what we accomplished with the kids we had."

The boys finished third behind first-place Cedaredge and second-place Glenwood Springs. Top performances by Matt Hill, Walker Hammond and Westin Cofer helped the boys to their third-place finish.

Hill placed first in the 800-meter run with a time of 2 minutes, 7 seconds, and he was first in the 1,600-meter run with an effort of 4:55. Hammond, who has been able to practice on only two hurdles because of limited space in the high school gym, finished first in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 42.44 and second in the 110-meter high hurdles with a time of 16.25.

Cofer also added to the Sailors point title by placing first in the discus with a throw of 129 feet. He took second in the shot put with a throw of 39-5 3/4.

Other top individual finishes came from Jake Stanford, who was third in the triple jump (38-6 1/2) and Colby Kostur, who was fifth in the high jump (5-4) and fifth in the triple jump (37-2 3/4). Tyler Hutson was sixth in the 200 meters with a time of 24.88 seconds, and Stanford was eighth in the high jump with an effort of 5-2.

Steamboat also picked up a pair of second-place finishes in the relays as the team of Cofer, Hutson, Stanford and Hammond recorded a time of 46.75 seconds in the 400-meter relay and Stephen Bell, Hill, Hutson and Hammond finished the 1,600-meter relay in a time of 3:49.

Although the Steamboat girls didn't land in the top three, they also enjoyed strong individual results.

Chelsea Mosser was second in the 200-meter run with a time of 28.25, fourth in the 100-meters with a time of 13.44 and sixth in the long jump with a distance of 14-4 3/4.

Brittany Long was fourth in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 6:12 and sixth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:47. Lizzie Stoll was sixth in the discus with an effort of 83-5, and Rachael Caires was eighth in the 800 meters.

The Sailors had hoped to open the season March 11 in Grand Junction, but that meet was postponed because of snow.

The Delta meet marked the first time this season the Sailors have been able to get on the track and compete. The team will hope for more good weather this weekend -- and a chance to continue to improve -- during the Mickey Dunn Invitational at Stocker Stadium in Grand Junction. The invitational, which is the meet that was snowed out two weeks ago, is a state qualifying meet.