Steamboat Pilot & Today

Pueblo — David Roberts and Johnny DeCosta know success isn't always defined by winning.

The two seniors, who teamed with Peter Daley and Michael Schmidt in the boys state final of the 3,200-meter relay Saturday, couldn't help but be disappointed by their performance.

Coming in, they wanted to make the podium. They knew a top-8 spot was viable, but with an extremely fast field, they finished 11th.

Still, the success they experienced Saturday went much further than an 11th-place finish.

The team cut more than six seconds off their personal best Saturday and cut a total of more than 25 seconds off their personal best during the past two weeks.

"One of our main goals was trying to get podium, but it was a fast field," DeCosta said. "I think that's probably the biggest disappointment, is not placing. But I don't think we even expected to be that close. We were skeptical about going to state, so getting here and being top 11 in the state - I'll take it."

On the girls side, the relay team of Sarajane Rossi, Tatum Lombardi, Toni Lombardi and Traci Schlegel finished eighth in both the 800-sprint medley and 1,600-meter relay.

While both of their times in Saturday's relays were slower than their preliminary runs, all four girls came away happy.

They also came away with a school record in the 1,600 relay, which they set Friday.

"We're happy," said Toni Lombardi, the lone senior. Friday "pretty much carried over."

The 1,600 relay concluded a successful weekend for the Rams in terms of cutting times. All three relay teams cut substantial time from their previous bests.

"I'm happy for them," Rams coach David Bruner said. "They ran well. I think we peaked, to tell you the truth. That's what we wanted to do, and we were there."

While Soroco loses several seniors from this year's squad, they return a slew of talented underclassmen.

That, combined with another year of coach Bruner, has the Rams thinking big things next year.

"We're already planning, we already have goals for our times," sophomore Tatum Lombardi said. "We each have different individual times that we want to reach. We'll be back here."