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Steamboat Springs — The track in Craig is 18 1/2 miles from the doors of Hayden High School. Still, when the Tigers track team unloads from its bus for a meet at noon today at Moffat County High School, Hayden coach Barbara Manzanares said there will be a pervasive feeling of familiarity.

"It is an advantage," said Manzanares, who takes the team to practice on the track in Craig once a week. "We've always had success at the Craig meet in the past. It's a fast track, and the kids just seem to throw and jump better. If the weather holds, we have a really good shot of seeing some good distances and times."

The Tigers are going to have to settle for the meet being their unofficial home meet. The team won't come any closer to Hayden this season and has yet to compete within two hours of its hometown.

The timing for the "home" swing couldn't be any better, Manzanares said, because a number of Tigers are aiming to prequalify for the state meet.

Junior shot put specialist Holli Salazar qualified last week. High jumper Murphy Smartt stands the best chance of joining her this week. Smartt has proven capable of scoring in the event all season and has displayed consistency in flying over the 6-foot mark.

He has struggled to clear the next step up, however, and he needs to if he wants to guarantee his spot at the state meet before regionals. The prequalification mark is 6-foot-2.

"If he has a good day, he can do it," Manzanares said. "He's been jumping at 6-foot all season. He's one we'll be watching to do something."

The first-year coach said several other hopeful Tigers might need to wait another week. She said the boys and girls 400-meter and 3,200-meter relays all harbor state ambitions. Most of the teams will still compete today, but all will do so with key members out because of illness or injury.

An early-week illness also will restrict freshman Delanie Vedepo to the 1,600, preventing her from attempting to lower her school record in the 800.

Still, Manzanares said she's expecting a big day, no problems figuring to outweigh the advantage of competing so close to Hayden.

"We've been going over there to practice every Wednesday, and it's really helped," she said. "Now we'll compete there and be a lot closer to family members, so they'll be able to support their kids. All of our coaches will be with us, including the middle school coaches who help with the high school. That will all be really handy."

- To reach Joel Reichenberger, call 871-4253 or e-mail jreichenberger@steamboatpilot.com