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Steamboat Springs — If there's a meet in which members of the Steamboat Springs track and field team can get a feel for where they stand, today's start of the two-day Tiger Invitational in Grand Junction certainly is the place.

The meet draws some of the best competition from all classes, and athletes from schools are allowed entrance in only two events.

"I think you got to go into it, and especially with how competitive this meet is, as a warm-up for what's coming up," Steamboat coach Luke DeWolfe said. "It's a good stepping stone.

What's coming up is next weekend's regional track meet at the same Stocker Stadium infield as this weekend's event.

The area of focus for Steamboat again will be on its distance runners. DeWolfe said the team has started to taper off and prepare for regionals.

Depending on the weather, today's meet should be a good judge of where the Sailors are.

"The kids can say,'Hey, am I close? Am I on the cusp? What things do I need to do in this last week to get where I need to be? Or maybe I just need something really lucky to slide in there,'" DeWolfe said. "We're looking at it and keeping positive with it."

Soroco

Rams coach David Bruner's taking a realistic approach as his team prepares for the league tournament in West Grand on Saturday.

Sure it would be nice to come away with a few league champions and place high as a team, but in reality, Bruner said, the league meet is not a whole lot different from any other track meet.

"It's just like another track meet," said Bruner, noting that once when he coached a team in New Mexico, it finished fourth in league play before finishing as state runner-up a couple of weeks later. "League is just another track meet where we'll be able to get on a track, work on stuff and look at our times."

Soroco was able to get on a track twice this week, venturing up to Steamboat both times to work mainly on handoffs and getting out of the blocks.

Bruner said he's excited to see the girls 800- and 1,600-meter relay teams as well as the girls sprint medley team Saturday. The 800- and sprint-medley teams had their best times of the year at a blustery meet in Craig last week.

Still, he said the emphasis is on the regional track meet in Grand Junction on May 9 and 10.

"I don't put a lot of emphasis on the league meet," he said. "It's really about the quality of kids that you have. The team that wins sometimes might score a lot at league. But it's just another track meet, and it comes down to next week and what we're doing."

Hayden

Hayden track and field coach Barbara Manzanares will use Saturday's league tournament as a quasi-regional tournament.

The first-year Tigers coach said the meet at West Grand will provide for a first-time look at some of the 10 teams from Hayden's region.

"It's like the final culmination to our year before we move onto regionals," she said. "It's a meet of all of our schools in our district."

Manzanares said she's interested in seeing the boys 400- and 800-meter relay teams and the girls 3,200-meter relay team compete.

She also said Delanie Vedepo (1,600-meter run), Jake Walker (100-meter dash) and Murphy Smartt (high jump) will be looking to pre-qualify for the state meet.

"I have high expectations," Manzanares said. "I'm thinking the kids will do well. I know they're psyched for the competition."

- To reach Luke Graham, call 871-4229

or e-mail lgraham@steamboatpilot.com