YOUR AD HERE »

Local track teams rock Eagle Valley

Steamboat, Hayden and Soroco show well at Saturday meet

Joel Reichenberger

— Steamboat led the way as all three Routt County high school track and field teams excelled Saturday at a meet in Eagle Valley.

The Sailors claimed three individual first-place finishes, lifting the team to one of its strongest showings in years.

“It went very well for us there,” Steamboat coach Andy Reust said.



Kim Heald won the 100-meter dash in 13.15 seconds. Morgan Bessette was tops in the long jump at 15 feet, 3 inches, and Jaime Winter won the pole vault by clearing 9 feet.

That was only the start of the day’s highlights, especially for Heald and Bessette.



Bessette, a senior, was second in the triple jump and part of a fifth-place effort in 400-meter relay, joining Matthia Duryea, Nikki Fry and Heald in that effort.

Heald also took part in the third-place 1,600-meter relay, joining Kailee Duryea, Emily Rabbitt and Matthia Duryea, and the fifth-place 800-meter relay with Kailee Duryea, Nikki Fry and Matthia Duryea.

Rabbitt was seventh in the 100-meter hurdles and also placed in the triple jump. Kailee Duryea was third in the 300-meter hurdles.

Jack Burger’s third-place finish in the 3,200-meter run led the way on the boys side. He joined Jeff Sperry, Dylan Pivarnik and Hunter Thompson for a second-place finish in the 3,200-meter relay.

Asher Rhode was fourth in the 3,200, Evan Hornstein was sixth in the 100, Sperry was seventh in the 400 and Thompson was eighth in the 1,600-meter run.

Pivarnik, Kaelen Gunderson, Lucas Stover and Hornstein were a part of the third-place 400-meter relay team while Sperry replaced Stover in the same group for a fourth-place showing in the 800-meter relay. Hornstein, Stover, Pivarnik and Thompson also placed in the 1,600 relay.

“I feel really good about the relays,” Reust said. “Every relay team placed, and the lowest placing we got was fifth. It was a good day all the way around for everybody.”

Soroco High School track team scores high

A word of advice to the plaque makers of South Routt County: You might want to hold off on crafting any new memorials to Soroco’s boys track and field jumping school records.

The way senior Alex Estes is going, the long- and triple-jump records won’t be safe until he’s graduated.

Estes, who was second last year at state in the long jump and fourth in the triple jump, destroyed his previous best efforts in those events Saturday in Eagle Valley. Estes won the long jump and the triple jump and set school records in both, as well. He went 21 feet, 9 inches in the long jump, 15 inches better than he managed all of last year. He flew 42 feet, 11 inches in the triple jump, two inches better than a year ago.

He also was sixth in the high jump — a new event for him — and he was part of a seventh-place 1,600 relay team, along with Ben Strait, David Strait and Cody Miles.

“He’s got a good coach,” Soroco coach David Bruner said with a laugh, crediting his wife, Kim Bruner’s work with all the team’s jumpers.

Maybe there is something to that theory. Miles was right behind Estes in the triple jump, finishing second, and Nick Paxton was fourth in the triple jump and fifth in the long jump.

“We have the right coach hired,” Bruner said.

Miles also was seventh in the boys shot put, a new event for him this year.

Micaela Meyer was fifth in the 400 for the girls, and Ceanna Rossi was seventh. Josie Rossi was third in the 800, sixth in the 3,200, seventh in the 1,600 and eighth in high jump.

Meyer, Ceanna Rossi, Carmen Matthews and Jaelyn Whaley also placed in the 1,600.

“It was a beautiful day down there,” Bruner said. “We did some things really well, and there were some things we didn’t do so well. We have to get back out and get after it.”

The team returns to action Friday at Coal Ridge.

Zirkle leads Hayden, pre-qualifies for state

Chris Zirkle helped the Moffat County cross-country team to a top-10 finish at the state meet in the fall with a sixth-place individual finish, but on Saturday he was doing some of the heavy lifting for his own school.

Zirkle became the third Hayden boy to pre-qualify for the state track meet with a second-place finish in the 3,200 run Saturday in Eagle Valley.

He finished in 10:23.72.

“He was psyched to run it because he didn’t get to at our last meet,” Hayden coach Barbara Manzanares said. “He did well. It was very exciting.”

Elsewhere for the Tigers, sophomore Aubree Haskins was second in the shot put and third in the triple jump. Rene Valdez was second in the high jump, Savannah Williams was third in the 1,600, Delanie VeDepo was fifth in the 800 and Treyben Letlow finished ninth in the triple jump.

“It was a good competition for the kids. They made some really good times,” Manzanares said.

Hayden will join Steamboat on Saturday in competing at a meet in Glenwood Springs.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Steamboat and Routt County make the Steamboat Pilot & Today’s work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.