Titans track continues tweaks in Cedaredge, excited for Stoker

Jamey Spahn earns team’s weekly Golden Shoe Award

It’s the time of season when the Crested Butte Titans track coaches start ramping up workouts and continue working on the team’s competitive edge. While their method comes in a variety of ways, the end goal remains the same.
“We try to make everything competitive during workouts,” says coach Dustin Simoens. “That way the kids push themselves harder.”
Last week was a particularly tough week of practices for the Titans. Couple that with a nice Western Slope wind that kicked up during the meet in Cedaredge and an extremely competitive field of teams on Saturday, March 28, and you’ve got a recipe for slower times. Nevertheless, some Titans rallied through the wind to continue shaving time and even setting some personal records.
The boys’ 4×400-meter relay team provided one of the highlights for the Titans that afternoon. The 4×400 is known as one of the tougher events to run and Simoens insists that everyone run it at least once during the season. While several athletes balk at the opportunity, the boys’ 4×400 team has turned into one of the top relay squads and now everyone wants a piece of it.
During the meet, one member of the 4×400 team had to drop out prior to the race with an injury so Simoens called on Walker Carroll to jump into the fray to join Joe Hayes, Shawnee Landry and Quinn Winter. Despite the late addition, the team still posted a sixth place finish among the heavyweights and are now ranked fifth among other 2A programs and should qualify for state.
“They just keep shaving off time and now I got kids that want to sign up for it and it’s actually getting competitive,” says Simoens.
The boys’ team also got a boost from the addition of Aiden Truettner and Woody Martineau. While it’s Martineau’s first foray into high school track he should develop as the season progresses. Meanwhile, Truettner came into the season on fire from Nordic racing to place fourth in the mile in his first meet of the season with a time of 4:56.19.
“It took him until the last meet of the season last year to run a 4:55 so his time this early was really impressive,” says Simoens. “He’s a different athlete this year.”
The girls’ relay teams continue to place in nearly every event they enter led by the 4×800-meter squad of Sam Crossett, Ariel Kilpatrick, Sydney Petersen and Elina Smith. The four girls rallied to a fifth place finish with their fastest time of the season thus far.
“They just continue to get faster and took a big chunk of time off,” says Simoens.
On the individual side of things, Malia Olson had the top sprinting result among all Titans, placing fifth in the 100 meters, Tara Mortell finished sixth in the 400 meters and Sydney Petersen posted a sixth place finish in the 800 meters and a seventh place finish in the 1600 meters.
Jamey Spahn was the recipient of the weekly Golden Shoe Award from the coaches. Not only did she set a personal record in the 200 meters, she put down gritty efforts in the 4×100 and 4×200 relays and then came to the aid of a runner from another team who collapsed on the track during an event.
“It was a really cool character moment,” says Simoens.
The Titans are now preparing for a trip to Stoker Stadium, the Valhalla of track facilities on the Western Slope, in Grand Junction on Saturday, April 4.
“I’m really excited for this meet,” says Simoens. “It’s at 4,500 feet which really favors our distance runners and it’s the best track we run on besides the state meet. It’s going to be a really good meet.”
Meanwhile, workouts will continue to ramp up and the coaches are still looking for the kids to bring their game to another level.
“Things are getting a little smoother but we still need to iron out some wrinkles; we’re still working on the little things,” says Simoens. “It’s the time of the year when we start putting our A teams together for relays and hone in on what kids’ specific goals are.”