Titans track rises to challenge at state championships

Eight podium performances

Goals were set, hopes were high and the training was done. Then it was go time.
Thirteen Titans qualified for the 2A state track and field championships held Thursday through Saturday, May 19-21 at Jeffco Stadium.
It was the first trip for every single Titan athlete to the state championships, casting a host of questions in coach Laura Puckett’s mind.
“The state meet is sort of a gamble because it’s so much bigger than any other meet,” says Puckett. “You never know what a kid’s head space is going to be in that arena. You hope you’ve done everything right and then you send them off to the wolves.”
In the end, the Titans rose to the challenge and then some with the Titans stepping onto the podium eight times over the course of the three-day event. In addition, everyone set yet another personal record (PR) time and one Crested Butte Community School record was tied, while two new school records were set.
The championships opened Thursday, May 19 under threatening skies with a classic Front Range system moving in.
Three Titan relay teams were scheduled for their starts but only the 800-sprint medley got to run, with rain and lightning forcing an end to the day.
The sprint medley team of senior Karleigh Dean, junior Toni Brown, sophomore Abby Whiting and freshman Monika Olesen had the hardest job of the Titans team, breaking the ice for the big event.
While the sprint medley team fell short of qualifying for the finals, they finished higher than their initial seed.
With the teams sent packing and events moved back a day, Puckett believes the break gave her team a chance to breathe and come to terms with the energy of the event.
“I think it was for the best,” says Puckett.
The team returned to action on Friday, opening with the 800-meter relay. The relay team of freshmen Shannon Costello and Lindsay Kopf, junior Jessie D’Aquila and sophomore Amber Scott bring a variety of talent to the team making for one potent mix.
At the state meet, their talents meshed together seamlessly with each runner posting their fastest splits of the season.
“They did awesome,” says Puckett. “It was all of them stepping up and running their hearts out.”
The team combined to post their fastest time of the season by more than 10 seconds to finish fifth and stand on the podium.
The 100-meter sprint relay team of freshman Rosie Ewert, Brown, Dean and Olesen followed in the fleet-footed steps of their 4×800-meter teammates. Though they were knocked out during prelims, the four connected to set a new school record of 53.56 seconds for Crested Butte.
Friday evening closed with a bang for the Titans team. It all started with the two-mile race.
The girls lined up first and Scott was in the mix through the entire race as the pace fluctuated between fast laps and slow laps. Scott flirted with the top three after dropping the hammer on the home stretch and knocked off a few more runners to place fourth with a new personal record time of 11:53.18.
“It was a solid performance and she knocked nine seconds off her PR,” says Puckett.
The boys lined up next with the freshman duo of Ian Boucher and Forrest Smith representing the Titans.
With the top boys in the state gunning to set a new 2A record, the pace was blistering from the start. Boucher and Smith hung on to the pace and while the leaders pulled away from the field, both Boucher and Smith carried their speed.
“They looked so relaxed and comfortable at that pace,” says Puckett.
Boucher finished with another PR time of 10:17 to take fifth place and tie the school record set by Jack Linehan.
Smith had, what Puckett called “the race of his life.” Smith came into the championships ranked 16th in the state but posted a PR time of 10:34.81, 24 seconds faster than his previous PR, to place ninth and take the final spot up on the state championships podium.
“Both of those boys really shined,” says Puckett.
Friday concluded with the preliminaries of the girls’ 4×400-meter relay. Freshman Suzanna Dumas, Kopf, sophomore Elisabeth Desmarais and Whiting were on tap for the race—Puckett admits nerves were rampant among her runners. It was simple: if they wanted to advance out of the preliminaries, they had to have their best race of the year.
“Every single leg had to be competitive,” says Puckett.
The girls rallied, firing off fast splits and smooth handoffs to finish third in their preliminary heat and qualify for the big final on Saturday.
“That was probably the most exciting race of the weekend,” says Puckett.
The weekend closed for the Titans on Saturday with the mile and the 4×400-meter finals.
Scott, Costello and Boucher were all on tap for the mile event. Scott and Costello finished in fourth and fifth place, respectively, with each running new PRs.
“We were super happy with their performances,” says Puckett.
Prior to Boucher’s race, the coaches discussed some last-minute strategy with him and it paid off as Boucher kicked his way into sixth place with a new PR time of 4:39.75.
“We talked to him about kicking earlier and he did that,” says Puckett.
The 4×400-meter relay team closed the weekend for the Titans, setting a new school record and placing sixth in the finals for another Crested Butte showing on the state championships podium.
“You can’t ask for much more than school records, PRs and medals at state,” says Puckett. “It was a perfect capstone performance to the season and I’m incredibly proud of them.”