Titans close with stellar showing at state championships

Seven step onto podium

It has been quite the ride for the Crested Butte Titans track and field team this year. Over the course of the past two months the team broke 10 school records, sent 18 Titans to the state championships and came away with seven trips to the podium at the Colorado State Championships Thursday through Friday, May 15-17, at Jeffco Stadium.

The entire season for some athletes comes down to those three intense days. All of the hard work, the miles, the speed work, and the strength work are put to the test at state and every coach is hoping his or her athletes are ready.
And it can be an intimidating scene as every single high school from the smallest 1A school to the largest 5A programs all compete at the same venue.
Titans head coach Dustin Simoens believed his athletes were more than ready for state and they proved it, though it wasn’t completely flawless.
“The energy level was very high and that went one of two ways,” explains Simoens. “In one way we had some missed handoffs on the relays but we also ended up breaking a number of school records.”
The opening day on Thursday was a rollercoaster ride for the Titans. Liam Mortell competed in both the preliminaries and finals of the shot put on Thursday and finished in ninth place to make the podium, setting a new school record distance of 43’ 4”.
Meanwhile, the boys’ 4×200-meter and 4×800-meter relay teams had almost opposite experiences in their races. The 4×200-meter relay team of Michael Ryan, Dakota Wiggins, Kyle Boyle and Kaleb Schultz flirted with disqualification during some midrace mayhem in their preliminary heat. Batons were dropped, kids were spilling out of their lanes crashing into other teams and chaos ensued. Once the dust cleared, the Titans avoided any sanctions from race officials and barely squeaked into the finals the following day.
The 4×800-meter relay team of Wiggins, Boyle, Forrest Smith and Aiden Truettner, on the other hand, ran as smooth a race as possible in their finals. After barely making it to state as the 18th seed, they stepped up their game to finish in seventh place for a spot on the podium and set a new school record time of 8:30.28.
“That was only the third time we ran that all season and they ran a really good race,” says Simoens.
In addition, a couple of Titans just missed making it to finals, finishing their preliminary heats in 10th place with the top nine advancing.
But the top story from day one came from Monika Olesen. Olesen lined up for the 200-meter preliminary heat and exploded off the line to finish in second place with a time of 26.28, shaving a second off her previous best and setting a new school record.
“She just stomped all over the 200 in prelims,” says Simoens. “That was the highlight of the day.”
While some individuals rose to the occasion, others fell short of their expectations, but by the time the first day was over, the Titans were poised to finish strong.
“Everyone was pretty happy for the most part,” says Simoens. “There was some disappointment but they rallied for Friday.”
Aiden Truettner set the tone for the Titans early Friday morning in the 3,200-meter finals. Truettner barely made it to the state championships, earning the final qualifying spot in the final week leading up to the championships.
He made the most of his shot, setting a new personal record time of 10:19.75 to finish in 11th place, seven spots ahead of his seeding spot.
“Aiden came ready to rock and roll and did great,” says Simoens. “It was an all-star performance.”
The girls’ 4×100 relay team followed suit in their preliminary race. Olesen, Tara Mortell, Rosie Ewert and Brittany Barefield ran a season-best time of 51.73 to punch their ticket to the finals on Saturday.
The same four girls lined up later that day for the 800-meter sprint medley finals and set a new bar for their teammates, stepping up to the highest spot for a Titan,, so far that weekend, when they finished in third place overall.
Smith closed his 800-meter high school running career with a 14th-place finish at state, while Shannon Costello placed 14th as well in her 800-meter race.
The boys’ 4×200-meter team then put a sweet end to the day’s events for the Titans. After surviving the mayhem in their preliminary heat the day before, Ryan, Wiggins, Boyle and Schultz ran a time of 1:33.29 to finish in fourth place.
Olesen continued her stellar weekend of racing on Saturday. Olesen placed ninth in the 400 meters for another trip to the podium and then finished what she started in the 200 meters. After placing second in preliminaries, she did it again in the finals to reach the highest spot on the podium of any Titan this year.
“She just stomped all over the 200,” says Simoens.
Suzanna Dumas put together an 11th-place finish in the 300-meter hurdles and then the Titans 4×100-meter girls’ relay team closed out the state championships with one final Titan trip onto the podium, placing sixth with a time of 51.95.
“I think the Titans came in ready to compete,” says Simoens. “In the end they exceeded my expectations. Across the board everyone had a personal best, whether it was a split they ran or in an open race. It was good to see everyone peaking at state and it was a good season overall.”