Titans take on big wigs at Tiger Invite

Another school record set

The cream of the Western Slope track crop makes the pilgrimage to Grand Junction every year for the annual Tiger Invite. The venue is spectacular, the altitude is low and the meet is spread out over two days, giving athletes time to race and recover as they search for their top times of the season, leading up to States.
“We go there for a couple of reasons,” explains coach Dustin Simoens. “The competition there really helps them. It’s good to have someone in front of you and people around you pushing you. Also, the two-day format is similar to State and it’s good to get them in that mindset.”
Oftentimes, 2A programs such as Crested Butte can get lost in the mix of the 4A and 5A schools in attendance, but always manage to shine on an individual level.
This year was no different as the Titans track team posted several scoring results in Grand Junction and used the venue, the altitude and competition to raise their game another level.
 “We had some really good results across the board,” says Simoens. “The kids fed off the competition and I’d say 80 to 90 percent of the kids set new PRs [personal records], and that was awesome.”
Simoens admits that heat did play a factor though, as several athletes felt the sting of the Western Slope sun after spending the past seven months covered in snow.
“They do not do well in the heat but it will probably be hotter at State in two weeks, so hopefully this was a good shot in the arm to get them acclimated,” says Simoens.
The relays continue to shine despite the weekly adjustments to their lineups. It seems that no matter who gets thrown onto the relay teams for any distance, they pull it off, week in and week out.
“We can just throw a number of combinations together and they keep doing well,” says Simoens.
Rosie Ewert, Tara Mortell, Brittany Barefield and Monika Olesen teamed up to place fourth in the 800 sprint medley relay and eighth in the 4×100 relay. Suzanna Dumas then joined Ewert, Barefield and Olesen to place fourth in the 4×200.
Ewert also continued the ongoing friendly rivalry between her and Olesen in the 100-meter dash. The two Titans have been trading off breaking the school record, with Olesen the current record holder heading into Grand Junction. But Ewert came right back this past weekend to tie Olesen’s time, posting a 13.07 in the 100 meters and finishing in eighth.
Dumas matched up against the 4A and 5A heavy hitters as well in the 300-meter hurdles to run to a seventh-place finish and Shannon Costello placed seventh in the 800 meters, shaving four seconds off her personal record. Her time in Grand Junction moved her up among all 2A runners in the state.
“She moved up to 15th overall and will probably be going to State as a result,” says Simoens.
Alina Smith continued her season-long development in the mile, taking 15 seconds off her mile time in Grand Junction.
The boys’ team saw similar success, both in the relays and in individual events. Shawnee Landry, Michael Ryan, Dakota Wiggins and Kaleb Schultz placed eighth in the 4×200-meter relay and Kyle Boyle replaced Landry on the 4×100-meter relay to help push the team to a fifth-place finish.
Wiggins then posted his best result of the year in the 400 meters, posting a new school record time of 52.10 to place third, with Boyle two spots behind him in fifth.
“That’s a great little rivalry as well between Dakota and Kyle,” says Simoens. “We have a lot of competitive kids, making the whole team more competitive.”
The team is now in the midst of post-season preparations this week. They head to Alamosa on Saturday for regionals with the boys and girls team titles well within reach.
“We could always be a little faster but everyone’s doing great and they’re right where they should be,” says Simoens. “I think we can win both the boys’ and girls’ titles but everyone is going to have to run as many events as they can to squeeze out as many points as possible. It takes all hands on deck.”