Titans track continues to take small steps

“We’re at full strength now”

After opening the season at a meet against larger programs from throughout the Western Slope, the Titans got a better taste of where they stand among their peers this past weekend as they headed to Center on Friday, March 20 for the Center Invitational. And while the boy’s team continues to struggle, the girl’s team posted a number of solid results to finish sixth out of 20 teams total.
“The girls did really well,” says coach Dustin Simoens. “We were definitely a little more competitive overall.”
Sydney Petersen led the girls team with her effort in Center, competing in four events, including her first two-mile, as well as lining up for a relay immediately following her two-mile effort.
Petersen proved she’s a natural at the two-mile, taking second place in her first race at that distance with a time of 13:17.13. She’s currently ranked in the top 10 among 2A runners.
Sam Crossett had another stellar showing in the mile, placing second with a time of 6:05.87 and is also climbing the ranks statewide.
But the girls relay teams are where the Titans made up some serious ground in the overall steam standings as they placed in five different events.
Crossett and Petersen joined with Elina Smith and Isabel Young to place second in the girls 4×800 meters for the top effort among the girls relay teams.
“We have an awesome girls 4×800 team,” says Simoens.
The 4×100 and Sprint Medley teams both placed third in their races, followed by the 4×200 team taking fourth and the 4×400 team finishing in seventh.
The boys 4×400-merter team placed fifth in their race, surprising Simoens and everyone else.
“It was a hodgepodge team and I didn’t know how to rank them for the meet so we put them in the slow heat and they destroyed it,” says Simoens. “Shawnee clocked a 52-second split, which is really fast.”
The two 4×400 efforts were especially sweet for Simoens because he has a team rule about that event and the two teams stepped up to the challenge.
“I have a rule that everyone has to run the 4×400 at least once all season,” says Simoens. “Because it’s the last event of the meet, everyone from all of the teams are lined up along the track screaming and it’s really dramatic. And because it’s a 400, it’s a really painful event and you see kids pushing themselves more than ever before.”
The boy’s 4×100-meter relay team had the top result of the day as Ryan Carroll, Joe Hayes, Kaleb Schultz and Shawnee Landry teamed up to place third.
Still, because the team is relatively young, Simoens knows that both the boys and girls have a lot more room to improve.
“I think we’re doing alright but we still have a long way to go,” says Simoens. “They still need work on the small things like how to warm up properly and how to prepare for their races. They still kind of slack on the smaller things.”
The Titans head to Cedaredge this weekend, where they will meet up against the bigger Western Slope programs once again. Fortunately for Simoens, he will be heading there with a full squad. As the winter sports season winds up, more athletes are joining the ranks of the Crested Butte Titans track team, bringing additional firepower to the young but spirited team including three distance runners on the boys team.
“We’re at full strength now,” says Simoens.