The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Climbing 2A ranks in a number of events
by Than Acuff
With the post-season just two weeks away, the Crested Butte Titans track team continues to climb the state rankings in a number of events, led by their relay squads.
A skeleton crew of freshmen and sophomores headed to Gunnison for a freshmen-sophomore meet on Wednesday, April 22 and the entire team then traveled to Montrose on Friday, April 24. And while results on paper from Montrose appear somewhat disappointing, they matched up well against several of the programs similar in size at the meet and are setting up for a strong showing at the state championships in two weeks.
Still, it wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns for Crested Butte in Montrose as the team shined in some events but failed to even show up in others, as Titan athletes continue to struggle with their race-day rhythm.
“It was a pretty good meet,” says Simoens. “There were some highs but definitely some lows as well. There are still little issues like checking in for races, poor warm-ups and some just outright missed their events. There are still some technical details holding us back.”
The biggest highlight came from Sam Crossett in the two-mile race. Simoens believed it was just a matter of time before Crossett put together a great two-mile race and that time came in Montrose, as she shaved more than 40 seconds off her personal best time to place third with a time of 13:04.58.
“She had a breakthrough during a tough practice on Wednesday and it all just kind of clicked on race day for her,” says Simoens.
Sydney Peterson had a solid showing in her mile effort, placing sixth, but had to drop out of the two-mile due to illness. Nevertheless, Peterson and Crossett are one second apart in the state rankings and primed to make it to the state meet.
“They run really well together and are a force,” says Simoens.
Three of the Titan relay teams also made strides in Montrose to set up for a trip to the championships. The boys 4×100 meter relay team put down a season-best time to move into eighth place overall in 2A, the girls 4×100 followed suit and are now ranked 12th, and the girls 800 sprint medley is now ranked 17th overall with the top 18 teams getting the call for the finals.
The boys 4×800-meter relay team of Joe Hayes, Woody Martineau, and Aiden and Conrad Truettner combined to score points with a sixth-place finish and Quinn Winter jumped his way to a fifth-place finish in the high jump.
The Titans head to Pagosa Springs this Saturday, May 2 for the first time with continued focus on getting events dialed for the league meet in one week and qualifying for states in additional events.
“It’s pretty much our last opportunity to get individual events and team events dialed,” says Simoens. “Last week we focused on the 4×100 teams. Now were going to focus on the 4×200, 4×400 and individual events. Right now it’s pretty much all about state rankings.”
