Titans track faces big competition in Grand Junction

“The younger kids now know what they’re getting into, and the older kids are finding their groove”

By Than Acuff 

The Crested Butte Titans Track and Field team made their first annual pilgrimage to Grand Junction for the Frank Woodburn Invitational. While the meet attracts 24 teams, most of which are far bigger than Crested Butte, the meet does give the Titans a chance to step up their efforts at a lower altitude and hit some personal goals. The one downside: the spring sports season is also rife with conflicts as several athletes try to balance competition and testing. As a result, the Titans’ team of 32 athletes was down to 22 for the big meet with a couple illnesses throwing an additional curveball.

Nevertheless, those that did go, showed up as the Titans recorded 16 personal records (PR) and 10 season bests (SB) in Grand Junction with Crested Butte reaching the podium on four events.

The top Titans results came in the relays as both the boys and girls 4×800-meter relay teams placed third with some freshmen stepping it up on the girls’ team. The 4×800-meter relay girls’ team had freshman Tazzy Pozner kick things off before handing the baton to junior Ilo Hawley. Hawley then handed off to junior Sophia Bender and when she passed it to freshman Ali Johnson for the final leg, the Titans were sitting in fourth place. Johnson proceeded to drop the hammer shaving 30 seconds off her time the week before to move into third place, crossing the finish line just shy of the second-place team to earn the team some hardware.

“She rose to the occasion to run the anchor leg,” says coach Shari Sullivan-Marshall. “The entire team took off 44 seconds from a week ago.”

 The boys 4×800-meter team had a similar result in their effort with a late addition to the mix. Sam Bullock led things off for the Titans after having to step into the spot for his brother Kenny.

“Sam hadn’t run it since the state meet last May,” says Sullivan-Marshall. 

Bullock then handed off to Finn Veit, who passed it to Cody Pleak with Giles Billick running the anchor leg. The team cut 12 seconds off their time from the week before, with a new addition to the team in Sam, to place third as well for some hardware.

“The older, experienced kids are starting to shave off even more time as well,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “Those results sets both teams up well in the rankings heading into the April Break and a lot of our older kids are five weeks ahead of where they were last season which is exciting.”

Bender posted another great result in the open 400 meters finishing in fourth place while Pleak scored team points jumping to an eight place in the high jump.

“Sophia is knocking on her PR and for Ilo to place top 10 in that event is awesome,” says Sullivan-Marshall.

Meanwhile, the Titans saw additional significant gains in the sprint events. With anywhere from 50-70 sprinters in events, for each the girls’ and boys’ races, smaller teams like Crested Butte can get swallowed up the sprinters from bigger schools. Yet, they also provide incentive for the Titans to run faster, and it showed.

“We had some kids in the top 20 and when you’re running against sprinters from these bigger programs, that’s a big deal,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “Our sprinters are more competitive than they’ve been in years.”

Overall, Sullivan-Marshall gave the Titans an “A-“ with the one downside coming in 4×400-meter relay events.

“We had to scratch those, and we never do that,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “We just had to due to some tweaks and illnesses.”

Ultimately though, while the younger athletes continue to gain comfort running in high school meets, the older kids continue to improve on their efforts each week.

“The younger kids now know what they’re getting into, and the older kids are finding their groove,” says Sullivan-Marshall.

The Titans have one last meet before the break as they head back to Grand Junction to compete on Friday, April 11. Remarkably, while families tend to leave immediately after school Friday for their vacation, the Titans should have all but seven competing on Friday.

“We’re super psyched we will be able to race on Friday,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “It’s an awesome opportunity to get one more meet in.”