The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“Our kids are competitors and they’re just going to go for it”
By Than Acuff
The hope was that when the Crested Butte Titans Track and Field team headed to the Spartan Invite in Colorado Springs on Saturday, May 3, they would move up in some events in the state rankings to help secure some spots at the state championships. Unfortunately, illness continues to run through the school and the track team leaving them a bit short-handed. So, while their initial hopes were somewhat dashed, the meet was not without some successes, and they still have one last meet to do what needs to get done.
“It was still a great meet, but we had to make a lot of adjustments,” says coach Shari Sullivan-Marshall. “The kids that were there did great.”
It was a new meet for Crested Butte and one that drew 29 teams, all but four of which were from bigger schools on the Front Range. But it was one that the Titan coaches had thought about attending for a while.
“It’s been on our radar the last couple of years, and we just decided to go for it,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “It was good to see some different uniforms and a good experience to be in that environment and see how the big teams operate.”
The first somewhat shock to the Titans system was at the start of the meet as sprints were run through a series of preliminary heats that then funneled into a finals heat. The girls sprint crew of Paloma Lamar, Eva Loflin and Sage Johnson all came close to hitting personal records (PR) in the 100 and 200-meter races while Sophia Bender and Josie Feier raced in the 400 meters with Bender placing 16th overall and Feier setting a new PR. The boys’ sprinters had a similar experience in their races with Colby Smith and Cole Wimett posting PRs in the 200 meters with Smith setting a new PR by two seconds.
“Sophia and Josie have not raced for over a month, and they ripped the band aid off in the 400,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “All of the sprinters did great.”
The distance events followed suit as Ali Johnson set a PR in the 800 meters passing a few runners down the stretch to finish 20th and placed 14th in the 1600 meters while Maryn Pritchett stepped on the gas in both the 800 and 1600 meters coming in 15th place behind Johnson in the 1600-meter race.
“Maryn looked like a different runner,” says Sullivan-Marshall.
While relays were a bit thin due to the rash of illnesses the boys 4×800-meter relay had the top Titan result of the day as Sam Bullock, Max Sullivan, Jake Pendy and Giles Billick teamed up to finish in fifth place overall. Meanwhile, Cody Pleak jumped his way to another Crested Butte top 10 finish placing ninth in the high jump.
The Titans now have their sights set on the final meet of the season as they head to Montrose on Saturday, May 10 with a couple of state championship spots on the line and an opportunity for all Titans to showcase the work they’ve put in all season.
“I feel confident we have two events in and hope to add one or two more,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “Our kids are competitors and they’re just going to go for it.”
