Titans track battles big schools in Grand Junction

Rise to challenge

By Than Acuff 

For the second week in a row, the Crested Butte Titans track and field team headed to Grand Junction and the second time around proved just as successful as the first as the Titans continued their upswing before heading into the April Break.

“It was a competitive meet with 4A and 5A schools we didn’t see last week,” says coach Shari Sullivan-Marshall. “That added some spice to the events.”

The Titans took the opportunity to continue setting personal records (PR) and season best (SB) times with some Titans making their way onto the podium, notably the boys 4×800-meter relay team of Colby Smith, Max Sullivan, Flint Hoyt and Cody Pleak. The four combined to improve their time by a second and placed fourth overall among the bigger schools. Pleak then tacked on an amazing effort in the individual 800-meter race. After getting stuck in the field of runners during the first lap and hovering around ninth place, Pleak found some room to move on the second lap kicking his way to a second-place finish with a new PR.

“The track was crowded and Cody was caught in a physical race for the first lap, but he was able to find space to start passing runners,” says Sullivan-Marshall.

Meanwhile, both Hoyt and Sullivan battled in their 1600-meter races with Sullivan cracking the five-minute mark to set a new PR. Dari Spedden led the Titans girls in the 1600 as she won her heat and set a new PR and Noah Lockman followed suit with a PR time as well in his 1600-meter effort.

“The fields were crowded in each heat, but it provided prime environments for some good racing,” says Sullivan-Marshall.

The Titans continued to thrive in the sprints using the level of competition for personal improvement with two PRs set in the 100 meters by Barbara Siqueira and Conor Thomson. And then four runners setting PR times in the 200-meters.

“Determination was the name of the game as all four runners lined up with a PR in their mind,” says Sullivan-Marshall.

The Titans return to action on Thursday, April 23 when they head to Olathe to race and then the Titans double down the following week with back-to-back meets on Friday and Saturday, May 1-2.