The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“We’re starting to see what events we have a really strong chance at qualifying for”
By Than Acuff
The Crested Butte Titans track and field team headed to Grand Junction on Saturday, April 4 for the Frank Woodburn Invitational and took the opportunity of the low altitude, cooler temperatures and big field of athletes to continue to rise in several events and debut some relays.
The Titans have been competing in this meet for years and the venue of Stocker Stadium brings some extra energy to the day of competing. Case in point, the Titans racked up nine top 10 results amongst the massive field of athletes, set eight seasons best (SB) times and nine new personal record (PR) marks in Grand Junction.
“We always take each meet seriously, but this one has a little extra to it,” says coach Shari Sullivan-Marshall. “And for a lot of the veterans, it’s one of their favorite meets. They just rise to the occasion.”
As for the relays, it was the first 4×800-meter relay of the season for the girls and Ilo Hawley, Dari Spedden, Ali Johnson and Sophia Bender ran to a fourth-place finish.
“Ilo looked beautiful and ran so smart and Sophia is just the best anchor,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “Everyone did great in their leg and I’m excited to get them back on the track after spring break chasing that state qualifying time.”
Bender then added a PR effort to her day as she ran to a fifth-place finish in the 400 meters and joined Hawley, Barbara Siqueira and Haley Erickson for a freshmen/seniors team to place fifth in the 4×400-meter relay.
In the boys 4×800-meter relay, Colby Smith returned to the event after taking a break last season to join Flint Hoyt, Max Sullivan and Cody Pleak to run to a third-place finish.
“Cody moved the team into third place and was closing in on second place but just ran out of real estate,” says Sullivan-Marshall.
The sprinters are young and continue to gain steps with each meet as they work on the subtle nuances of sprinting.
“It’s fun to see them dial in different aspects of the race each week,” says Sullivan-Marshall.
Four Titan boys toed the line in the 1600 meters led by Pleak who set a new PR to place sixth while Sullivan set a PR as well.
“Max is so close to breaking five minutes which is a monumental benchmark to hit,” says Sullivan-Marshall.
Given the cooler temps, Sullivan-Marshall went all in on the 3200-meter race and the athletes answered the call. Spedden set a new PR to place eighth while Pleak posted another PR to take ninth with Hoyt setting a SB and Noah Lockman and Micah Hansen each setting PRs as well.
“They learned that doubling or tripling events in a meet isn’t going to ruin them,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “They saw they don’t need to be completely fresh to reach their best times.”
The Titans return to Stocker Stadium on Friday, April 10 for their last meet before Spring Break and Sullivan-Marshall expects to have solid numbers for the event despite the beginning of the break.
“I’m psyched to get this effort in before the break and most of the athletes will be there,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “We’re starting to see what events we have a really strong chance at qualifying for.”
