CB Titans track and field gaining speed each meet

Team points all around and new school record

By Than Acuff 

With team points scored across the board on both the girls’ and boys’ sides of things, the Crested Butte Titans track and field team seems to be picking up steam every weekend of racing.

The Titans headed to Cedaredge on Saturday, March 30 for their third meet in a row on the Western Slope and the girls’ team finished ninth scoring their most points so far while the boys placed sixth.

After facing larger schools at previous meets, Cedaredge provided a nice respite and additional insight into how the Titans are looking against similarly sized schools.

“It was so nice to run against schools our size and it just felt really good for all of the kids,” says coach Shari Sullivan-Marshall.

The relays continue fine-tuning their efforts and it’s starting to show as every relay scored team points. The girls 4×200-meter relay team of Sage Johnson, Eva Loflin, Sophia Bender and Ilo Hawley shaved another three seconds off their time for the third meet in a row to place third. Hawley, Loflin, Josie Feier and Bender also combined to place third in the 4×400-meter relay.

The Titans’ top relay result of the day came in the boys 4×800-meter relay. Max Sullivan, Flint Hoyt, Giles Billick and Jake Pendy posted their fastest time of the season by 25 seconds to run to the win.

“We mixed up the order a little bit,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “It was a really fun relay.”

The sprinters were led by the effort of two Titans in the boys 110-meter hurdles. Mike D’Apolito took second place in the race posting a new school record time in the process while Asher Arell posted a new personal record to take sixth place.

“It’s the first time we’ve had a school record broken in a while,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “Both of them are in the top 20 statewide right now.”

Assistant coach Katheryne Hinze was able to make it to the meet as well to give the throwers and jumpers some attention and it paid off.

“It really helped to have someone there to coach them during the competition,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “Everyone jumped eight inches to two feet farther.”

Johnson and Loflin both qualified for the long jump finals and eventually finished fifth and eighth place respectively.

“Sage [Johnson] has never qualified for finals so that was a big deal for her,” says Sullivan-Marshall.

Cody Pleak placed ninth in the long jump with a PR and then took fifth in the high jump.

With solid results throughout field events, sprints and relays, the Titans showed they also have some weapons in the distance events. Feier placed seventh in the 1,600 meters while Pendy took fifth in the boys 1,600 meters and Billick ran to a fourth-place finish in the 800 meters.

The Titans will now jump back into the big pond as they head to Grand Junction for the Frank Woodburn Invitational on Saturday, April 6 at Stocker Stadium. 

“We’ll be able to put together some great relays and see how we stack up,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “We’re targeting a few events to get some fast times.”