Track heats up in Grand Junction

Small squad, big day

By Than Acuff 

The Crested Butte Titans track team brought the heat to what was an already hot day in Grand Junction on Friday, April 11 with another slew of personal records (PR) just before heading into the school’s April Break.

Given the fact that the meet in Grand Junction was the day before the break, numbers for the team were expected to be down. Add in the onset of illness and a team that typically hovers around 30 athletes was down to 14 for the event but that didn’t slow them down as they rallied to set 19 PRs.

“It was hot, hot, hot on the track at GJ, both figuratively and literally,” says coach Shari Sullivan-Marshall. “The small and mighty crew of track athletes were rewarded with awesome performances and learning experiences.”

The girls’ team was especially hit with just Paloma Lamar and Tazzy Pozner lining up for the Titans. Lamar ended up setting PRs in both the 100 and 200-meter sprints cracking top 15 amongst a big field of runners. Meanwhile, Pozner lined up in the fast heat of the 1600 but remained calm and shaved four seconds off for s PR and then doubled down in the 800 meters for a PR 2:40 for the first time and finished top 20 in both races.

On the boys’ side, the 4×800-meter relay team had two returning veterans to the line-up with Max Sullivan back from illness and Jake Pendy back from injury to join Sam Bullock and Flint Hoyt. Despite the new line up, the team meshed well and ran to an eighth-place finish. 

Meanwhile, the PR party continued with Sawyer Barney and Cory Pleak each setting new marks in the high jump with Pleak finishing fifth on the day to climb further up the 2A state rankings.

The boys 100-meter crew had their best races to date as each runner improved their starts and powered to the finish line! 

And while the 4×200 had an unfortunate learning experience with hand-offs, the 4×100-meter relay team of Bradley Jose, Jack Lockman, Conor Thomson and Shawn Moran ran clean and strong.

“This event has the trickiest hand-offs and with limited practice, they did awesome,” says Sullivan-Marshall.

Hoyt continued his PR success in the 1600 meters. Seeded in the fastest heat, he ran super smart to race himself to yet another PR by shaving off two more seconds with his fastest last lap to date. The boys 800 had four heats total with three Titans spread across the field. All three set PR times with Finn Veit posting the top result placing second in his heat and 10th overall.

In the 200 meters Cole Wimett placed second in his heat with a PR while Barney and Moran lined up in the same heat with Barney winning the heat and Moran placing third for two more Titan PRs. 

The Titans return to workouts on Monday, April 21, their first outdoor track training session of the entire season, helping them continue on their current PR trajectory as they close out the regular season and look to send some Titans to the state championships mid-May.