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Youth is served for Saints, Huskies and Devils at state

State track results

Class 4A

Girls

800 — 14. Joslin Blair, Eagle Valley, 2:23.70; 15. Naomi Harding, Battle Mountain, 2:24.22.

1,600 — 3. Naomi Harding, Battle Mountain, 5:04.70; 7. Lizzie Harding, Battle Mountain, 5:08.98; 10. Elizabeth Constien, Battle Mountain, 5:12.31.

1,600 relay — 8. Battle Mountain, 4:03.54 (Gabby Trueblood, Alex Raichart, Sofia Piliero, Sabrina Sutter); 16. Eagle Valley, 4:16.06 (Jewel Scrivens, Joslin Blair, Kaikea Cavaliero, Tristan Book).

100 — 14. Sabrina Sutter, Battle Mountain, 12.95.

High jump — 12. Shelbi Lubbers, Eagle Valley, 5.

Shot put — 13. Cassie Jaramillo, Eagle Valley, 33-0.5

Boys

110 hurdles — Harrison Trotter, Eagle Valley, 15.38

1,600 relay — 9. Battle Mountain, 3:27.17 (Douglas McMurrain, James Moran, Luis Mendoza, Qwahn Kent).

Class 2A

Girls

1,600 relay — 3. Vail Christian, 4:16.55 (Catherine Donoho, Grace Shanley, Mari Engleby, Kiana Brausch).

Boys

1,600 relay — 15. Vail Christian, 3:39.96 (E.J. Koller, Keaton Brausch, Quinn Mitchell, Hayden Sticksel).

LAKEWOOD — The future’s so bright, they’ve got to wear shades.

Of course, a Timbuk 3 reference would go completely over the collective heads of Battle Mountain, Eagle Valley and Vail Christian track and field, but youth was served on the final day of state on Sunday at Lakewood’s Jeffco Stadium.

Eagle County’s track teams are young and, more importantly, accomplished after this weekend.



Vail Christian’s girls 1,600-meter team of Catherine Donoho, Grace Shanley, Mari Engleby and Kiana Brausch took the bronze medal in 2A on Sunday. Grace Shanley is a junior and the rest of those Saints just finished their freshman years.

“We are so excited,” Saints coach Jen Sticksel said. “They’re just freshmen and Gracie, our junior, is a fabulous Nordic racer, who we got late in the season. I don’t think she ran track before. It’s going to be exciting to have the girls back next year.”

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The Saints ran a time of 4 minutes, 16.55 seconds — easily a season best.

With the exception of Douglas McMurrain and Luis Mendoza on Battle Mountain’s boys 1,600 team, everyone who competed on Sunday returns next year.

Harding and the Huskies

Already a member of the Huskies, 3,200 relay championship team, Naomi Harding put down a marker on Sunday that she’s a name. After an adventurous 800 meters in which she was tripped and stepped on — she finished 15th — she bounced back in the mile.

Harding finished in 5:04.70 for third place. Any mile near 5 minutes is outstanding. When one considers she’s a sophomore and just a 6-tenths of a second off Valerie Constien’s school record, that’s scary for the rest of the state. (And, yes, Huskies fans would likely want her in bubble wrap after this school year.)

Harding was just one of three Huskies in the top 10 in the 1,600. Lizzie Harding, also a sophomore, was seventh and Elizabeth Constien, a junior, 10th. Please remember that young Constien already set the school record in the 3,200 on Saturday.

The Battle Mountain ladies finished eighth in Class 4A as a team with a relatively small contingent.

“We are really fortunate with how strong this team is at their age,” Huskies coach Rob Parish said. “They’ve put in the work and made the right choices. The future is bright.”

See, Timbuk 3.

Huzzah, Harrison

With snow condensing the state meet from three days to two, preliminaries were eliminated. The result was that the state 18 in shorter-distance races was seeded into heats by qualifying time. If you’re seeded Nos. 10-18, you’re in the “slow” heat and at a disadvantage.

Eagle Valley’s Harrison Trotter faced that predicament. Not only did he win the “slow” heat of the 300 hurdles, but he ended up fifth as a junior.

“He had a little chip on his shoulder,” Devils coach Jeff Shroll said. “We had a talk about that before his race. You have to win the race anyway and let the chips fall where they may.”

Devils freshman Joslin Blair took 14th in the 800, while junior Cassie Jaramillo was 13th in the shot.

On Saturday, Eagle Valley’s 3,200 relay team set a school record with a time of 9:40.

“I love these young bucks,” Shroll said. “We’re going to start the season next year and the kids are going to be like, ‘Hey that was fun. Let’s do it again.’”

Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934, cfreud@vaildaily.com and @cfreud.


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