Battle Mountain sophomore blasts 3200-meter school record on day 2 of 4A state track and field meet

If the rest of Colorado believes Battle Mountain ‘came out of nowhere’ at the 2026 state track and field championships, then maybe they’ll never learn.

“Somehow we are still under the radar,” head coach Rob Parish said after his team sliced another seven seconds off its previous season best to finish on the 4×800-meter relay state podium for the 14th time in 15 years on Thursday in Lakewood. On Friday, Eden DeMino — who split 2:19 in the aforementioned relay — uncorked the fastest altitude 3200-meter time in Battle Mountain history.

“Yeah, I think I was feeling good today,” said DeMino, a state champion in alpine skiing who admittedly gets a little bit of a late start to track because of her winter sports commitments. “Definitely was getting faster throughout the year.”

On day 2 of her first state track meet, the sophomore took 18 seconds off her previous best to run 10:51.14, eight seconds quicker than Liz Harding’s previous program altitude best and just a couple clicks off Grace Johnson’s all-time record — set at sea level in California.

“Eden just blasted it,” Parish said of the sophomore’s sixth-place result before adding, “we saw it coming.”

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While DeMino admitted to getting bored by the 8-lap affair after running a 5:32.89 1600 at the Husky Invite (a split she bettered twice in a row on Friday), she still mustered an 11:18 by herself at her first crack at the distance later in the spring. Two weeks ago, DeMino soloed an 11:09 at regionals. That time stacked up pretty well next to the program’s other legends like Milaina Almonte, Liz Constein, the Harding twins and Johnson. Parish said DeMino’s weekly workout splits have been comparable to those alumni as well.

“We have the historical context,” the coach said. “So when we do 4×1 mile repeats or 6×1 kilometers, we know what’s special. So, it’s not surprising to see what she’s doing.”

While Addison Ritzenhein cruised to her fourth-straight gold in a time of 10:31.46, DeMino hung in the middle of the pack, reeling off 82 and 83-second quarters like clockwork.

“I was looking for people who qualified a couple (spots) ahead of me, people who broke 11 and just tried to stay with them,” DeMino said. “It felt pretty good. It wasn’t too, too fast.”

DeMino came through the halfway in 5:26 and closed her last lap in 1:14 for the massive personal best. When asked about how it felt to set a new school record, DeMino laughed and simply stated, “good.”

Parish said his pupil possesses the unique trifecta of talent, toughness and tenacity. In other words, DeMino is a gamer who yearns for the front of the pack and is willing to go to the well to stay there. After upping her focus during weekly intervals this season, Parish thinks the only missing piece to realizing her potential is consistent training and quality long runs.

“Time will tell,” he said. “If she can pull that together, she has Nike Cross Nationals capability in her.”

Even though she has national caliber running potential, Parish fully supports DeMino’s multi-sport approach. That’s good, since DeMino still likes to shred.

“Skiing is definitely a lot more fun, but the seasons don’t really interfere that much, at least for cross-country,” she said. “And then for track, you can still run on your own. It’s just like the races that interfere so you just have to pick and choose which races you go to.”

On the boys side, cross-country state champion and course record holder Oliver Horton proved his top-seeded time by winning a tactical race in a time of 9:12.18. Eagle Valley senior Dylan Blair, who finished runner-up to Horton this fall, placed 11th in his final prep race.

“I didn’t have a great race. It was very tactical and I think my kick was a little drained from the 800 yesterday,” said Blair, who passed five athletes to help the Devils onto the 4×800-meter podium on Thursday. Going into the 3200, Blair felt confident about his mindset and was hoping a fast pace could carry him under 9 minutes for the first time.

“I thought with our field (it) was not going to be tactical, but it just turned the opposite,” he explained.

Summit’s Lukas Remeikis led the group through the opening checkpoint in 70 seconds. He was still in front at halfway — at 4:48.96, practically a tempo run for Blair and most of the vaunted field.

“Right off the start, right when the first lap ended, I was like, ‘Oh, OK so this is going to be a tactical race,'” Blair said. “In the back of my mind, I was thinking, if it goes tactical, no matter what, I’m not going to lead and I’m just going to try and get every ounce of a kick out of me. I just couldn’t really find it.”

The future Northern Arizona runner remained upbeat despite the disappointment, and even in expressing his few regrets, did so with the wisdom of a seasoned runner.

“Whenever you don’t race the way you don’t want to, you always think back to the little things,” he said. “But there’s really nothing you could have done about it in the moment.”