Devils distance crew leads boys track team to victory at Warrior Wild West Invitational
Eagle Valley went 1-2 in both the 1600 and 3200-meter runs and won the 4x800-meter relay by 40 seconds
Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
Well folks, this Devils’ D-crew is the real deal.
“(They’re) deep and hungry for state,” said Eagle Valley distance coach Myriah Blair after the Warrior Wild West Invitational wrapped up on Saturday in Grand Junction. The boys track team claimed the team title in the 13-team field largely on the strength of it’s long-distance depth.
The Devils opened the two-day meet with a 40-second win in the 4×800-meter relay and went 1-2 in both the 1600 and 3200-meter runs.
“The mantra for this part of the season is ‘headlamps on, boys,’ — an allusion to embarking on spelunking in the pain cave,” added fellow distance coach Charlie Janssen. His athletes rose to the challenge, gritting through multiple multi-lap races.
The action kicked off with a school-record attempt in Friday’s 4×800-meter relay. Defending Western Slope athlete of the year Kaden Kraft sat out of his usual short sprint schedule to join Cooper Filmore, Tyler Blair and Armando Fuentes on the relay. Janssen was impressed to see the squad come within three seconds of the 10-year-old school record despite having “no competition to help pull them along.” The Devils final time of 8 minutes, 2.85 seconds was well clear of runner-up Moffat County and 54 seconds ahead of third-place Basalt.
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On day 2, Filmore and Dylan Blair went for broke in the 3200 meter run. After a 68-second opening lap, the pair settled into metronomic 72-second clips for five of the next six revolutions.
“They pushed the limits by themselves in the 3200,” said Myriah Blair.
Filmore unleashed a 67-second final 400 to finish in 9:30.47 — 18 seconds faster than his previous lifetime best and just one second off the school record current Boise State runner Jake Drever set last year. Blair took the silver in 9:38.89 and Jake’s younger brother, Logan, dipped under 11 minutes for the first time to slide into eighth.
Later in the afternoon, Tyler Blair — who notched a 1:59 split in the 4×800 the previous day —soloed through a fierce headwind to lead another Devils 1-2 finish in the 1600. Janssen said the sophomore was on school-record pace through 1-kilometer en route to his five-second personal best of 4:28.74. Armando Fuentes finished second in 4:38.83. The senior’s result was particularly impressive considering what he’d accomplished a couple hours prior: he clocked a 1:56.38 to place second in the 800 meters.
“Armando’s 800 was absolutely outrageous,” Myriah Blair said of Fuentes, who only broke 2:00 for the first time a week ago in Glenwood Springs but is now ranked third in 4A in the event. “He is looking so strong and will be a huge contender at state.”
“Mando just ran absolutely lights out and is now within legitimate reach of our 800 school record,” Janssen added, referring to Dominic Patterson’s 1:54.77 set in 2014.
Girls team results
- Fruita Monument – 120.5
- Grand Junction – 95
- Riverdale Ridge – 83
- Central Grand Junction – 78
- Delta – 74.5
- Eagle Valley – 63
- Palisade – 45
- Basalt -44
- Montrose – 33
- DeBeque – 24
- Moffat County – 21
- Hayden – 20
- Golden View Classical Academy – 7
- Caprock Academy – 3
Boys team results
- Eagle Valley – 128
- Grand Junction – 99
- Riverdale Ridge – 87
- Moffat County – 76
- Fruita Monument – 65.5
- Montrose – 44
- Delta – 43.5
- Central Grand Junction – 43
- Palisade – 34
- Basalt – 31
- Golden View Classical Academy – 22
- Ouray – 17
- Hayden – 5
The Eagle Valley girls distance crew provided a few highlights as well. Ellie Shroll ran an 8-second personal best in the 800-meter run with her 2:28.15 eighth-place finish. Shroll posted another 2:28 as part of the 4×800 team, where Lily Brueck, Ashley Jones and Ginger Reilly helped carry the baton to another massive season best (10:22.69). Meanwhile, Zakia Shreeve and Brueck finished second and third, respectively, in both the 100 and 300-meter hurdles to help the girls finish in sixth place as a team.
The boys piled on additional points with four podium finishes across the sprints, jumps and throws. Blake Anderson took second in the 400-meter dash (51.97), Kevin Hasley was third in the 110-meter hurdles (15.80), Holden Kron was third in the triple jump (36-01.75) and Matthew Howe placed second in the pole vault (11-02). Additionally, Zach Bourke finished fifth in the discus (137-05) and fourth in the shot put (43-08) while Jason Flaherty (fourth place) just missed the high jump podium as he and Aedan Phelan (seventh place) both cleared 5-feet, 8-inches.
Eagle Valley will continue training through spring break to prepare for the Western Slope League Championships on May 3 in Grand Junction. The Colorado state track and field meet is May 16-18 in Lakewood.
