Eagle Valley and Battle Mountain track and field teams navigate adverse weather to set program bests at Coal Ridge Invite
Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
As warm and dry as winter was and spring has been, Mother Nature can’t seem to cooperate on meet day.
Coming off consecutive competitions in adverse conditions, the Battle Mountain and Eagle Valley track teams were greeted with fresh snow in New Castle at last Friday’s Coal Ridge Invitational. Devil’s coach Jeff Shroll decided to use the opportunity to teach transcendent truths.
“We all have things we have to do and don’t necessarily want to do,” he said. “Yeah, we’d prefer 85 degrees and sunny, but that’s not what we’re dealt with and competitors compete. It’s a mindset.”
Shroll’s squad responded to the pep talk, claiming the boys’ team title and finishing runner-up on the girls’ side. Lily Brueck won the 300-hurdles by almost three seconds, Nora Abbot cleared 7 feet, 8 inches to take the pole vault crown and Caelynn Jaramillo picked up silvers in both throws. Jaramillo whipped the discus 94-10 and is currently the top-ranked ninth-grader in 4A. The talent is hereditary: Her mom, dad and older sister all found success in throws.
“She’s coming right along in their footsteps,” Shroll said of the freshmen, whom he nicknamed “115” after a recent practice toss flew well past the century mark. The head coach credited assistants Jose Garcia, Roberto Cortez and new event coach Mallory McDonald — who competed on three NCAA championship teams for LSU in the early 2000s — for helping Jaramillo along.
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“It’s fun to think about what she can accomplish in the last two weeks of the season,” Shroll said.
While Eagle Valley’s Wynn Sanders won both short sprints, Battle Mountain’s Knox Holton finished second and third, respectively, and also cleared 11-05 for bronze in the vault.
“He’s just unbelievable,” Parish said of the senior, who spent three years running cross-country and played lacrosse until this spring. In-between, Holton logged multiple semesters in assistant coach T.J. Simpson’s weight-training class and effectively transformed his body.
“He’s been able to translate that strength into sprinting speed, which has been really fun to watch,” Parish said before acknowledging Holton’s potential as a low-key, last-minute college decathlon recruit.
“That’s actually an interesting thought,” he continued. “He’s doing great in the pole vault and the sprints and he could probably do fine in the throws and jumps, too.”
Eden DeMino provided another Husky highlight. After hammering a 4×800 relay leg in the morning, the sophomore waited out 30-degree temps huddled under a blanket in the team tent. She woke up and finished second in a personal best 2:28.61 for the open 800, and then — just 45 minutes later — stunned her coach with an 11:20.56 in the 3,200-meters.
“It’s insane what she did,” head coach Rob Parish said of DeMino’s de facto time-trial into seventh on the program’s vaunted all-time list, which includes state champions, DI All-Americans and an Olympian. Now 10th in the 4A rankings, DeMino’s mark might stick for state, too. Parish plans to pair the cross-country state fifth-placer with teammates Caroline Provencher and Reese McCommons, who ran 1:01.84 for fourth in the 400 on Friday, to assemble a formidable 4×800 in the coming weeks.
In the field, Simone Dozois, whom Parish called “an amazing bright spot,” finished third in the discus. Meanwhile, Alex Flores pulled off perhaps the most impressive slate of races. The sophomore ran the 4×800, both hurdle events (setting a personal best at the 300-meter distance) and clocked a lifetime best 10:39.57 to place second in the 3,200-meter run.
“It’s a quadruple we haven’t had happen before,” Parish aptly stated.
Eagle Valley’s Tyler Blair won the aforementioned distance event in 9:55.71, capping off a day that saw him swipe the altitude school record from his twin brother in the 1,600. Tyler Blair ran 4:20.81, taking 16 hundredths off Dylan Blair’s mark from last year. The Blair’s topped the podium, with Dylan — who also won the 800 later in the afternoon — finishing five seconds back. Husky junior Nate Beuche benefited from the hot pace, clocking 4:28.52 for third.
“I don’t think we’ve seen the end of this battle,” Shroll said of the brothers’ ongoing dual. “There should be some really good, ultra-competitive races coming up.”
Surprisingly, in order to lock up a top-18 state-qualifying mark, there might need to be. Tyler Blair’s time as it stands now would be the last accepted entry, Shroll said.
“If you would have told me five years ago a 4:20 doesn’t get you into state — like, what?” the coach rhetorically asked. “Colorado is just staggering in middle distance right now. And same thing in the 3,200.”
The Devils racked up points across the board. Tiago Horruitiner and Jason Flaherty were second and fourth in the high jump and Flaherty and Ivan Jaeger went 1-2 in the 400-meter dash. Hudson Wyatt, was second in the 110s and third in the 300 and fifth in the long jump. While the junior was the star of the April 4 home meet, Erick Soltvedt stole the show on Friday.
“Get used to it,” Shroll said of seeing Soltvedt’s name at the top of the leaderboard. In an event where a single stutter can derail a race, Shroll said the two teammates “push each other like crazy” in practice sharpening each others’ steps. On Monday, the coach encouraged Soltvedt to match his teammate’s cadence.
“He was getting there,” Shroll said. “And they have fun doing it. They’re afraid of nothing.”
Exhibit A: Both athletes three-stepped the 110s on their first day of practice as freshmen.
“Never seen that in my life,” Shroll continued. “You’re not even supposed to do that. (It) makes me rewrite my training plan.”
After spring break, Eagle Valley and Battle Mountain will return to New Castle for the Western Slope League meet. Shroll believes the Devils are deep enough on the boys side to “land points from all over” in going for a four-peat.
“The next two weeks will be really key,” he added. “We’re going to do everything we can to take as many as we can. That’s kind of the Eagle Valley way.”
