Eagle Valley boys track team wins fourth-straight Western Slope League title as school records fall

Eagle Valley arrived at the Western Slope track and field championships in New Castle last Thursday and Friday with a singular mission: dominate.

“I think we all came in with a pretty positive attitude and we all knew it was strictly business,” said sprinter Wynn Sanders. “We had to show out.”

The Devils swept the podium in three events, accumulating 269 points — doubling runner-up Summit — to capture their unprecedented fourth-straight league crown. Sanders led the way, becoming the third-straight Devil sprint specialist after Kaden Kraft and Kingston Clous to win the 4A Western Slope athlete of the year award. The junior went sub-11 in the 100-meter dash prelim on Thursday — and won Friday’s final — before lowering his own 200-meter dash school-record in a 1-2-3 sweep. After going unchallenged throughout his undefeated middle school career, Sanders credited Kraft and Clous for opening his eyes as a freshman.

“It was always an honor to look up to them and train alongside them,” Sanders said. “I was like, alright, I need to get to that level and get to where they are.”

In the 200 final, teammates Taigo Horruitiner and Holden Kron applied pressure out of the blocks. But Sanders made up the stagger on Horruitiner around the curve and pulled away down the straightaway.

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“The last 50 (meters) of the race I was just pumping my arms and standing up tall. It was getting to a point where I was just grinding my teeth together,” said Sanders, who stopped the clock at 22.17 seconds, Kron (22.79) and Horruitiner (22.89) were second and third, respectively.

“It was a pretty cool of Eagle Valley representing,” Sanders stated. “And showing how much of a sprinting powerhouse we’ve become over the years.”

Horruitiner and Jason Flaherty both soared over 6 feet, 3 1/2 inches in the high jump to take first and second, respectively, while Erick Soltvedt came in third at 5-11.50. Soltvedt was part of the 1-2-3 Eagle Valley sweep in the 110-meter hurdles, which was led by Hudson Wyatt. Wyatt also won the 300-meter hurdles in a personal best time of 39.84 seconds.

Sanders wasn’t the only athlete to set a school record, either. Tyler and Dylan Blair both went under the previous 1,600-meter program mark, running 4:17.78 and 4:18.31 to place second and third, respectively. The twins took the top-2 spots in the 3,200 as well, with Dylan taking the win. Finally, Tyler Blair reset school record in the 800, an event won by Summit junior Jay McDonald (1:51.72). That race saw Battle Mountain’s Nate Beuche unleash a nearly 3-second personal best of 1:57.62, immediately inserting himself into the state qualification conversation.

“He has come on really strong the last couple weeks,” said Battle Mountain coach Rob Parish. While the mile appeared to be Beuche’s best until last week, getting ranked in the top-18 to make the 4A state meet now is likely going to require an astronomically fast time.

“Trackflation is happening,” Parish said. “Would you believe you could run 4:20 in 4A Colorado and not get in?”

Battle Mountain scored 75 points to finish fourth on the boys side. Steamboat Springs topped the girls standings, with Eagle Valley placing fourth, two points in front of the Huskies in fifth.

“The meet was awesome,” Parish commented. “I would say this crew way overachieved. Overall, they’re very, very young in age — and track age, too.”

After running 11.29 in his 100 prelim, Knox Holton — a first-year senior athlete — came back to place fourth in the final. He was also fourth in the 200 (22.91) and fourth pole vault (10-7). Kye Gosnell went a foot higher to take third in the latter event for Battle Mountain as well.

The Huskies dynamic DeMino sister act scored 18 points in the 3,200-meters as Eden DeMino (11:09.47) came back from running 2:20.99 in the 800 to win the 8-lap event while her sister Ruthie finished second in 11:51.91. Caroline Provencher ran personal bests in the 800 (2:24.12) and 400 (1:00.05) as well.

“You could see that they’re getting their sea legs under them,” Parish said. The DeMinos start track late coming off Alpine skiing and Provencher — a dual-sport athlete currently playing for the No. 1-ranked Battle Mountain lacrosse squad — came out for track for the first time this spring.

“They’re so talented and obviously really good runners from the fall,” Parish continued. “Caroline has natural speed. Some of the best speed of anyone I’ve ever coached on the women’s side. We’ve just had to work on her endurance a little bit because of the long lay off from running.”

If the Huskies’ 4×800 and 4×400 relays make it to Jeffco Stadium in two weeks, Provencher would be on both state squads. She also has an outside shot at getting in the 400 or 800. The junior plans to contribute to both lacrosse and track postseason runs.

The Huskies had many other bright spots in New Castle — from freshman Riley Parish slicing 36 seconds off his 3,200 time for sixth to Simone Dozois throwing another personal best in the discus to Reese McCommons leading the way in a condensed 400, 200 and 4×400 triple on Friday morning. Overall, Parish was pleased with his team’s efforts.

“They really came together well as a group,” he said. “The leadership from our captains was fantastic. I was really happy overall with our team on every facet — from improvement, to buy-in and positivity and togetherness.”

Both Eagle Valley and Battle Mountain will compete in a couple Front Range meets this weekend, the final chance for athletes to secure a state qualifying standard. Sanders is ranked 10th in the 200 as of this writing. He said even though Friday’s race was special, he hasn’t been sitting on a record all spring, per se.

“Most times this season, we’ve had pretty bad weather,” Sanders said before adding that form and composure were also key to Friday’s performance.

“I kept my face relaxed, I kept my hands relaxed and I just pumped,” he explained. “And I ran two PRs, so I think that might be the secret now. I think I finally figured it out.”

The Devils have figured things out as a group, too. While they’ll undoubtedly lose some key pieces to graduation, Sanders seemed confident in going after a five-peat in 2027.

“Our coaches have been training up a lot of younger kids,” he said. “I think our returning athletes can definitely step up and show that we can handle the heat.”