Record-setting Eagle Valley track team qualifies 10 individuals, 3 relays to Colorado state track meet

The Eagle Valley track and field record board is in serious need of remodeling.

This spring, the Devils reset program marks for girls high jump and boys 200-meter dash, 1600 and 3200-meter runs and 4×100 and 4×200-meter relays. They’ve qualified 10 individuals and three relays to the Colorado state track meet, which begins Thursday morning at Jeffco Stadium in Lakewood.

“The camaraderie is really good across event areas, everyone is pretty hyped. When they feel like they’ve gotten there, they do more,” said assistant coach Charlie Janssen. “It’s pretty cool that there doesn’t seem to be a ceiling.”

“The start of this year we were kind of hesitant and weren’t sure if we’d be as good as we were last year,” added sophomore Wynn Sanders, who contributed to three of those records. “But just how the season has shaped up, the momentum springs us all forward. I think we work harder each day in practice.”

With the graduation of Swiss army knife Kaden Kraft, all-state hurdler Kevin Hasley, middle-distance star Armando Fuentes and school-record holder Cooper Filmore, one can’t help but sympathize with Sanders. But the Devils have not only risen to the occasion, they’ve broken barriers.

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“I think the culture has been really good,” said Sanders, who uncorked a 22.23 in the 200 prelims at the Western Slope Championships two weeks ago, shaving 0.05 seconds off Sean Matheson’s 19-year-old record. After clocking a 22.47 in a non-wind legal showing prior to the race, Sanders knew he was close.

“But I didn’t think I would beat it,” he said. “It was a really cool experience.” The sophomore said his jump from last year — when he posted a 23.66 — is predicated on increased training.

“I’ve always struggled with having stamina and overall top-end speed,” he said. “This year we’ve really just worked on it and I think I’ve increased in both of those areas.”

At the Windjammer Track Classic last weekend in Englewood, Sanders joined Kingston Clous — whose 22.27 PB is also faster than Matheson’s mark — Jackson McKibban and Blake Anderson on the 4×100-meter relay. The four sprinters posted a 42.58-second time to place fourth in a 23-team field made up of mostly 5A competition. More significantly, the time wiped off the 20-year-old mark set by the Devils’ state championship-winning squad. Sanders said taking down the record (42.84) set by Wes Minett, Matheson, and Brad and Alex Gamble back in 2005 was the team’s most significant achievement.

“That has been a goal since last year in our old squad and to just be able to do it this year was a relief off our shoulders,” he stated.

“It’s a crazy nucleus of guys,” said Janssen, who credited coach Alex Aragon for helping the sprinters perfect the macro aspects of preparation and “fine-tune” the micro aspects, like handoffs. “They’re delivering across the board.”

After dismantling the 10-year-old 4×200-meter record of 1:30.79 on April 12, the Devils’ quartet lowered that relay record by another 1.38 seconds to 1:28.43 in Englewood as well. Additionally, Dylan Blair ran 4:20.97 — despite having to negotiate traffic into lane two and three throughout — to break current Boise State athlete Jake Drever’s 1600-meter in-state record of 4:21.12 set in 2023. Blair also holds the in-state (9:23.0) and out-of-state (9:07.93) 3200 bests and boasts the arguably most impressive 9:03.22 for a full two-mile from Nike Indoor Nationals in February. Remarkably, the junior didn’t qualify for the 18-person 1600-meter field, a testament to the distance depth in 4A.

“It’s a pretty exceptional year,” Janssen said.

Blair is seeded 11th in the 3200, an event in which Eagle County athletes have thrived recently. Battle Mountain’s Will Brunner won the last two titles, including an all-class state meet record 9:01.22 run last spring. His state meet record is under threat this year, though. Brogan Collins comes in with the No. 1 seed time (9:02.24) and his teammate, the 4A cross-country state champion and course record holder, Aiden Le Roux (9:04.84) is close-behind. Janssen believes Blair is a dark horse and Summit’s Josh Shriver could be dangerous if left to a final sprint.

“He’s been so lights out this entire season,” Janssen said of Blair, whom he thinks is ready to run 9:15. “I’m just excited for him. He’s gained a lot of confidence, especially now that he’s realized he has more than one speed. That was pretty evident with his 1:58 (800 split).”

Blair’s twin brother, Tyler, is seeded 16th in the 800. Since running a sea-level 1600 program best of 4:18.85 on April 12 in California, he’s been relegated to a religious cross-training regimen — including some “ridiculous” bike and swim workouts with XTERRA pro and Eagle Valley teacher James Kirschner — due to a stress reaction in a non-weight-bearing bone in his ankle region. Despite not being able to actually log too many miles on foot, Janssen isn’t discounting Blair’s gamer mentality for Friday.

“We’re going to give it a rip and see how it goes,” Janssen said, adding that Blair looked good in some 150-meter strides earlier this week. “He’s a Blair — he’s built to compete and built to be fast.”

Eagle Valley also has a pair of athletes taking to the field this weekend in Jason Flaherty and Tiago Horruitiner. Finally, Blake Anderson made good on his goal to go sub-50 in the 400-meter dash. In addition to helping the relay records, Anderson ran 49.75 and is seeded 11th in the event — and he’s just 0.09 seconds off Gino Giovagnoli’s school record, too.

On the girls side, Allie Braun enters the high jump as the No. 2 seed. She soared 5-05 at the Demon Invitational in April to break Tia Ross’ 48-year-old school record. Lilly Brueck is entered in both hurdles while four-year state qualifier Zakia Shreeve will make one last run at Jeffco Stadium in the 100 hurdles.

Battle Mountain qualified three athletes to the state competition. Jakob Methvin busted out 49.90 in the 400 and sits as the 13th seed in the event. Meanwhile, Tyler Heimerl, who set a new program record in the long jump earlier this year, is seeded eighth in that event and also qualified in the high jump. Lilly Beaumont rounds out the squad with a 12.51 seed time in the 100-meter dash.

While Eagle Valley will be hard-pressed to contend for the overall team title, their chances of topping the podium in the 4×100 and 4×200 are very real. The Devils are ranked fifth in the former and third in the latter event; Mesa Ridge (41.70, 1:26.89) is the top seed in both. Sanders said his team’s mindset going in is to “stick to what we know.”

“We’ve just been telling ourselves ‘hey, even though they have a faster time, you never know what can happen,'” he said. “Let’s just do it how we’ve practiced, run our races and do the best we can.”