Eagle Valley boys track team heads into 2026 season eying fourth-straight Western Slope League crown

Jeff Shroll snagged the three-peat repeat last spring.

“I’d like a four-peat,” the Eagle Valley track coach said with a smile after practice on Tuesday. “It’s not going to be easy.”

The Devils blueprint for topping the Western Slope in May looks familiar.

“I think it’s going to come from across the board again,” Shroll said. “That’s the key thing …”

The Devils qualified 10 individuals and three relays to the state meet last year. They rewrote a 20-year-old school record in the 4×100-meter relay and set five other program bests. But the three-time defending Western Slope champion boys team also graduated some key pieces, like sprinter Kingston Clous and Blake Anderson. Clous — who qualified for five state events last year — and Anderson are both currently competing in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference for Western University and Colorado Mesa, respectively. In fact, Anderson was working out at his old track on Tuesday after his former teammates left and the rivalry lacrosse game ended.

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Even without those two former studs, Eagle Valley is looking pretty formidable so far this spring. At the season-opener in Rifle last Friday, Wynn Sanders won the 100 and 200, Hudson Wyatt (16.06) and Erick Soltvedt (16.96) both finished in the top-5 in the 110-meter hurdles and went 2-3 in the 300-meter hurdles and Cooper Hern was fifth in the discus. On the girls side, Lily Brueck was a one-girl wrecking crew, snagging three runner-up finishes and a win.

“Nothing like lettering in one meet,” Shroll said regarding Brueck, whose 300-meter hurdle time was 47.01, almost 2 1/2 seconds ahead of second place.

“It’s a great time for March,” Shroll stated. “And the headwind was insane.”

Distance coach Charlie Janssen was simultaneously tracking the live results from Rifle while he coached a contingent of six athletes at the Nike Indoor National meet in New York City. Dylan Blair, the state runner-up in cross country, contested the two-mile, mile and distance medley relays. Miami, Florida junior Marcelo Mantecon took top honors in both races, running 4:00.66 in the mile and 8:48.02 in the two mile. Janssen said Blair — an aerobic monster who thrives on a fast, but consistent pace — was somewhat flustered by the sporadic tempo changes in the two-mile. The peloton’s 200-meter splits fluctuated between 35 and 30 seconds.

“He kind of blew all his gears trying to match all those moves,” Janssen said of his pupil, whom he believes can run an 8:50 right now at sea-level. The senior has upped his mileage by 15% over the winter in preparation for next year, where he’ll compete at Northern Arizona University. Janssen said part of getting Blair physically ready for NCAA DI running has been dialing back the effort on easy days. Blair flashed his improved strength in the medley relay, where he split 4:17 — a four-second lifetime best — in the 1600-meter anchor leg. He wasn’t the only Devil who has taken huge strides forward in the winter.

Henry Martin slashed more than five seconds off his 800-meter best, splitting 2:00.05 in the medley.

“I was pretty proud of his effort,” Janssen said before similarly praising Micah Winkel. The senior religiously showed up to every winter track practice; he was rewarded with a 10-second personal best at the 800 when he split 2:07 in the Devils’ 4×800-meter relay at The Armory.

Shroll thinks the 4×800 team could be a sleeper pick for state. Eagle Valley will target the school record of 7:54.8 at the Broomfield Shootout over the weekend. Their fastest leg is Tyler Blair, who this indoor season ran 1:56 and 4:23 for 800 and 1600 at altitude — 30 minutes apart. Given the Montana State recruit’s 4:16.6 split at Nike Outdoor Nationals last summer and his crazy double this winter, Janssen doesn’t think a 4:10 in May is unrealistic.

On the girls side, Nina Hesseltine and Paisely Kraft showed a glimpse of their emerging talent in Rifle. The freshmen duo went 6-7 in the 1600, with both clocking in at 5:46. That came after they helped an all-freshmen team run 10:53 to place third in the 4×800.

“I was pretty impressed by their efforts on Friday,” Janssen said before adding that he thinks Hesseltine and Kraft could dive “deep into the 5:20s” by the end of the year.  

“But only the season will tell,” he continued. “They work really hard. Very easy to coach and it’s a good nucleus of young kids. The team chemistry is great. Really, really good.”

Janssen brought five distance athletes to New York — and one jumper: Tiago Horruitiner. The high jump, long jump and sprint threat finished fifth in the emerging elite long jump and 34th in the championship high jump. After placing third at state last year, Horruitiner has his sights set on winning the whole things and breaking the school record (6-6) set by John Gabriel and Mike Smith in 2007. Over the off-season, Horruitiner upped his squat and power clean by 100 pounds each. He also drove to Palisade a couple times a week to work on technique over the bar with Gabriel, a longtime jumps coach at Colorado Mesa.

“High jump is definitely a very pristine and delicate event when it comes to form. Anything off by a millimeter will throw you off,” Horruitiner said. “I’ve been working a lot on dialing in my approach, just so it becomes muscle memory every time and I don’t have to worry about it and I can just think about the motions in the air.”

The junior hopes to reach 6-9 or even 6-10 this year and would like to get close to the 7-foot mark by his senior season. Oregon and the University of Florida are his dream schools, though he’s talked to CMU and also received an offer from a college in Annapolis, Maryland. On Tuesday, Shroll was working with Horruitiner on his approach and technique coming off the curve.

“I told him at practice today, you’re not the same human who left last year,” Shroll said. “He’s just bigger, better, stronger.”

Shroll is probably right: a four-peat probably won’t be easy. But if all the returning Devils have upped their games, the rest of the Western Slope might find it even more difficult to unseat the defending champs.