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Devils run through rain at Glenwood

Ian Cropp
Special to the Daily/Kara K. PearsonEagle Valley's Sierra Pickslay anchors the 800-meter relay during Saturday's Demon Invitational track and field meet in Glenwood Springs.
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GLENWOOD SPRINGS – Eagle Valley track and field coach Jeff Shroll may have been impressed with the boys’ first-place finish and the girls taking third at the Demon Invitational at Glenwood Springs Saturday. Still, there was one performance that stood out most for Shroll – a newly formed parent medley. On a rainy and cold day, groups of Eagle Valley parents ran back and forth from the meet to the Laundromat, WalMart and Target to bring warm and dry clothes to their kids.”The moms had the best relays going by far,” Shroll said. “They won several medals in my book.”

While the weather may have brought about some higher times and shorter distances, it didn’t stop the Devils from racking up the points.The boys (127 points) finished with almost 40 more than the next closest team.In the 800-meter, non-parent relay, Kyle Simonett, Brady Grayson, Sean Matheson and John Gabriel propelled the Devils to a gold.Simonett grabbed another first place in the 400, while Matheson took second in the 200 with a sesaon-best 22.82 and finished third in the 100 (11.62).”We were going to run the finals in the 100, so Sean pulled up (in the qualifier) because we didn’t want him going all out,” Shroll said. “We later agreed to cancel the finals, so he had to stick with that (time).”The 3,200 relay team of Grayson, Matt Barker, Brendon Wright and Jake Brock were second, while the 400 relay group of Matheson, Jacob Rivera, Eric Kline and Mike Smith grabbed a bronze.Rivera earned his usual two medals in throwing events, winning the discus (145 feet, 9 inches) and taking second in the shot put (44-7 1/4)

“Jacob is a man of many talents,” Shroll said.Ben Rogers ran a 5:08 mile to take third, while Brock finished six seconds behind Rogers in fifth place. Brock then took third in the 3,200 (10:57.44).Smith and Gabriel battled it out with each other in the jumping events once again. Smith won the long jump (20) and Gabriel was third (17-9), but Gabriel took second in the triple jump (42-11 1/2), one spot ahead of Smith (39-4 1/2). In the high jump, Smith cleared 6 feet to finish in second.Thrower’s shareThe girls earned 81 points, 2 behind second-place Palisade and 18 behind host, Glenwood, despite Rachel Sandoval and Ashley Rohweder competing in limited events.



Sandoval won the triple jump (30-1 1/2), but fell on her hip, which brought an early end to her day.Sasha and Sierra Pickslay, Miranda Hicks and Hattie Higgins gave the Devils a bronze in the 800 relay. The medley team of Higgins, Rohweder, Sierra Pickslay and Bryonny Hiland also placed third, as did the 400 relay team also featured Higgins and Rohweder, as well as Sandoval and Nielson.With 33 points, the throwing trio of Amy Thompson, Sarah Schlegel and Kayla Phillips earned their share.”They alone scored more than quite a few teams did at the meet,” Shroll said.Thompson was second in the discus (98-7), followed by Schlegel in third (97-7) and Phillips in fifth (91-8).Schlegel (31-6 1/4), Phillips (31-2 1/2) and Thompson (30-1) took third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the shot put.”If I could have brought four (throwers), I would have scored more points,” Shroll said.

In the 200, Nielson took bronze (28.39) and Sierra Pickslay was fifth (28.47).Courtney Best came in fourth in the 100 hurdles, while Hiland took the same spot in the 300 hurdles (53.34).The Devils will compete at Rifle Friday.Sports Writer Ian Cropp can be reached at 949-0555, ext. 14631, or icropp@vaildaily.com.Vail, Colorado


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