Fantastic freshmen highlight Husky Invitational
Shreeve and Hancock claim multiple wins in midweek meet
As championship season approaches, everyone in track and field is keeping their cards close to the chest. Everyone, except the freshmen that is.
At a midweek meet that saw a lot of the local big dogs in distance sharpen their speed in non-specialty races, Eagle Valley’s Zakia Shreeve and Battle Mountain’s Kiki Hancock — both freshmen — decided to do their normal thing: Run fast and jump far.
Hancock won three events, including the 100-meter dash, which she won in a personal best of 13.09 seconds. She led three Huskies into the top four with Tabi Schroeder in second (13.16) and Marlee Geisler in fourth (13.37).
“I did not think I was going that fast, but I was proud of myself,” Hancock said.
The freshman returned to anchor the 4×200-meter relay to an almost 6-second win an hour later.
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“We all kind of push each other, especially in practice, too,” she added of her teammates.
Meanwhile, Zakia Shreeve went over the 16-foot mark for the first time ever to place second in the long jump. Soroco’s winner Marissa Martindale, one of the top long jumpers in Colorado, may have lucked out on Tuesday.
“I scratched on my fourth with a 17-2,” Shreeve said.
Shreeve’s official result was 16 feet, 2 1/2 inches.
“She’s going places,” said Haley Bates of her teammate.
Shreeve scampered a smooth anchor leg in the 4×100-meter relay as well, carrying her Devils team to a large win in the event.
“I was like, ‘I gotta get there.’ She’s going to be like encouraging and everything, but I knew I needed to get there,” Shreeve said about receiving the last baton from Bates.
“I think it’s the best to cheer on your teammates coming in. Yes, you are probably dead tired, but you gotta use that more to cheer them on and help them,” Bates said.
The Devils were smooth at every exchange. “It was probably the best we’ve done,” said Briceida Mendoza. Mendoza, Bates and Shreeve have been relay regulars, but the trio needed Jacey Meryhew to step in for a sick teammate.
“Mrs. Jacey over here put out some fast times in her 100 (meter) today, so we were like, ‘yeah we want Jacey in it,” Bates said of Meryhew, who had a personal best in the event.
Hancock ended up sitting out of the shot put, which was won by her sister, Augustine (who also won the discus), but blazed a 26.98 in the 200-meters to win her third event.
Fast-twitch versus slow-twitch
Terrence Reid took advantage of a 3.5 mph tailwind to cruise to the 100-meter dash win in 11.30 seconds. Roman Turner (11.62) of Eagle Valley placed fifth to score four points for the Devils in the event.
“I honestly felt pretty bad coming out of my block because I was wobbling. I thought I was going to false start,” he said.
Reid returned to anchor the 4×100, giving the Huskies a 1.03-second win over West Grand.
The Battle Mountain distance crew went head-to-head with the sprinters on Tuesday in the 4×200. Entering the speed phase of their distance-focused training blocks, Sullivan and Porter Middaugh lined up for a rare pair of 200-meter legs.
“There was a little bit of trash talking,” Reid joked. “Normally I would run with them in the 4×400, but this was something new.”
The sprinters handily won, but when Reid and Porter Middaugh squared off for the distance/sprinter rematch in the open 400-meter, it was the d-crew that came out on top. Middaugh found an extra gear to edge out Reid (55.38) for fourth place in 54.85.
Distance drama
The 800-meter run provided the most drama on the track, with Summit High School star Ella Hagen returning for her second two-lap race of the day after she blazed an opening leg in the 4×800-meter relay to kick off the meet.
Hagen and Battle Mountain’s Linsey Kiehl, who also ran the 4×200 and the 200, battled up front until the Tiger made a move at the bell. With 200 meters to go, as Hagen worked to separate herself from Kiehl, Milaina Almonte was charging the hardest from third place. With 130 meters remaining, Almonte passed her teammate, Kiehl, to move into second. In the end, however, the surging Husky ran out of real estate to catch Hagen, who picked up the one-second victory in 2:25.66.
The boys race was even more entertaining. On paper, the showdown was projected to be between Battle Mountain’s Sullivan Middaugh and Summit’s Dominykas Remeikis. No one told Lake County’s Jace Peters, however, of those plans. At 200-meters, it was the gutsy Leadville junior leading the pack.
“I just settled in to the pace I wanted to run and that pace took me to the front because those top guys didn’t go out as hard,” Peters said afterward.
At the lap count, Remeikis split 59.5 seconds and made a move to the lead. On the backstretch, it was the Tiger, followed by Peters, Middaugh and Steamboat’s Bowden Tumminello — each with about 5 meters of space between the athlete in front of them.
“Dom was pulling away from me a little bit,” Peters said. In that moment he focused on his form, “staying big and powerful.” He started reeling in Remeikis with 150 meters left and pulled up on his shoulder in the homestretch.
“I thought I had enough space to cut into lane one,” Peters said. “But apparently I didn’t, because I got a couple of elbows thrown and I was like, ‘oops sorry,'” he said, appearing to be genuinely remorseful.
A quintessential class act, Peters, who crossed the line first in a 4-second personal best (2:01) — a monstrous amount for the event — immediately apologized to Remeikis, who was crowned the winner (2:01.90). Despite the disqualification, Peters, who also pole vaulted 12-1, was pleased with his day.
“I woke up this morning and I was like if I feel good, I could run 2:01,” Peters said. Going up against the 4A studs felt good, too, even if he was only the ‘unofficial’ results winner.
“I watch them run in cross-country at state and I’m like, ‘man I wish I could run that fast,’ and today was the day I beat them in race,” Peters laughed.
Other highlights
- T.J. Nixon soared 6-4 to win the high jump. Nixon’s best is 6-5, just two inches shy of the school record.
- In the triple jump, Rashawn Reid bounced to what he guesses was a one-foot personal best, but because of a measuring error by the officials, the entire triple jump had to be redone. The senior wound up winning the event anyway, though he didn’t improve upon his school record, going 40-1 1/2. He returned to jump 20-1 in the long jump, missing the top step of the podium by just an inch. Eagle Valley’s Roman Turner placed third in the event.
- Jorge Sinaloa and Kira Hower each won the 3200-meter run for the Huskies in 11:18.74 and 13:17.70, respectively.
- Ian Pennington went 13-0 to win his third straight pole vault contest this season. His teammate, Isaac San Diego, was third with a vault of 11-7.
- Tyler Heimerl and T.J. Nixon each won the high jump for Battle Mountain. Her 5-0 mark was a season’s best by four inches according to Colorado Milesplit.
