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UPDATE: Day 1 results from league track and field meet

GRAND JUNCTION — It’s early. We just have to say that so no one goes off and buys league championship shirts yet.

Battle Mountain girls track and field has an 82-51 over Eagle Valley at the league meet in Grand Junction after Day 1 on Friday. (Again, this is early. Only six events have gone final. Two-thirds of the finals are today, Saturday.)

Meanwhile, Eagle Valley’s boys are on schedule with 50 points atop the heap after five events with Rifle (41) and Battle Mountain (32) in chase.



The reason Battle Mountain leads on the girls’ side is that pole vault — always a black and gold strength — was on Thursday, and Friday’s finals happen to be in Huskies’ strongholds like the 3,200 meters, the 800 and the high jump.

The $64,000 question for the Devils-Huskies girls’ rivalry is “Has Battle Mountain built up enough of a lead to withstand all of Saturday’s sprinting and relay finals in which Eagle Valley is expected to do well?”

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The Huskies’ Sofia Calabrese is the league champ in high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 2 inches. There was lots of local color in this event with Devils’ McKenzie Sisson (4-10) in third and Haley Collier (4-8) in fifth. The latter was tied with Battle Mountain’s Jordan Brandt. Eagle Valley’s Morgan Murphy was seventh.

Girls pole vault was the Huskies’ province with Isabelle Calabrese winning, Kate Pittel second and Lilly McMurrain tied for third with Eagle Valley’s Natalie Morrisey. The Devils’ Cody Osteen finished fifth.

Battle Mountain’s Val Constien made a sort-of surprise appearance in the 3,200. She’s never run the two-mile before, but she won it by 1-hundredth of a second because she was under instructions to win the race while exerting as little effort as possible.

This was the case because the Huskies need Constien fresh and in maximum position to score points on Saturday. Her running the 3,200 was also part of Battle Mountain’s strategy to pack its strong events as evidenced by the Gaylords, Hannah and Sydney, going fourth and fifth. Eagle Valley’s Nikki Cunning picked up points in sixth.

In the shot, the Huskies’ Jessica Cuomo took fourth, while the Devils’ Kylie Martin was seventh.

Over in the triple jump, Eagle Valley’s Michelle Carbajal is a league champion with a leap of 36-6.25. Battle Mountain countered with Tesha Olsen (fourth) and Val Constien (sixth).

The day capped with the 800, a serious Eagle Valley-Battle Mountain affair. The Devils’ Roxy Trotter blazed to a season-best time of 2 minutes, 15.24 second, out-pacing Constien in second. Eagle Valley’s Desi Mendoza, Battle Mountain’s Isabelle Courtois and Christina Shearon and Eagle Valley’s Victoria Schwaiger went 5-6-7-8.

On the boys’ side, Miles Peterson of Eagle Valley started the defense of the league title with an 11-10 leap in the pole vault. Battle Mountain went 2-3-7 with Kevin Rodriguez, Alexis Aguirre, and Jordan Slick. The Devils’ Trever LaFramboise finished fourth.

Battle Mountain’s Cameron Moore finished third in the 3,200, followed by Eagle Valley’s Nathan Maddox in fifth and Ethan Cotton in seventh.

In the discus, Eagle Valley’s Josh Williams took fourth and Battle Mountain’s David Casas ended up in fifth.

The Devils’ Riley Rowles flew 22-2 for a league championship in the long jump. Battle Mountain’s Mizriam Olivas (seventh) and Eagle Valley’s Davey Madrid (eighth) picked up points for their teams.

In the 800, Dominic Patterson and Gino Giovagnoli went second and third for the Devils. Battle Mountain’s Ricardo Arreola was eighth.

Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934, cfreud@vaildaily.com and @cfreud.


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