Two sensational meets
Alamosa 3/31/01
We finally got a varsity meet with good weather. The day was better than forecast, clear and sunny, only slightly windy, and with a gorgeous view of new snow on the Blanca massif above the eastern side of the field. It was the end of our spring vacation and we were missing several athletes, but we got to stretch our legs.
In the 4×800 both boys and girls teams did well, though because of a heating error, the boys team didn’t get to run against Alamosa. The girls took 3rd behind Las Animas’ winning 10:55 and Centauri. Freshman ran the first three legs. Joette Ucar led off with a strong 2:47 followed by Janae Hannafious’ 2:44, then Amy Starkweather’s 2:36. Senior Darlene Hoschouer anchored with a 3:02 for a team time of 11:10.7. The boys team was unpressed after the second leg. Mark Montelongo led off with a 2:12 which had us in 3rd. John Thomason, who is primarily a 400 runner, brought us to the lead with a relaxed 2:13. Adam Arellano, also a 400 runner, opened a huge gap with his 2:10 leg and Chad Stapleton erased any possible doubt as to winning the heat with his sparkling 2:03 anchor. My time was 8:39 though the official timer was slightly faster.
I somehow misplaced the times for the distance runners in the 1500 and 3000. I know that Kaven Rhule was our top male runner, placing in both events. Tiffany Reno got a PR 6:32 in the 1500.
The 1600 meter medley was one where we loaded up. The girls ran from behind the whole race. Janae Hannafious brought us to third with a strong 66 leg and Amy Starkweather’s 2:37 800 was inches short of catching Monte Vista’s anchor. The boys’ race would have been one of the most dominant wins of the day except that Adam Arellano misunderstood the instructions for lining up in the exchange zone and was well out when he got the baton. Adam probably ran a 50.3 from a dead stop and Chad Stapleton eased through a 2:10 for a 3:50, well ahead of Alamosa’s winning time of 4:03.
Jeremy Behling probably had the top individual effort of the day, winning the long jump with 22’3″ after a scratch of 23’6″ . He won the 300 hurdles in 41.3, took a close second in the 100 in about 11.1, and ran a 53 second leg on the winning 4×400 relay in which Jon Todd Baker led off with 55. Chad Stapleton ran a nice 52 third leg to put us way out in front. Anchor John Thomason earlier ran an impressive 50.1 for a 400 win and was given second in the 200 to Hostetter from Centauri. They had essentially identical 22.2’s in separate heats. John cruised a 49 + split in the 4×400 to bring County the boys win in 3:33.
South Central League Relays 4/3/01
If you weren’t there, you’d never know it happened. Tracy Renck from the Chieftain was there, ready to write a feature article. The score keepers were there, apparently ready to score a conventional track meet. Ruth Hulsey was there to lead her timing crew. Minutes before the running events were to get underway Ruth didn’t have a copy of the schedule. The score keepers must not have had a copy of the meet rules.
The unique early season meet is designed to be an all relay meet with field events having four male and four female entrants per event, with the top three performers scoring. Their distances were to be added. The twist was that, in addition to the 4×100 relay, each team could run four male and four female 100 meter runners with the top three times added. The short hurdle races were to be run in the same fashion. Also there was a mile team race, run four runners, score the top three like cross country with low score winning. The final complication was that the boys and girls scores were supposed to be combined to determine an overall champion school. If somebody explained that to the score keepers, it didn’t show. When the final event was over, they passed the buck to Linda Martin in District 60’s activities office.
On the track however, it was was an explosion of sensational running. In the first event, the 800 meter medley, County’s first runner, Jon Todd Baker cramped. He limped in faster than most of us can run flat out, but the receiving runner took off too fast and we ran out of the exchange zone and disqualified. Our 400 meter anchor, John Thomason, didn’t know about the DQ and ran a 49.3 split to bring us across third. On the girls side, Gina Glenn made her season debut running the 400 and ran a 65.7 split.
In the 4×800 Joette Ucar led off 2:48.1, Darlene Hoschouer ran a PR 2:59.8, Janae Hannafious a PR 2:40.4, and Amy Starkweather 2:39.2. We finished third in 11:07.3. Mark Montelongo led off with a 2:11.7, Kaven Rhule ran his first varsity 4×8 leg in 2:13.5, Adam Arellano ran a season best 2:03.9 to bring us close and Chad Stapleton ran down Aaron Lopez with his 2:00.9 and nipped him at the line. That was a season best as was the total time of 8:30.
Once again the 1600 meter medley was sensational. The girls got a 66.8 from Janae, and a 2:39.3 from Amy to finish second in 4:45.9. The boys literally ran away from the field right from the gun. Jeremy Behling led off with a 22.8 200. John Thomason ran a 22.6. Adam cruised a 51.5 and Chad a 2:09.6 to finish more than 100 meters ahead of the next team with a 3:46.5.
The mile team race for the girls led to a heart warming thing. Joette was unable to run and senior Amanda Gist, who rarely runs farther than 300 meters over hurdles, volunteered to take her place. Amanda finished dead last in 8:39 but for her it was a PR of over a minute. Darlene ran 7:02 and Tiffany 7:12. We probably finished sixth but we never saw or heard a score. The boys race was really gratifying, especially since compared to the outstanding runners around the state we have a mediocre distance corps. Kaven led with a PR 5:04.8 4th. Mark ran a PR 5:10.4 7th. Kyle ran a season best 5:14.0 8th. Our score was 19. Brad ran 5:19.1 13th. Aaron Lopez was top individual with 4:53.0 but I know we beat South as a team and I don’t see how anyone else could have dine better than 25 points.
The final event of the day was the 4X400 relay. The girls ran a season best 4:33.8. Sarah Hannafious ran a 69.7, followed by Erin Osleson’s 72.3, Janae’s 66.9 and Amy’s 64.9. The boys again dominated from the gun. Jeremy ran an opening 53.0, Chad a 53.8, John a 52.4, and Adam closed with a 50.0.
April is here and, weather permitting, we’ll have a big meet every weekend. The Hornet Invitational is Saturday April 8 at County. April 15th is the City Meet at Dutch Clark. Updates will follow.