With its sights set on winning a league championship, the Manitou Springs track team took the long trip to La Junta on May 7 to compete against the rest of the Tri-Peaks teams. Although the boys team took gold in six events, the Mustangs missed out on a league title by seven points. The 163 the boys scored was second to Banning Lewis’ 170.
But the team points are a little misleading considering that not every team brought its full squad, which allowed athletes who wouldn’t normally generate points to add to team scores.
“I thought we did great,” coach Anna Mack said. “It’s just hard to win something when not every team shows up and there’s a ton of scratches and other teams are gaining points.”
Adding to the frustration is how often the Mustangs made their way to the top of the podium. Lairden Rogge won two sprints, the 200-meter dash and the 400, and John Maynard swept the jumps, taking first in the triple jump, high jump and long jump.
The Mustangs also won the 4×400 relay. They had a handful of second-place finishes as Jackson Dunlap took second in the 100, Henry Ilyasova took second in the 3,200 and Kian O’Boyle took second in the 300 hurdles.
In the throws, Anthony Snow took second in the discus and Parker Salladay took second in the shot put.
“I think we’re a little disappointed in how we placed and how we ran,” O’Boyle said. “There was a little bit of us trying to figure out how much of it was the heat and how much of it was being exhausted from the season.”
There is no time to think about that now. The Mustangs have a little more than a week to prepare for the state track meet at Jeffco Stadium. There is time to be tired later.
“We have to push hard when our coaches are telling us to push hard,” O’Boyle said. “We also have to make sure we’re recovering properly.”
The girls team took third at the Tri-Peaks meet with Bella Coscetti leading the charge. She won the 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles and the triple jump while taking second in the long jump.
Kayla Apotheker took fifth in the 100; Anna Kilpela and Reilly O’Boyle matched that finish in the 200 and 400, respectively.