With Manitou Springs’ track and field athletes seeing their training paying off, they’re starting to understand that these teams might just be for real.
The Mustangs were at the Fountain-Fort Carson Trojan Invite last weekend competing for two days against some of the biggest schools in the area. And the results were good. Not just by Class 3A standards good, but good all the way around.
The best part is that they haven’t hit their peak yet; they’re still progressing along nicely so that their best will come out at the right time.
“They’re actually starting to rise up just at the right time,” coach Anna Mack said. “We have to keep an eye on what they look like in practice day to day and just make adjustments before we get to meets.”
That approach has been working for the Mustangs.
The boys took several top-10 finishes throughout the day. The lone win came from Lairden Rogge, who claimed the 400-meter dash with a time of 50.63 seconds. Cody Kelley has some standout performances of his own, taking third place in both the 1600 and 3200 runs.
The common theme for both was that the results told them that their training plans have been paying off, which can bring an added level of faith and confidence to competitions.
“I put full faith into (assistant coach Andy) Sherwood and the plan he has,” Kelley said. “I’m going to stray very little from it. I don’t want to switch up too late (in the season).”
Isabella Coscetti had another great weekend of competition, as well. She took second in the 300 hurdles, fifth in the 100 hurdles and ninth in the long jump.
Of course, it didn’t hurt the Mustangs that the FFC environment gave them a little taste of what state might feel like, with the sizable atmosphere taking place over a couple days.
The state track meet is less than a month away, so it’s good to get a taste of how a meet of that size will play out. The best part for Mack was seeing her athletes rise up on the big stage rather than back down.
“It was really nice to see some of them pull through and shine,” Mack said. “Especially Lairden in the 400. It shows that what we’ve been doing since February and March is paying off.”
Next up for the Mustangs: the Titan Invitational on Friday, April 22.