Photo by Marcus Hill. Henry Ilyasova pulls away from the pack during the 400-meter race at the Harrison Invitational.

A week ago, Manitou Springs track and field coach Anna Mack stressed to her teams that as well as they’ve performed in moments, she wasn’t seeing the results that she had been hoping for. 

They had to work harder in practice.

The Mustangs received the message, loud and clear, and put together a solid performance at the Thunder-Storm Invitational at CSU-Pueblo on April 9.

Between the boys and girls teams, the Mustangs won seven events through the course of the day. And it wasn’t necessarily that they just worked harder in practice, but Mack emphasized that they didn’t have the luxury of easing into their top-level performances.

“It was maybe that they needed to feel more of a sense of urgency,” Mack said. “The season isn’t that long. It’s longer than last year, but it’s not like we have six months to get it done. We had to start moving.”

Lairden Rogge put together a solid sprinting performance, taking second in the 200-meter dash while claiming gold in the 400. The distance runners also had a good day: Henry Ilyasova took second in the 800 and Cody Kelley took fourth in the 1600.

Kian O’Boyle took second in the 300 hurdles, and then the 4×800 relay team of Rogge, O’Boyle, Kelley and Ilyasova won that race.

Factor in the field events in which John Maynard won the high jump and long jump, while Anthony Snow and Parker Salladay each took top-four finishes in throwing events, and the Mustangs had an all-around great day.

“As we get more conditioned, we’re just going to get better and better,” Maynard said. “This brings a lot of confidence for each of our teams.”

Bella Coscetti had another standout day as she won the long jump, triple jump and pole vault, and finished second in the 300 hurdles. 

The girls got a big boost from the return of Kayla Apotheker, who finished fourth in the 100 and seventh in the 200. She missed time due to illness, but is intent on getting back to the level she thinks she should be running at now.

“I need to know where to stop and know that my limit (right now) isn’t the same as everyone else,” she said. “This next meet I’ll be fully recovered and be able to run better.”

The Mustangs next head to the Trojan Invite at Fountain-Fort Carson, which will take place Friday, April 15, and Saturday, April 16.