On Saturday, March 23, the Cougars made their way down to Dutch Clarke Stadium in Pueblo to compete in the Larry Pickering Centennial Invite. The team left the meet with a score of 100.50 points, which was enough to claim victory at this meet. On Saturday, April 6, the Cougars traveled to All City Stadium in Denver to take on the Northfield Nighthawk Invitational, finishing with a score of 85 points.
In track and field, the winning teams of the meet are determined by placement. The points given are ten, eight, six, five, four, three, two, and one, with the higher placing athletes earning the most points.
One of Coronado’s scorers at Larry Pickering was Mila Stamper, class of 2025, who was runner-up in the 3200m, running a time of 12 minutes and 40 seconds: “I think that my race was a good start, I got a lot of takeaways for the next time I get to race the 32.”
The 3200 was Mila’s first race of the outdoor season: “I haven’t raced the 32 since my freshman year, so my plan was to latch on to another athlete I knew had more experience and work off them in the first mile, then race the second,” Mila added.
Braxton Oliver, class of 2027, had his first outdoor track race in his high school running career in the 1600m. Braxton commented, “I feel that I did good for making my high school debut, but I always feel that there is more on the table.” Braxton finished the race in a time of 4 minutes and 58 seconds while placing tenth. “I was very excited and anxious, but ready to run… I also felt very confident because of all the work I put in through training,” Braxton explained.
In Denver the cougars faced low temperatures and gusts of wind blowing upwards to 50mph. These conditions didn’t stop the cougars from performing strong. With relay points being worth double at this meet specifically; the Coronado boy’s relay teams for the 4x100m, 4x200m, 4x400m and 4x800m scored a total of 38 points placing 4th, 4th, 3rd, and 6th respectively. Mila commented on the team’s recent performances. “Our team is off to a great start: We’ve been training hard and have seen lots of improvement and PRs over the last couple weeks and had a lot of excellent races.”
The next meet the Cougars take on will be The Pomona Invitational at Jeffco Stadium. This meet will be held from Friday, April 12, to Saturday, April 13. Teams such as Cheyenne Mountain, Fossil Ridge, and Northfield will be competing. With these fast teams racing and good weather conditions, the cougars will be pushed towards some strong performances.
