On Friday and Saturday, 4/5 and 4/6, the track and field team took yet another trip down to Dutch Clark stadium in Pueblo for the John Tate Challenge Cup. Though many athletes had to compete both days, the Cougars were successful in numerous events, overcoming tired and sore legs to record strong times and distances.

On Friday, the meet began cold and windy but with a 2nd and 3rd place from the girls and boys 4×800 meter relay; the girls were within a second of a victory, but were narrowly edged out by Pine Creek. Charles Broomfield won shot put with 52-09.00 and discus with 154-10.00 which was good enough for MVP of the meet.

“The meet helped all of the track athletes experience a lot of conditions, pressures, and environments. I hope that the whole team benefited from competing in all of these different situations, and I myself am just grateful that the meet worked out in my favor, with two first places for the team. I was happy to be awarded the MVP award after the meet, and very much appreciate those that helped make it happen,” Broomfield commenting on his weekend performances.

Athletes ran as many events as possible on the chilly Friday morning, but in the end, the weather won, and after the 400 meter preliminaries, the meet was postponed until Saturday. This meant that the 300 meter hurdle preliminaries, the 200 meter dash preliminaries, and the 3200 meter run were set back 24 hours.

On Saturday, with warmer temperatures and less snow in the forecast, the Cougars came out strong with Justin Dwinell placing 2nd in the 100 meter dash and 4th in the 200 meter dash. However, in the 800 meter run, bad luck struck Coronado when Ben Swanson, 11, took a tumble in the first 50 meters of the race; despite the sprained ankle, he still was able to pull of a 2:05.42, good enough for 9th place. Conor Strizich, 12, also found success in the 800 Saturday afternoon with a season best time of 2:01.59 coming in at 6th place. On the girl’s side, Grace Abernethy had a double win on the day, overcoming all in the 800 meter run with a 2:26. 26 and in the mile with a winning time of 5:31.37.

Abernethy said, “I think the meet was a great opportunity for the team to refine what we have been working on up until this point in this season. There were some amazing performances and personal records made at John Tate.”

Chloe Cassens, 12, was not far behind Abernethy placing 6th in both the 800 and the 1600 meter run. Additionally, in the 3200 meter run Layla Roebke, 11, won with a time of 11:36.99, a new personal record. Finally, the girls 4×400 meter relay, the final event of the long two day meet, took 2nd only behind Fountain Fort Carson. In field events, Isaiah Outler, 11, had a strong day placing 6th in high jump and 5th in long jump, and Jaelyn Hershberger, 12, took home a 2nd place in triple jump.

The Cougar ladies placed 3rd behind Pine Creek and Fountain-Fort Carson and the boys placed 5th in a very competitive field.

Come out and support your Track and Field team this Monday at the Mitchell Invitational at Gerry Berry Stadium!