This year our Coronado Track Team, along with the help of several other students, parents, and friends, hosted the Annual 2019 Cougar Classic Track Meet, at which 37 teams came to Garry Berry Stadium to compete against one another. The entire stadium was blessed throughout the day with the melodic sounds of Coach Stoughton, the announcer for the meet. He, along with all the other Track and Field coaches, put hours upon hours of work in to ensure that the meet was just as well-executed and flawless as the meets in years past.

This track meet also represented the first track meet of the legendary Curt Christensen Doug Hugill traveling trophy, given out to the victor of the track meet, girls and boys combined, to be engraved with that team’s name and brought back the next year for another team to win. The trophy is an elegant combination of mahogany and oak, engraved with the name of the meet and the Coronado mascot, the cougar. The trophy was made here at Coronado by our wood shop and robotics programs here at Coronado, with a special shoutout to Garrett Cichello, the leader of the project. The base of the trophy pays tribute to the two great men the trophy is named after, leaving room for all the future teams who earn the trophy.

Curt Christensen and Doug Hugill, the two men who inspired the trophy, were both teachers and coaches here at Coronado High School, and, for those who know them, are two of the greatest men to walk these halls. They were hard-working, determined, and motivating coaches, helping several athletes greatly improve their performance. More importantly, though, these two men are kind, loving, and generous, and made not only great athletes, but men and women of character. They shared their kindness with everyone: the track team, Coronado’s students, other coaches, other teams, even strangers; their love and generosity was endless.

Both of these men, although not coaching, still attended the Cougar Classic meet, and were able to see the trophy made in their honor for the first time. Both were very grateful for the honor the trophy bestowed upon them. At the end of the day, they were able to see the Cheyenne Mountain team walk off with the legacy that they had left behind, and will last for years to come.