Track and field season starts at Banana Belt Classic

The Gunnison High School track and field team competed in their final meet before spring break, the Banana Belt Classic, in Pueblo last weekend.

“The athletes performed well and did a great job overall, especially for this early in the season,” wrote head coach Stacey Mickelson in an email to the Times.

The weather was great in Pueblo on Saturday, March 14, and the wind did not achieve its forecasted status until late in the afternoon. The meet itself was big, with 26 teams, mostly 4A and 5A, competing.

Kicking it off for the boys, Rylan Sahagun finished 69th in the boys 100-meter dash with a time of 13.15 seconds and Bud McWilliams finished 76th with a time of 14.71 seconds.

Cooper Boardman finished 28th in the boys 200-meter dash with a time of 25.07 seconds, Sam Sawyer finished 30th with a time of 25.27 seconds and Zedeekhiel Flores finished 58th with a time of 28.01 seconds.

Sawyer placed 10th in the boys 400-meter dash with a time of 55.04 seconds and Bing O’Rourke finished 42 with a time of 1:04.00. Sawyer's time was a personal best.

Angel Ballester finished 37th in the boys 800-meter run with a time of 2:33.78, Cruz Dominguez finished 40th with a time of 2:38.25 and Jack Siegrist finished 50th with a time of 3:05.56.

Ian Baker finished fourth in the boys 1600-meter run with a time of 4:44.89, Nicholas Monitello finished 24th with a time of 5:18.41 and Jesus Chona finished 31st with a time of 5:31.55.

Cooper Mickelson finished 21st in the boys 110-meter hurdles with a time of 21.53 seconds. He also placed 18th in the boys 300-meter hurdles with a time of 49.44 seconds. His time in the 300-hurdles was his personal best.

The Gunnison boys team finished eighth in the boys 4x400-meter relay with a time of 4:06.07.

Boardman and Sahagun each finished tied for ninth in the boys high jump with jumps of five feet, six inches.

Cooper Mickelson finished 14th in the boys triple jump with a total distance of 36-10.

Marco Escobedo finished 19th in the boys discus with a throw of 104-6.

Escobedo also finished 18th in the boys shot put with a throw of 37-7. Zair Altamirano finished 40th in the shot put with a distance of 32-6.5.

Both of Escobedo’s throws in the shot put and the discus were personal bests.

Geneva Estrada kicked it off for the girls, placing 57th in the girls 100-meter dash with a time of 15.06 seconds. Katelyn Vallejo finished 64th with a time of 15.39 seconds and Lauren Cowan finished 71st with a time of 16.04 seconds.

Autumn Terry, a freshman, finished ninth in the girls 200-meter dash with a time of 27.86 seconds and Vallejo finished 51st with a time of 33.26 seconds.

Brooke Spann finished 26th in the girls 400-meter dash with a time of 1:09.81.

Avery Crean finished 30th in the in the girls 800-meter run with a time of 3:05.81 and Caris Stoerkel finished 34th with a time of 3:15.33.

Elora Jones finished sixth in the girls 1600-meter run with a time of 5:48.56 and Bristol Buffington finished 29th with a time of 6:41.03.

Caroline Sudderth finished 16th in the girls 110-meter hurdles with a time of 18.74 seconds, Vivian Clark finished 22nd with a time of 19.60 seconds and Haley Smith finished 37th with a time of 21.56 seconds.

Smith also finished 36th in the girls 300-meter hurdles with a time of 1:05.13.

The girls team finished 11th in the girls 4x100-meter relay with a time of 55.15 seconds, 10th in the girls 4x200-meter relay with a time of 1:56.46 and sixth in the girls 4x400-meter relay with a time of 4:57.40.

Aubrey Welfelt finished 19th in the girls high jump with a jump of four feet, four inches.

Terry finished eighth in the girls long jump with a jump of 15-9.5 and Cowan finished 41st with a jump of 12-9.

Susan Espinosa finished 35th in the girls discus with a distance of 61-10. Espinosa also finished 32nd in the girls shot put with a throw of 24-11.

“Overall, the athletes are on pace with their training and it should be a fun year as our athletes continue to improve,” wrote Mickelson. “They are all working hard and are focused on becoming the best that they can be.”

The team is on spring break this week, but will be back in action on Saturday, March 28, in Grand Junction at the Mickey Dunn Invitational.