{"id":22714,"date":"2025-04-13T00:21:06","date_gmt":"2025-04-13T06:21:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/hurst-launching-montezuma-cortez-seniors-into-last-hurrah\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:16:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:16:27","slug":"hurst-launching-montezuma-cortez-seniors-into-last-hurrah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/hurst-launching-montezuma-cortez-seniors-into-last-hurrah\/","title":{"rendered":"Hurst launching Montezuma-Cortez seniors into last hurrah"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez senior Houston Hurst releases the pole after clearing the bar at the Bob Archibeque Invitational this spring. Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

It takes a bit of a daredevil mentality to take on the pole vault.<\/p>\n

Running full speed before relying on a 20-pound fiberglass pole to bend into a frightening parabola, then propelling oneself skyward \u2013 typically heels first \u2013 over the height equivalent to the top of a basketball backboard isn\u2019t territory many dare to tread.<\/p>\n

When he first saw the sport, however, Montezuma-Cortez senior Houston Hurst couldn\u2019t wait to try his hand.<\/p>\n

Four years later, he\u2019s set his sights on the school record, all while helping to navigate a strong Panthers track and field program back to IML and state success.<\/p>\n

As a middle schooler, Hurst watched the event with fascination, and even with a steep learning curve, he\u2019s transformed himself one of the top vaulters on the Western Slope.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy freshman year, I had no idea what I was doing,\u201d admitted Hurst, \u201cbut through working with coaches Yarbrough and Archibeque as well as coaches from other schools, I\u2019ve totally changed how I approach it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hurst\u2019s new personal best of 12 feet continues to inch closer to the school record of 13-6, set over three decades ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I\u2019ve got to get my form down, but I\u2019m really wanting to go after that record,\u201d said Hurst.<\/p>\n

Pole vault has become \u201chis event,\u201d but Hurst\u2019s pole vault success has yielded success in other events like the 400 meters and triple jump, where his power, speed, and explosiveness also go on full display.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, I think I focused so much on pole vault that I didn\u2019t get in the work on my speed, but this year, I\u2019ve done a ton of sprint workouts, which has improved my power coming into the mat,\u201d said Hurst.<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez senior Houston Hurst runs a leg of the 4\u00d7400 meter relay at the Bob Archibeque Invitational in Cortez this spring. Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Hurst\u2019s patience and persistence is a testament to one of the hallmarks of the Panther program. M-CHS boasts the largest combined boys and girls roster in the Intermountain League \u2013 with depth that they hope will bode well when they contest for the league championships in a few weeks.<\/p>\n

A significant portion of that roster is composed of seniors like Hurst and Colby McMillian, wanting to close out their M-CHS careers on the front foot. The duo forms a couple of the relay legs for the 4 x 200 and 4 x 400 relays \u2013 among the four relays that M-CHS hopes to send to Lakewood in mid-May for the 3A state championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust looking back on last year and what we had returning, we knew our relays would look good,\u201d said McMillian.<\/p>\n

A sign by the Panthers team camp reminds their athletes to \u201cPractice like a Champion,\u201d with the letters \u201cACT\u201d in \u2018practice\u2019 highlighted to demonstrate the importance of a combination of hard work and character. It\u2019s a standard that head coach Bob Archibeque and his coaching staff look to model, and something that the student-athletes look to emulate with the seniors carrying the torch.<\/p>\n

\"M-CHS
M-CHS senior Colby McMillian sprints down the homestretch at the Bob Archibeque Invitational in Cortez this spring. Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cCoach Arch has put in a lot of work for us over the years, so I wanted to make sure that I reciprocated that back to him,\u201d said McMillian of his offseason training.<\/p>\n

Hurst and McMillian both closed out their football careers this past fall, but along with a bundle of multisport seniors for whom track and field may not have been their primary sport during high school, they continue to set the example for the underclassmen to finish up strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a huge team with a ton of underclassmen, so it looks promising for the future,\u201d said McMillian. \u201cI played football with a lot of these guys, so it\u2019s nice to have a couple more months with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

McMillian has dropped his times with a healthy senior campaign, dipping under 11.5 in the 100 and dropping a massive personal best in the 400 at the Bob Archibeque Invitational by nearly breaking the 50 second barrier. Hurst also added a big personal best on the track earlier this season, going under 53 seconds in the quarter-mile to accompany his new PR in the vault.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like freshman year was yesterday,\u201d reflected Hurst, \u201cbut getting to run with these guys this year on the relays, I\u2019m just happy to get a enjoy it before its done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just like Hurst in the middle of one of his vaults, the bar is fully bent and ready to uncoil \u2013 and with these Panthers, there\u2019s no telling just how high they can go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Classmate Colby McMillian joining a group making a lasting impact<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[38,39,28,37,36],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-22714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dolores-high-school","tag-dove-creek-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-mancos-high-school","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22714"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77823,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22714\/revisions\/77823"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22714"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=22714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}