{"id":28186,"date":"2024-04-14T20:28:14","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T20:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/san-juan-basin-teams-get-league-preview-in-cortez\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T06:22:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:22:56","slug":"san-juan-basin-teams-get-league-preview-in-cortez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/san-juan-basin-teams-get-league-preview-in-cortez\/","title":{"rendered":"San Juan Basin teams get league preview in Cortez"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dolores'
Dolores' Maya Lowe leads Nucla's Kieran Bray down the backstretch of the 800 meters in the Bob Archibeque Invitational in Cortez. Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

CORTEZ \u2013 While Dolores track and field has enjoyed plenty of success in the past, the 2024 edition may be prepping to send one of its largest contingents to Lakewood in mid-May for the 2A state championships.<\/p>\n

In virtually every event across competition at the Bob Archibeque Invitational in Cortez, Bears made a mark \u2013 and there were plenty of them available to make statements. With over 30 athletes for the black-and-red this spring, Dolores High School is prepped to make noise at the state meet, along with sitting among the contenders in the San Juan Basin League.<\/p>\n

Dove Creek and Mancos also all look to have their say, as the Bulldogs and Bluejays enjoyed some season-best performances at Panther Stadium with just a few weekends left before the league convenes in Ignacio for the SJBL championships.<\/p>\n

\"Dolores'
Dolores' Maya Lowe leads Nucla's Kieran Bray down the backstretch of the 800 meters in the Bob Archibeque Invitational in Cortez. Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Dolores girls fifth, boys eighth in Cortez<\/div>\n

When the Dolores girls cross-country team made a splash this fall with a trip to the state championships, the carry-over success to the track appeared inevitable. The athletes that led the way for banner seasons for both the girls and boys have made their stamp on a program that continues to add numbers and success this spring.<\/p>\n

Co-head coaches Travis Rantz and Angie Lowe have plenty of reason for optimism with this year\u2019s bunch, as the distance crew continues to enjoy success, while the sprints, relays, and field events have also grown in leaps and bounds. Junior sisters Elia and Maya Lowe serve as key legs on the 4\u00d7400 and 4\u00d7800 relays that have real ambition of qualifying for state, while both enjoyed individual success as well, with Elia Lowetaking second in the 1,600 and Maya Lowe equaling that placement in the 800.<\/p>\n

Junior Coralea Wright, also a part of the XC success, joins junior Emma Kemp as leaders for the sprint group, with Wright taking sixth in the 400, while Kemp anchored the team\u2019s 4\u00d7200 relay that took fourth. Upperclassmen Lara Rimbert, Kayla Tallmadge, and Savannah Stiegelmeyer teamed up with freshman Cheyanne Keim for fifth in the 4\u00d7100, while freshman Kendall Chavez joined junior Keira LaRose and the Lowe sisters on the runner-up 4\u00d7400.<\/p>\n

Sophomore Taylor Erautt scored in the 100 and 300 hurdles, as the Bears accumulated 38 points to finish as the second-best SJBL team in the meet behind Ignacio.<\/p>\n

The DHS boys enjoyed similar success, led by sophomore Michael Rantz\u2019 sweep of the 200 and 400 meters, as his times all but assured himself a place in the 2A state field. Rantz anchored the 4\u00d7100 relay with sophomore Aaron Nielson, junior Tray Traweek, and senior Mark Palate that shaved more time off their season best with a third-place finish. Nielson also scored in the mile, while helping a young 4\u00d7800 relay with freshmen Owen Lowe and Corvin Smith, along with sophomore Bridger Beyhan to a fourth-place run.<\/p>\n

Sophomore Kayson Greene and senior Josh Carpenter both scored in the throwing events, helping the Bears tally 41 team points.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur kids are seeing others succeed, and they\u2019re feeding off it,\u201d said the Bears head coach Travis Rantz, \u201cmore kids are getting excited about track and field, not just for this season, but to help them get better at other sports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dove Creek boys take fifth, girls earn eighth<\/div>\n

The defending SJBL champs know they\u2019ll have their work cut out for them for a repeat, but Dove Creek\u2019s boys squad \u2013 when fully stocked \u2013 has plenty of pieces in place to challenge at the top.<\/p>\n

A stellar season for senior Cody Alexander in the hurdles headlines a full complement of Bulldogs who may battle for state spots in the 1A field. Alexander took second in the 110s and third in the 300s, while on the track, Dove Creek saw strength in the distance events from sophomores Jonathan Davis and Mason Forst, who scored in the 800 and 1,600, respectively.<\/p>\n

Dove Creek added relay points, as senior Colten Fury added to his individual seventh-place in the 200 to bolster a third-place 4\u00d7200 relay with Alexander, Davis, and freshman Bryson Dixon. Meanwhile, in the field events, senior Bowdy Seely and freshman Gavin Gill scored in the discus, while junior Sheldon Gardner posted strong finishes in both the discus and shot put. Sophomore Josh Kibel added the Bulldog muscle in the throwing ring, as the \u2018Dogs scored 68 points \u2013 the second-best point total of the SJBL teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a young team, and we know that we have a lot of dual sport athletes who also play baseball, which means we only get them from time to time,\u201d said Dove Creek head coach Jason Fury, \u201cour kids are used to working hard in sports \u2013 and they enjoy doing both, so we try to pull it off where they can compete as much as they can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Junior Ralynn Hickman leads a young girls squad, placing in both the 100 and the long jump, while sophomore Mykaela Fury tallied in the 800, and classmate Casey Kricheldorf placed in the discus. Hickman teamed up with junior Aspen Nye, and sophomores Ambrynn Huffaker and Grace Myers to claim the highest Bulldogs relay finish with a runner-up spot in the 800-sprint medley.<\/p>\n

Upperclassmen lead Mancos<\/div>\n

The upperclassmen paced the Bluejays to test their midseason form, as juniors Adaline Kearns and Sarah Knezek, along with seniors Teya Yeomans, Haylie Higgins, Akima Kane, and Chloe Endres all posted scoring performances to pace the Jays to a 10th-place team finish.<\/p>\n

On the boys side, without their full squad, the Bluejays still enjoyed strong days from junior Spencer Eschallier \u2013 who scored in both the high jump and triple jump, as well as freshman Michael Resner \u2013 who scored in the long jump and 100 meters, to lead the Jays to ninth-place as a squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust in the few weeks we\u2019ve had up to this point, everybody\u2019s grown into their own,\u201d said Mancos head coach Trey Gordanier. \u201cThey\u2019re all doing a really good job of getting out there and competing and growing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

turnout for Dolores and Dove Creek shines at Archibeque Invitational<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[38,39,28,396,37,36],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-28186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dolores-high-school","tag-dove-creek-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-high-school-track-and-field","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\/28186","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=28186"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80333,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28186\/revisions\/80333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28186"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=28186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}