The Glenwood Springs High School track team hosted 17 teams Saturday afternoon for the 2023 Demon Invitational, where the Glenwood girls found themselves placing first overall by racking up 107 points throughout the day. 

The Glenwood boys team finished in 10th place, scoring 25 points on the day. Rifle High School also found themselves doing well throughout the day as the boys team placed third overall and the girls team placed seventh. Right behind Rifle and finishing fourth overall on the day was the Grand Valley Fighting Cardinals boys team.

Led by Metro State commit, Glenwood senior Breauna Sorenson, who helped the Demons with first place finishes in the long jump and as a member of the 4×100 meter relay, Glenwood was able to walk away with five first-place finishes by the end of the day.

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Partnered with fellow seniors Ruby Patch and Bailey Risner, as well as freshman Mia Sandoval in the 4×100 meter relay, the quartet clocked a time of 53.02 seconds to come out on top during the relay race.

Also winning their events were sophomore Quinn Waaler in the girls 3200-meter race (12:48.09) and senior Sophia Connerton-Nevin in the 1600 (5:19.92).

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Patch, who placed second in both the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdle events, was able to walk away with a first place finish in the triple jump, marking 33 feet, 7.75 inches to beat Aspen High’s Yasamine Khan-Farooqi.

A dual sport athlete who along with Sorensen helped lead Glenwood’s girls basketball team to the final four this March, Patch has set the expectations high for both her and her team.

“From being at this track meet last year, you can see the improvement from everyone on the team,” Patch said. “We obviously want to see everyone on the team place at state this year and we are all working really hard to meet that end goal.”

Offered to run alongside Sorenson at Metro State following graduation, Patch will instead choose to study health and exercise science at Colorado State University. Meanwhile, Sorenson is continuing to try to hit that 18 feet mark in the long jump, a feat that will increase the value of her scholarship at Metro State.

“Right now we are in the rough part of our season so our bodies are pretty tired,” Sorenson said. “I am way farther than I was last year. I hit 17 feet last week and that’s something that I wasn’t able to do until the end of the year last year so I’m confident that I’ll be able to hit 18 feet before the end of the season.”

Glenwood Springs and the other area track and field teams will next compete Friday at the Coal Ridge Invitational at Coal Ridge High School.

Other top-three event finishers by school included:

Glenwood Springs — Sophia Connerton-Nevin, second 800 meter (2:23.76); Quinn Waaler, third 1600 meter (5:53.99); boys 4×800 relay, third (9:26.12).

Rifle — girls 4×200 relay, third (1:56.97); Nevaeh Henderson, third long jump (14-11); Sophia Craig, second pole vault (7-11); boys 4×200 meter relay, third (1:58.31); Jade Cunningham, third triple jump (40-1.75); Troy Mataia, third discus (128-2); Troy Mataia, second shot put (47-0.5).

Roaring Fork — Kyra Reeds, third 100 meter hurdles (17.58); Kyra Reeds, third 300 meter hurdles (52.27).

Grand Valley — 800 meter medley, first (2:02.12); 4×400 meter relay, first (4:27.67); Brandon Garcia, third 200 meter (24.60); Kade Sackett, second 400 meter (52.69); 4×100 meter relay, third (45.87); Kade Sackett, second triple jump (40-4.5); Jacob Doyle, first discus (164-10); Jacob Doyle, first shot put (47-6).