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Rifle zips to sweep of Eagle Valley track meet

Staff Report

GYPSUM – The Rifle Bears boys and girls track team swept the Eagle Valley Invitational held here Saturday.The Rifle boys won the meet convincingly with a team total of 152, well ahead of second-place Eagle Valley at 96. The Glenwood boys finished seventh with 24 points, while Basalt, Roaring Fork and Grand Valley were ninth, 13th and 15th, respectively.”I expect big things and several of the kids stepped it up. But it was a lot tougher meet that I expected it to be,” said Rifle head track coach Justin Price. It was the second meet in a row the Bears have won both the boys and girls team championships. Prior to spring break, Rifle won the Delta Invitational.On the girls’ side, Rifle edged Glenwood by 2.5 points. Rifle finished with 114.5 points followed by Glenwood at 112. Basalt, Grand Valley and Roaring Fork finished 14th, 15th and 16th, respectively.”Glenwood gave us all we wanted,” said Price. “They don’t have a lot of kids, but they do have quality athletes.”Rifle’s only event victories were in the 3,200-meter relay and the 4×200 relay, but the Bears got solid performances from Jennifer Schneider and Jessica Warwick. Schneider was second in the triple jump and third in the long jump.Warwick also posted a second and third in the 3,200 and 1,600, respectively.The Demons posted three first-place finishers and also won the 4×400 and 4×100 relays. Amber Sutherland took honors in the shot put and placed second in the discus.Amber Sutherland took honors in the shot put and placed second in the discus, while Jeri Polowchena and Megan McKinnie won the 110 and 300 hurdles, respectively.”The girls knew going into the season that one of our major goals was a regional title, because that hasn’t happened since ’94,” Glenwood head coach Blake Risner said. “It was our first opportunity to see how we stack up against Rifle, and to know we’re this close and not at full strength is definitely a confidence boost.”While some Demons weren’t at full strength, Glenwood did get a boost from Nikita Daniely, who tied her personal record and finished second in the high jump, clearing 5 feet.Rifle and Glenwood each had a double-winner on the boys side.Glenwood’s Marco Salmen swept the distance events with victories in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters. Both marks (4 minutes, 32 seconds in the 1,600 and 10:00.94 in the 3,200) would have been state qualifying marks had the meet been so designated. Speedster David Suminski won the 100 and 200 meters for Rifle and placed fourth in the 400 to pace the Bears.Other event winners for Rifle included Marcus Carrion in the discus, Andrew Stone in the shot put and Mike Birdsley in the 400. Nick Worley had a solid day throwing with seconds in both the discus and shot put. Eagle Valley TRACK & FIELD InvitationalBoys’ Meet – Team Scores 1, Rifle, 152. 2, Eagle Valley, 96. 3, Steamboat Springs 56. 4, Lake County 37. 5, West Grand, 33. 6, Middle Park, 27. 7, Glenwood Springs, 24. 8, Battle Mountain 8. 9, Basalt, 19.5. 10, Plateau Valley, 16. 11, Soroco 13. 12, Delta, 9. 13, Roaring Fork, 7. 14 (tie), Olathe, Paonia, Vail Christian, 2.Individual Marks (area athletes only)3,200-meter relay – 1, Rifle (R), 8:49.38. 110 hurdles – 3, Justin Steffen, R, 15.58.Discus – 1, Marcus Carrion, R, 130-5. 2, Nick Worley, R, 127-1. 3, Chase Warner, Glenwood Springs (GS), 123-10. 5 (tie), Ryan Erickson, GS, 121-10.100 – 1, David Suminski, R, 10.87. 2, Brian Hileman, R, 11.19. Long jump – 6, Joiner, Roaring Fork (RF), 18-2.4×200 relay – 1, Rifle (Steffen, Troy Weiss, Kalvin Deere, Michael Birdsley), 1:36.14. 4, Glenwood (Dustin Braeger, Joe Schiavone, Brandon Park, Justin Church), 1:40.08.1,600 – 1, Marco Salmen, GS, 4:32.0. 5, Will Dubois, R, 5:08.0.4×100 relay – 2, Rifle (Weiss, Deere, Hileman, Carrion), 46.26. 6, Glenwood (Andrew Katers, Schiavone, Park, Drew Matson), 49.84.Shot put – 1, Andrew Stone, R, 41-1. 2, Worley, R, 40-8 1/2. 3, Kindell, Basalt (B), 40-4. 4, Tony Allen, R, 39-6. 6, Warner, GS, 38-2.High jump – 3, Joiner, RF, 5-6. 400 – 1, Birdsley, R, 51.66. 4, Suminski, R, 55.27. Triple jump – 3, John Alderson, R, 38-2.300 hurdles – 2, Steffen, R, 43:23.800 – 4, Dubois, R, 2:10.29. 5, Braeger, GS, 2:11.22.200 – 1, Suminski, R, 23.64. 5, Birdsley, R, 24.54.3,200 – 1, Salmen, GS, 10:00.94. 4, Joe Schmitz, R, 11:18.00.4×400 relay – 1, Rifle (Chris Black, Jordan Robinson, Suminski, Birdsley), 3:34.47.4 x 800 relay – 1, Rifle (Worley, DuBois, Schmitz, Robinson), 8:49.38.Girls’ Meet – Team Scores 1, Rifle, 114.5. 2, Glenwood, 112. 3, Paonia, 55. 4, Steamboat Springs, 51. 5, Eagle Valley, 48. 6, Olathe, 47. 7, Aspen, 34. 8, Soroco, 27. 9, Vail Christian, 22. 10 (tie), Lake County, Middle Park, 15. 12, Battle Mountain, 9. 13, West Grand, 8.5. 14, Basalt, 6. 15, Grand Valley 2. 16, Roaring Fork, 1. Individual Marks3,200 relay – 1, Rifle (Krista Wagstrom, Savanna Beecraft, Jessica Warwick, Lauren Pleva), 10:46.23. 2, Glenwood, 11:13.74. 4, Basalt, 11:55.88. 100 hurdles – 1, Jeri Polowchena, GS, 16.39. 3, Heather Anderson, R, 18.0. 4, Jennie Spillane, R, 18.33. 5, Courtney Sutherland, GS, 18.73. Discus – 2, Amber Sutherland, GS, 112-4. 100 – 3, Terena Leuallen, R, 12.79. 4, Ali Little, R, 12.97. Long jump – 3, Jennifer Schneider, R, 14-8. 5, Dahlin, R, 14-4 1/2.4×200 relay – 1, Rifle (A.J. Connolly, Jeannie Spillane, Pleva, Leuallen), 1:56.12.1,600 – 3, Warwick, R, 5:54.32. 4, Abbey Walters, GS, 6:00.68. 4×100 relay – 1, Glenwood (Megan McKinnie, Nikita Daniely, A. Sutherland, Leah Hinkey), 52.36. 4, Rifle (Amber Canard, Brooke St. Pierre, Leuallen, Kristina Dahlin), 53.86. 6, Grand Valley, 55.46.Shot put – 1, A. Sutherland, GS, 35-9 1/2. 3, Amanda Bingman, R, 34-5. 6, Kari Wiig, R, 27-6 1/2. High jump – 2, Daniely, GS, 5-0. 3, Kristina Dahlin, R, 4-10. 4 (tie), Montanah Matthies, R, 4-8. 6 (tie), Afton Neal, R, 4-8.400 – 3, Little, R, 1:02.85. 5, Krista Wagstrom, R, 1:04.06. Triple jump – 2, Schneider, R, 31-4 1/2. 300 hurdles – 1, McKinnie, GS, 47.83. 3, Spillane, R, 53.94. 5, Anderson, R, 54.94. 800 – 4, Beecraft, R, 2:43.91. 200 – 5, Little, R, 28.32. 6, McKinnie, GS, 29.13. 3,200 – 2, Warwick, R, 12:59.83. 5, March Thompson, Bas, 13:54.0.Medley Relay – 4, Rifle (Heather Anderson, St. Pierre, Connolly, Little), 1:59.93.4×400 relay – 1, Glenwood (Walters, McKinnie, Hinkey, Daniely), 4:17.49. 4, Rifle (Beecraft, Pleva, Wagstrom, Spillane), 4:38.19.


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