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MCHS track and field opens season with solid performances

Joshua Gordon
Garrett Spears, a Moffat County High School senior, brought home two top-eight individual finishes from this weekend, taking fifth in the shot put and seventh in the discus throw at Saturday’s Boulder Invitational. The Bulldog throwers had yet to practice in a throwing ring before Friday, and Spears said work on his technique and speed will only improve his distances.
Courtesy Photo

Results ...

The Moffat County High School varsity track and field team’s results from Friday’s Ralston Valley Relays in Lakewood:

(Relay — place — time/mark)

• Boys mid-distance medley relay — 1 — 3:41.93

• Boys shout put relay — 1 — 45’1.5”

• Boys 4-by-100-meter relay — 3 — 45.94

• Boys 4-by-200-meter relay — 3 — 1:37.50

• Boys distance medley relay — 4 — 11:49.91

• Boys discus throw relay — 4 — 125’2”

• Girls 4-by-400-meter relay — 4 — 5:02.25

• Boys 4-by-300-meter relay — 6 — 2:49.13

• Boys 4-by-400-meter relay — 6 — 4:07.52

• Girls distance medley relay — 6 — 4:51.44

— The boys took sixth, the girls 11th out of 11 teams

Results ...

The Moffat County High School varsity track and field team’s results from Saturday’s Boulder Invitational in Boulder:

(Name — event — place — time/mark)

• Alfredo Lebron — 800-meter run — 2 — 1:57.73

• Alfredo Lebron — 1,600-meter run — 3 — 4:30.5

• Johnny Landa — 800-meter run — 3 — 2:04.72

• Garrett Spears — shot put — 5 — 43’4”

• Garrett Spears — discus throw — 7 — 126’5”

• Kim Schaffner — discus throw — 6 — 94’3”

• Miguel Molina — 800-meter run — 8 — 2:08.78

— The boys took 11th out of 22 teams and the girls took 22nd out of 24 teams





Garrett Spears, a Moffat County High School senior, brought home two top-eight individual finishes from this weekend, taking fifth in the shot put and seventh in the discus throw at Saturday’s Boulder Invitational. The Bulldog throwers had yet to practice in a throwing ring before Friday, and Spears said work on his technique and speed will only improve his distances.

Results …

The Moffat County High School varsity track and field team’s results from Friday’s Ralston Valley Relays in Lakewood:

(Relay — place — time/mark)

• Boys mid-distance medley relay — 1 — 3:41.93



• Boys shout put relay — 1 — 45’1.5”

• Boys 4-by-100-meter relay — 3 — 45.94



• Boys 4-by-200-meter relay — 3 — 1:37.50

• Boys distance medley relay — 4 — 11:49.91

• Boys discus throw relay — 4 — 125’2”

• Girls 4-by-400-meter relay — 4 — 5:02.25

• Boys 4-by-300-meter relay — 6 — 2:49.13

• Boys 4-by-400-meter relay — 6 — 4:07.52

• Girls distance medley relay — 6 — 4:51.44

— The boys took sixth, the girls 11th out of 11 teams

Results …

The Moffat County High School varsity track and field team’s results from Saturday’s Boulder Invitational in Boulder:

(Name — event — place — time/mark)

• Alfredo Lebron — 800-meter run — 2 — 1:57.73

• Alfredo Lebron — 1,600-meter run — 3 — 4:30.5

• Johnny Landa — 800-meter run — 3 — 2:04.72

• Garrett Spears — shot put — 5 — 43’4”

• Garrett Spears — discus throw — 7 — 126’5”

• Kim Schaffner — discus throw — 6 — 94’3”

• Miguel Molina — 800-meter run — 8 — 2:08.78

— The boys took 11th out of 22 teams and the girls took 22nd out of 24 teams

Garrett Spears rode a late season surge last year to reach the 4A state track and field meet in the shot put event.

Spears, a Moffat County High School senior, went from ranked outside the top 20 to taking sixth at state in a matter of a couple weeks during his junior season

This year, however, Spears said he wanted to get to his peak form as soon as possible.

The MCHS varsity track and field team opened the season with a pair of meets on the Front Range — the Ralston Valley Relays Friday in Lakewood and the Boulder Invitational Saturday in Boulder.

Spears helped power the Bulldogs’ shot put and discus throw relays to first and fourth place finishes, respectively, in Lakewood before taking home two top-eight finishes in Boulder.

A 43-foot, 4-inch throw in shot put ranked Spears fifth. He took seventh in discus with a throw of 126’5”.

“I’m pretty excited with the way I am throwing right now,” Spears said Tuesday. “I didn’t get exactly what I wanted to distance-wise, but I am not disappointed in how I performed.”

The Bulldog throwers had yet to practice in a throwing ring before Friday and Spears said practicing in the open is different than in a ring.

“I had practiced in a ring twice before competing and those were both during warm-ups,” he said. “You can spin in circles all you want, but until you get in the ring you can’t get the technique right.

“I’m not throwing as far as I did at the end of the last season, but I still need to work on technique and speed, so I hope to get there in a few weeks.”

The boys team took sixth overall in Lakewood out of 11 teams and 11th out of 22 teams in Boulder.

The girls team, with a lot of young athletes, finished last in Lakewood and took 22nd out of 24 teams in Boulder.

On top of the throwing relays, the boys team got a boost Friday with a first-place finish in the mid-distance medley relay.

The team consisted of sophomore Kelly Campbell and junior Erik Silva running 200 meters, senior Johnny Landa running 400 meters, and senior Alfredo Lebron anchoring the relay with an 800-meter run.

“The sprinters were able to get the baton around and were right with the other teams getting it to Johnny,” head coach Todd Trapp said. “Johnny had a big 400 meters, coming in around his mid-season form, and Alfredo finished it off with 2 minutes flat in the 800.”

Lebron also scored two top-three finishes in Boulder, taking second in the 800-meter run and third in the 1,600-meter run.

The senior broke his own school record in the 800-meter run by five-hundredths of a second, clocking in at 1 minute, 57.73 seconds.

Just behind Lebron in the 800-meter run were teammates Landa, who finished third, and fellow senior Miguel Molina, who took eighth place.

“As seniors, these type of things are expected from these kids,” Trapp said of Lebron, Landa and Molina. “They have the experience from running in big races and they have enjoyed success in the past. I never would have expected Alfredo to break his school record in the first meet and I expect all of them to get even more competitive times as the year goes on.”

Both the boys and girls teams compete at 9 a.m. Saturday in the Delta Invitational at Delta High School.

This early in the season, Trapp said everyone is putting in the hard work they need to have success come the end of the year.

“With the amount of practice we have had, the kids performed very well over the weekend,” he said. “The sprinters did a great job getting in the conditioning and a lot of the younger kids showed some great things.

“Overall, coach (Lance) Scranton and I were happy with the weekend.”

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