It may have been a smaller meet on the schedule last weekend, but Moffat County High School track and field athletes didn’t hold back.

MCHS girls took second and the boys were sixth during Fruita Monument’s Phil Wertman Invitational on Friday in Grand Junction, with five victories indicating the strength of the Bulldogs team.

“Right now, we are in our mid-season workouts, which are really tough, and the kids are performing really well considering how tired they are,” said coach Todd Trapp.

MoCo competitors weren’t showing any signs of fatigue, particularly in the girls 800-meter sprint medley relay as they started the day with a win. Quincy Lowe, Antonia Vasquez, Emma Jones and Lizzy LeWarne not only placed first but also brought their season-best time down to 1:57.76.

By the end of the day, MCHS girls were still going strong with a win and a 16-second improvement in the 4×400 relay as Jones, Mikah Vasquez, Teya Miller and Halle Hamilton got the gold at 4:12.08.

Hamilton also saw big improvement with a 59.99 to win the girls 400 dash.

As for the boys, Logan Hafey continued to reign in the 300 hurdles as he took another first-place finish at 40.45.

“They’re performing well in their individual events and our relays are really starting to take shape,” Trapp said.

In the group events, MoCo boys trimmed nearly 10 seconds and finished third at 3:38.54 in the 4×400 — Hafey, Jimi Jimenez, Ian Trevenen, Evan Atkin — while the Vasquezes, Lowe and Hamilton gained fourth place and shaved off two seconds (52.52) in the girls 4×100.

Placements were strong in the 4×200, Bulldog boys took silver and were just a sliver of a second from the win as Andrew Duran, Zeke Alcantar, Kenny Frederickson, and Atkin clocked in at 1:35.07, while the Vasquezes, Miller and Caitlyn Adams got the bronze at 1:52.3.

Elsewhere in girls running events, Alexis Jones and Caitlyn Adams took sixth and seventh, respectively, in the solo 200 dash, with Antonia Vasquez leading the pace in third at 28.95; LeWarne got third in the 300 hurdles (52.82); and Bree Meats set two season bests with fourth in the 1600 run (6:17.2) and sixth in the 800 (2:47.75).

For the boys, Duran took second in the 400 dash (53.93), Hafey was fifth in the 100 (11.66), and Boden Reidhead placed fifth in the 3200 at 11:42.6.

In the field, the big highlight was in the high jump as Emma Jones and Alexis Jones gained new heights at first and second, each reaching 5 feet, 2 inches. Trevenen and Atkin also gutted it out against each other, taking fourth and fifth, each at 5 feet, 9 inches. Adams had a new best for the girls at 4 feet, 9 inches and sixth place, as did Hudson Jones for the boys, finishing sixth at 5 feet, 7 inches.

Adams also reached a peak leap of 14 feet, 11.75 inches in the long jump for sixth, with Ruby Short hitting 30 feet, 9.5 inches in the triple jump for fifth, each of them leading the team in the events. Hudson Jones also caught considerable air in the boys triple to reach 39 feet, 4 inches for sixth place and a new team best.

In the throwing rings, Alexis Herndon and Taylen Hume earned fifth and seventh in the shot put at marks of 28 feet, 3.25 inches and 27 feet, 8 inches.

After several weeks of competing exclusively at Stocker Stadium, MCHS track and field’s next three meets will be elsewhere, starting with this weekend’s Coal Ridge Invite, leading to April 29’s Clint Wells Invite co-hosted by the Bulldogs in Hayden, capped off by the Multi-Leagues Meet May 6 and 7 in Rifle.