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Kremmling " West Grand track team earns nine medals at state meet

Larry Banman
Sky-Hi Daily News

Eight of the 12 West Grand High School athletes who qualified for the state meet earned medals in the finals as the Mustangs completed their season.

The Colorado high school track and field season came to an end Saturday, May 17, with the state championships in Pueblo for the 2A/3A divisions.

Louis Farrell led the way as four West Grand pole vaulters finished among the medal winners. Farrell, a senior, cleared 11 feet, 6 inches for third place, while Rick Gamblin finished eighth for the boys team.



Jordan Davidson won her third consecutive state pole vault medal with an 8 feet, 6 inch fourth-place finish and sophomore Erin Beason took sixth place in the pole vault. Beason was a beginning vaulter at the start of the season and has made good progress, said coach Joe Shields. Her 8 foot height at the state meet was a season best.

Danette Billington placed seventh in the 300-meter hurdles and was part of the 4 x 400-meter relay team that took eighth place in the finals. That relay team of Renea Ellison, Taylor Pesch, Billington and Brook Cecil ran a season best 4:20.8 in the prelims on Friday to earn a spot in the finals. All four of the girls are underclassmen who can return next year with a real opportunity to achieve some lofty goals, Shields noted.



Marshall Kraker and Cecil both recorded season best marks in individual preliminary events. Kraker had a career-best throw of 44 feet, 0.75 inch in the shot put on Saturday, while Brook ran a 1:02.89 in the 400-meter dash on Friday. Both of those efforts fell just short of the final eight.

Cecil and Melissa Kraker, both sophomores, went through 4 feet, 10 inches in the high jump with no misses. However, neither cleared 5 feet. Nine individuals cleared the 5 foot standard and five made it through to 5 feet, 0.5 inch.

In other events for the Mustangs, Jake Motz, with a time of 53.5 seconds in the 400-meter dash, Marshall Kraker in the discus, Tim Ritschard in the pole vault and Billington in the long jump and 100-meter hurdles all performed well in the preliminary round for West Grand, but were unable to advance into the finals in those events.

West Grand will lose five seniors to graduation from the high school program. Davidson, Jessica Elliott, Marshall Kraker, Farrell and Drew Sidener have been key leaders for Mustang track and field and the coaching staff wishes them well.


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