Demons girls 4×100-meter track and field sets school record

Juliana McKown of Durango High School competes in the 100-meter dash on March 7 during the Durango Dust Off track meet at DHS. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald)

Jerry McBride

It’s not often a record from before this century is broken, but that’s what happened on Saturday with the Durango High School track and field teams at the Mickey Dunn Invitational in Grand Junction.

Durango had a fantastic day in Grand Junction, with the girls winning and the boys finishing second. But it was the Durango girls 4×100-meter track team that stood out, breaking the school record that’s stood since 1998 with the Demons’ winning time.

The foursome of senior Juliana McKown, freshman Lydia Orlowski, freshman Karleigh Kinn and sophomore Hailey Tripp broke the school record in 50.15 seconds, beating Grand Junction in second by 1.48 seconds.

“We told them before that you girls can break this record today … As soon as they finished, they called me and said, ‘Coach, what was our time? Did we break the record,’” Durango track and field head coach Johnny Bertrand said. “I told them, ‘I’ll call you as soon as I find out,’ and I found out a few minutes later, called them to tell them we broke the record, and they were all excited, jumping up and down.”

Bertrand was especially impressed because the Demons weren’t challenged by other teams, since it’s easier to go faster when someone is right next to them. He thinks this record won’t stay long as there is plenty of time for the girls to get faster.

The Demons girls got the win with 138 points. Steamboat Springs was second with 72.50 points, and Grand Junction was third with 63.50 points. The Durango boys finished second with 85 points, with Eagle Valley in first with 137 points, and Grand Junction in third with 83.50 points. It was an impressive performance considering the Demons sent some of their athletes to the Pine River Invitational in Bayfield.

On the girls’ side, McKown also impressed in the girls 100 race, finishing first in 12.88.

“She’s been working hard on her starts,” Bertrand said about McKown. “They’re looking really good right now. I videoed her starting on 100 and she was ahead of everybody in two steps. She just shot out of there like a cannonball out of a cannon, and she won the race with her start.”

Freshman Zia Fadil had a strong performance in the 3200, finishing first in 11 minutes and 20.86 seconds. Junior Lacy Ruggiero was right behind her in second in 11:28.83. Bertrand expects Fadil and Ruggiero to qualify for state in the 3200. Senior Aileen McManus won the girls long jump with a jump of 16 feet and three inches.

It was a full-circle moment for Bertrand, who remembers when McManus was a freshman, she saw a girl get 16 feet and that girl’s coach went wild celebrating. At the time, McManus asked Bertrand if he would celebrate like that if McManus ever got over 16 feet. Three seasons later, McManus hit 16 after two failed attempts. Bertrand was on the other side of the track watching relays, but once she told him, Bertrand was a man of his word and celebrated wildly.

The Durango girls had other successful relays, with the women’s 4×400 winning in 4:12.80.

On the boys’ side, senior Seb Tripp took first in the boys 100 dash in 11.21.

“That’s a good time, especially for this time of year,” Bertrand said about Tripp. “I think 11:09 was his PR last year. So he’s not too far off that, but that was later in the year … He was the opposite of Juliana. He didn’t have a good start. He came out of the blocks, and he was in seventh or eighth place. But he’s strong and fast. He caught up, then pushed through and then took the lead.”

Durango will split up on Saturday to go to the Farmington Invitational and the Abel Velasquez Invitational in Ignacio. Bertrand is excited about this group and how everyone is doing everything they need to do.

Girls soccer goes 2-0 away from home

The Durango girls soccer squad got league play started the right way with two road wins last weekend.

Durango is on a three-game winning streak after losing its first game. Durango won 2-1 at Montrose on Friday and 3-0 at Palisade on Saturday. The Demons improved to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in the 4A/5A Southwestern League.

Sophomore Emma Pritchett and junior Ellis Campbell each scored for the Demons in the first half against Montrose. The Red Hawks didn’t score their goal until the final few minutes, but Durango girls soccer head coach Zac Keeler was impressed with how much intensity Montrose played with in the second half.

He’s also been impressed with Pritchett’s progression as a central midfielder who’s smart and technical with the ball, as she utilizes all the players around her.

Another player who was key in the Demons’ victory was senior goalkeeper Ryne Neiman, finishing with 15 saves.

“I’m a goalie myself,” Keeler said. “I oftentimes tell her she makes it look easy. The saves she made, just like in the Delta game, were routine saves because we kept Montrose at bay outside of our 18-yard line. But there were definite college-level goalkeeper saves. For Montrose, she was our woman of the match.”

Against Palisade, the Demons scored two goals in the first half before adding a third in the second. Sophomore Lia Schowalker, senior Josie Phare and junior Lila Scherer-Sickler each scored for Durango. Keeler was impressed with how Campbell played the attacking midfielder spot in the second half, creating for her teammates by utilizing all sides of the field.

The Demons have a good test on Friday at Crested Butte at 4 p.m. The Titans are 4-0-2.

Girls golf wins twice in two days

Durango High School girls golf senior Riley Harms competes for the Demons in their latest road trip. (Courtesy Kirk Rawles)

The Durango girls golf team had a successful trip up north, winning the Battle at The Bridges in Montrose on Monday and the Devils Thumb Invitational in Delta on Tuesday.

Each tournament was different, with the Demons only facing Steamboat Springs in the Battle at The Bridges, but they faced 15 other schools in the Devils Thumb Invitational.

“Talking about The Bridges, it was really great because we got a preview of the state course,” Durango girls golf head coach Kirk Rawles said. “We get out there and kind of get a feel for it and see it. Their (Steamboat Springs) top player is one of the best players in the state, so our ones and twos got a good taste of some really good competition there.”

Rawles said The Bridges course wasn’t in the best condition with some slow greens, but junior Dylan Livingston made the best of it by finishing second with a 15-over par, only two shots behind Steamboat Springs’ Katharina Cosby. The highlight of Livingston’s round was a 300-yard drive on a par 5. She finished with two birdies, five pars, seven bogeys, three double bogeys and a quadruple bogey.

The Demons beat the Sailors by 37 strokes, with senior Riley Harms finishing third at 16-over par, senior Jayden Craig finishing fourth at 19-over par and sophomore Kailen Noonan in fifth at 20-over par.

On Tuesday, the Demons won the Devils Thumb Invitational with a team score of 30-over par. Fruita Monument was second at 63-over par, and Steamboat Springs was third at 65-over par.

Craig impressed by finishing second at 6-over par, only two strokes behind Cosby in first. Craig finished with two birdies, nine pars, six bogeys and a double bogey.

“She made the adjustments to the greens there,” Rawles said. “She made a lot of good par saves and a lot of good three, four and five-footers. There’s a par four, like 250 yards, and she drove the green and made a birdie. All around, kind of getting to where we were last year, it was a real big confidence booster for her.”

Noonan was impressive at Devils Thumb, shooting a personal-best 10-over par to finish fourth. Noonan had two birdies and also chipped in to save par on two holes. Rawles hopes a result like that will be a confidence booster for her.

The Demons play in the PV Panther Varsity Girls Invitational at San Juan Country Club on Monday.

Boys lacrosse split last two games in dramatic fashion

Durango boys lacrosse head coach Valeria Skarbek compared the end of her team’s game at Montrose on Tuesday to giving birth.

“It took forever,” Skarbek said. “There’s a lot of back and forth. There’s lots of waiting, not knowing what’s going on. They were tied multiple times during the game, and we went in overtime. It was very stressful.”

The wait paid off as the Demons snapped their three-game losing streak thanks to a close-range goal from junior Logan Muraro for the 5-4 overtime win on the road.

Durango improved to 2-3 overall and 1-3 in the 4A Mountain League with the win. Montrose dropped to 0-7 overall and 0-6 in the 4A Mountain League with the loss.

Montrose jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first half as the Red Hawks’ goalkeeper was performing very well. At the same time, the Demons had a lot of good looks but couldn’t convert from close range. However, Durango came back to take the lead late before Montrose had the response to get the game into overtime.

Senior Wynn Daniels led the Demons with two goals, and junior Logan Muraro added a goal and two assists. Senior Keegan Wilson finished with eight saves for Durango.

Skarbek was impressed with her team’s defensive performance, since the Demons were missing a lot of players on defense with injury and illness.

Durango’s game against Crested Butte on Saturday was a different story. The Demons were outscored 4-0 in the fourth and lost 8-6.

“We were up almost the entire game, then they came back, went up on us and we just couldn’t pull it together,” Skarbek said. “We hardly scored in the second half, so, if you don’t do that, that’s going to happen … The guys lost their boost … we could maintain it for almost three quarters of the game, and then they fell apart. That was really hard.”

Skarbek was happy with how her team worked the ball around after Walker Jones did a great job stepping up on the faceoff as a captain. Jones has matured a lot as a player. But the Demons couldn’t get inside the Crested Butte defense to get good looks.

Muraro led Durango with two goals and two assists; Daniels also had two goals.

The Demons play at Grand Junction on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Skarbek is excited about the depth and variety of scoring on the team, and she knew it was going to be a big challenge replacing Alex Gnehm, JT Munger and Owen Muraro. She’s excited about the future of the program as the Demons JV are off to a good start.

Baseball drops two road games

Durango High School baseball players watch their teammates from the dugout as the Demons take on Farmington on March 24. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald)

Jerry McBride

The Demons baseball team had its five-game winning streak snapped on the road last weekend with a 6-3 loss at Ponderosa and a 16-6 loss at Falcon on Saturday.

Durango dropped to 5-4 overall after the losses. Ponderosa improved to 4-4 with the win, and Falcon improved to 7-0 after the win over the Demons.

After three wins where the Demons averaged 16.3 runs per game, the Demons’ bats went cold against the Mustangs to begin Saturday. Ponderosa built up a 3-0 lead in the first three innings. Durango was scoreless through five innings, but scored two in the sixth inning. However, Ponderosa scored three in that same inning, and the Demons could only score one in the top of the seventh.

Durango was outhit, 13-8, against the Mustangs. Junior Coen Anderson and seniors Dawson McInnes and Landin “Bubba” Padilla led the Demons, each going 2-4 at bat. McInnes and senior Austin Romero both pitched three innings for the Demons. McInnes gave up six hits, three runs and struck out three batters. Romero allowed seven hits, three runs and struck out four batters.

If the game against Falcon was a boxing match, Durango got hit with an uppercut in the first round and was on the floor. Falcon scored seven runs in the first inning and was down 13-2 after three innings. The Demons didn’t quit, scoring four runs in the fourth, but it wasn’t enough as Falcon kept scoring to finish the game after six innings.

Falcon outhit Durango, 17-6. Six Demons had a hit. Durango had senior Sam Clark, sophomore Cole Clark and junior Jakob Maycock on the mound against the Falcons. Sam allowed three hits, two runs and had a strikeout. Cole allowed nine hits, 11 runs and had two strikeouts. Maycock allowed four hits, three runs and had two strikeouts.

The Demons return home to play Grand Junction on Friday at 3 p.m. and on Saturday at 11 a.m.

bkelly@durangoherald.com

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