With some high achievements in the past year driving them, Moffat County track and field athletes are looking to meet similar marks if not better, with the past weekend a good start.

Bulldog boys placed fifth and girls ninth among the Western Slope teams in attendance at the March 8 Early Bird Meet hosted by Fruita Monument at Grand Junction’s Stocker Stadium.

MoCo guys’ last time at the venue saw them claim a league championship as a group as well as several individual titles.

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The start to a new season started just as promising as the boys took wins in the 4×200 and 4×400-meter relay races. The former event was run by seniors Zeke Alcantar, Jimi Jimenez, Hudson Jones and junior Andrew Duran with a time of 1:36.5, while the latter consisted of seniors Owen Gifford and Carson Laehr, sophomore Haven Carr and Jimenez as the anchor at 3:45.74.

The pair of relays saw some of the biggest victories last season for Bulldog boys, who set school records in each, including surpassing a state meet record in the 4×400 race run by Alcantar, Gifford, Duran and then-senior Evan Atkin with a time of 3:20.49. Besides Atkin setting several school records solo last year and earning a state hurdle title, he also anchored the record-breaking 4×2 (1:29.69) with Alcantar, Duran and Jimenez.

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This weekend’s wins suggest the record board might see some more shake-ups this spring, if all goes well, but other events for the boys team also look promising.

Duran won the league meet’s 200 dash last year, as did Jones in the triple jump, and Jones placed second in the long jump (20 feet, 2 inches) and third in the triple (41-1.75) with plans to return to state in the event, ideally with a school record under his belt by the end of the year

In other highlights, Gifford took third in the mile run (4:52.93), senior Evan Beaver returned to the high jump with a mark of 6 feet for fourth place, and Alcantar tied for seventh in both the 100 and 200 dash races.

The outcome was an altogether positive one for MCHS coaches Todd Trapp, Diego Quezada, Nick Colgate, and David Pressgrove.

“We thought the athletes competed well for just having two weeks of practice,” Pressgrove said. “We knew going into the season that our upperclassmen returners would carry most of the weight for the boys team. That showed with their two wins in the relays.”

For the girls group, the opening weekend had several high placements, including taking the silver in the 4×4 relay run by sophomores Danna Montanez and Kimber Hume, senior Brook Wheeler, and junior Josefina Kuberry (4:48.13). In the 800 sprint medley, junior Caitlyn Adams, sophomore Camila Nuñez, Hume and Montanez took fourth at 2:07.93.

Sophomore Teryn Carter earned bronze in the triple jump (28-4.25) and Kuberry ran a 6:31.65 to place eighth in the 1600.

The girls team took league wins last season in the 4×100 and 4×400 races, but nearly all the runners involved in those events have either graduated or are unable to compete this year.

Nuñez, the girls’ top performing sprinter during the Early Bird, led off the 4×200 race at state last May that was the lone event for Bulldog girls making it to the podium, with former teammates Alexis Jones and Sadie Smilanich now in college and Teya Miller sidelined this spring by a basketball injury.

Pressgrove noted that the girls roster may be shorter but is also full of young talent who will be building their skills in the sport this year.

“We look forward to seeing how far they will come,” Pressgrove said.

Head coach Trapp added that the Early Bird’s timing just before Moffat County spring break provides a good look at where all the competitors are after the winter.

“Once we get back, the weather should be a little better and we can really get to work and start improving our performances,” Trapp said. “It was great to be on the track, in the rings, and on the runways.”