Eagle Valley and Battle Mountain girls tie for second place at Western Slope track and field championships

Not every Battle Mountain-Eagle Valley contest needs a winner and loser.

At the 4A Western Slope track and field girls championship last weekend in Grand Junction, the Huskies and Devils both finished with 102 points, tying for second place behind Summit in the team race.

“We were thrilled,” said Devils distance runner Ellie Shroll, who competed in four events. “We had a sick and small team so we were pretty proud of pulling that off.”

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Allie Braun (high jump), Zakia Shreeve (100-meter hurdles), Lily Brueck (200-meter dash) and Kenzie Cosper (pole vault) picked up individual titles and the Devils also won the 4×800-meter relay to open the two-day meet.

“That was a really great start,” said Devils distance coach Charlie Janssen, who relished watching numerous athletes achieve lifetime bests. Ginger Reilly was his favorite example. The junior achieved personal records in the 800, 1600 and 3200-meter runs — and also ran on the 4×800 team.

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“I felt ready,” said Reilly, who shaved 10 seconds off her best 1600 and 29 off her previous 3200 record. “I felt like my training definitely prepared me. I was hoping to get PRs in all of them — that’s why I wanted to do all of them.”

“Her mindset was good, she looked super strong,” Janssen added. “We’ve been working a lot on her form and she’s really starting to embrace it and figured it out on the right weekend. It was awesome.”

Reilly and Shroll, the Devils top-2 runners last fall in cross-country, decided to try track for the first time this spring.

“I love the culture,” Shroll said. “We’re just having fun; it’s been a blast so far.”

Shroll placed third in the 800-meter run in 2 minutes, 25.60 seconds, a three second best. The senior thinks she’ll need to dip under 2:20 in the final regular season meet this weekend to make it to state on May 16-18 in Lakewood.

“I’m just going to go out hard and have no regrets,” she said, adding that she plans on running a 69-second first lap and hanging on for the second. “I think I’ll regret it more if I don’t go out as hard as I need to.”

Meanwhile, Presley Smith led the Huskies with a three-second win in the 400-meter dash and by carrying the sprint medley team to a new school record of 1:48.52.

“I think it was really strong,” Battle Mountain head coach Rob Parish said in summarizing his entire team’s collective efforts. “I think we slightly overachieved as a group.”

Parish said even though his team didn’t pile up as many individual wins as past league championships, several athletes stepped up to score points across the board. He pointed to junior Sage Gwin’s third and fourth in the shot put and discus, respectively, Ashley Rodriguez’s fourth in the long jump and senior Maddie Brown’s fifth in the pole vault. Addie Beuche also took third in both the 1600 and 3200 and was fourth in the 800. Finally, Tabi Schroeder and Kiki Hancock went 2-3 in the 100-meter dash.

“I think those were all really pretty awesome,” Parish said.

Even though both teams ultimately tied, there was a bit of rivalry revenge within the meet. Shortly after placing third in the 300-hurdles, just 0.16 seconds behind her teammate Shreeve in second, Brueck returned to the track for a dominant win in the 200-meter dash, avenging her loss to Schroeder at last month’s Battle Mountain Invite.

“She ran that curve so angry,” Devils sprint coach Alex Aragon said. “I was super proud of her. She was tired and ready to go home and she came back and won.”

Shreeve came within a half inch of winning the long jump and also carried the baton on the team’s 4×400-meter relay.  

“She’s just a great athlete to watch run,” Aragon said of Shreeve. “A lot of pressure is on her, too, but she’s one of those athletes who can come around and be the determining factor of whether or not these relays go to state.”

Both teams will compete at the Windjammer Invite this weekend, the final opportunity to qualify individuals and relays to state. Janssen said he thinks his girls 4×800 team needs to cut about 10 seconds — 2.5 per leg — in order to sneak into the top 18.

“I know we can do it,” he said. “It’s going to be difficult though.” 

“We’re all going to put our best foot on the line and whatever happens, happens,” added Reilly. “I’m super grateful we have one more chance.”