Two Garfield County athletes helped Sierra Nevada University dominate the official national competition recently in collegiate skiing and snowboarding.
Cody Jones / Post Independent
It’s been 27 years since Garfield County has had a Colorado state track and field title to call its own. On Saturday, that drought came to an end with the Coal Ridge girls track team hoisting the 3A state championship trophy high above their heads for everyone to see as they were crowned state champions.
Head coach Ben Kirk said the possibility of the girls winning the title occurred to the coaches about a month ago.
“We met as an entire girls team and told them if we are going to win the state title then Peyton Garrison and Mikayla Cheney need to run their individual events,” he said. “The rest of the responsibility fell on everyone else stepping up, and the girls took ownership of this responsibility and had great races.”
Titanic champs: Coal Ridge track and field girls team gets first state title in school history postindependent.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from postindependent.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Both the Coal Ridge boys and girls teams won their respective divisions to crown themselves 3A Multi-League champions at Stocker Stadium in Grand Junction on Friday.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent
The Coal Ridge High School girls dominated the day Friday to win their home track and field invitational, punctuated by senior Phoebe Young’s new school and meet record in the pole vault.
Young vaulted 11 feet, 2 inches, bettering her previous best by 2 inches and topping the rest of the field by more than 3 feet.
Junior Peyton Garrison also swept the sprint events for the host team, winning the 100, 200 and 400 meters and carrying the 4×100 relay team to the first-place finish, as well.
Overall, the Lady Titans amassed 160 points on the day, including 15 top-3 event finishes, to second-place Moffat County’s 64.5 points. Glenwood Springs was fourth in the girls team results with 52 points.