The Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The Hayden boys and girls track teams finished fifth Saturday at a league track meet in West Grand.

Both had plenty of strong performances, and the teams are where they need to be heading into next weekend’s regional track meet. Still, Tigers coach Barbara Manzanares couldn’t help but wonder what could have been.

The girls team finished with 74 points, just two points out of fourth place and within sight of all top finishers except meet champion West Grand.

“Maddison Kopsa pulled her quad warming up for her triple jump. We were looking for points from her in the triple and the long jumps,” Manzanares said. “She didn’t get to do any of her events, and we missed her.”

The team overcame some of Kopsa’s bad luck. The girls 3,200-meter relay team, of which she’s typically a part, subbed in Laura Zirkle and still won the race.

Elsewhere, Holli Salazar bettered her school record in the shot put, winning the event with a throw of 37 feet, 8 1/2 inches, which also was good for the league record. She was third in the discus.

The girls 400 relay finished second, and the team picked up three placers in the 100 hurdles, grabbing third, fourth and seventh.

The boys team was led by Murphy Smartt. Smartt won the high jump but came just short in his bid to pre-qualify for the state track meet. He needed to jump 6-feet-2, but only cleared 6-feet-1.

“Really, he’s been right up there,” Manzanares said. “In our league, he’s been one of the top jumpers all season.”

Coy Letlow was second in the 200, the first time he ran the event all season, and was fourth in the 100. Jake Walker was third in the 100, and Chris Zirkle finished second in the 3,200 and fourth in the 1,600.

The boys 800 relay was second, and the 400 relay placed third.

Manzanares said a few details need to be worked on before next week’s big meet.

“We need to work on our handoffs in the 400 relay,” she said. “I was happy with both the boys and the girls. With Maddison going out, we weren’t able to go as high as we were shooting for, but going into regional, we’re looking pretty good.”

Kopsa remains questionable for the two-day regional meet, which is set to begin Friday in Grand Junction.