Steamboat Springs — While Soroco High School freshman Ben Kelley was doing the unthinkable triple-distance threat at Saturday’s 2A Western Slope League meet, the Rams girls track and field team was collectively putting together a huge day as the season starts to wind down.

In the one-day meet, Kelley took advantage of a lightning delay and ran the mile, the two mile and the 800, and shined in all three. He won the league title in the mile (4:48.77) and the two mile (10:40.14) and was the silver medalist in the 800 (2:06.40).

Also on the Rams boys side at the league meet, Micah Gibbons placed fourth in the Discus (125-feet-6-inches) and the pole vault (10-feet-2-inches), and took seventh in the 200. Sarvis Anarella ran the mile with Kelley, placing fifth overall.

The always-deep Soroco girls squad took home several top-three finishes en route to third place as a team in Rangely. The boys finished fourth overall.

Freshman Mattie Rossi again led the way, winning the 100-meter hurdles in 17.22, and setting a new season-best in the 300-meter hurdles in 48.75, good enough for third.

Jessica Rossi was the meet’s top pole vaulter with a vault of 8-feet-2-inches. Also in the top three were Jessica Rossi in discus, Kali Constine in high jump and the girls 4-by-100 relay. Hayley Johnson was seventh in the 200, Charlee Veilleux placed sixth in the 300 hurdles, Briana Peterson was fifth in the shot put and Cassie Constine placed fifth in the triple jump.

“Our kids, I was really proud of them,” Soroco coach David Bruner said. “They ran well and did a good job. We had a great week of practice.”

The Rams boys and girls will have one final tune-up in Kremmling on Saturday before the 2A state championships in Lakewood a week later.

Sailors weather the conditions for solid performance

It was a long, scorching hot weekend for the Steamboat Springs High School track and field team at its 4A Western Slope League meet in Grand Junction last Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but the Sailors were able to endure the weather and come out with some strong finishes.

Sailors senior Austin Kerbs placed second in the high jump with a leap of 5-feet-10-inches, 4 inches off his personal best. Teammate Jake Anderson took sixth and 13th in the triple jump and long jump, respectively.

The Steamboat girls were led by Kathleen O’Connell, who had two season bests in the mile and two mile. She placed third in the mile (5:36.60) and was fifth in the two mile (12:26.71). Alex Tumminello also had her best mile time of the season, placing eighth in 5:46.36.

“It was very, very hot,” Steamboat coach Erik Ramstad said about the mid-80-degree temperatures. “The kids did great with it. They hadn’t really dealt with that kind of heat this season. That can be tough on the distance runners more so than anyone else.”

The Sailors girls 4-by-800 relay was fourth with another season-best time. Ramstad said with the meet spread out over three days, it was a chance for both the boys and girls relays to get in some good marks.

“We went out and our goal was to put together a great team effort,” he said. “We were excited with the results. There were tons of personal records.”

The Sailors will have a last-chance meet on Friday and Saturday again in Grand Junction for the Tigers Invitational. Currently, Kerbs looks to be the lone Sailor who is in the mix for qualifying for state for his 6-foot-2 season-best high jump.

A few Tigers likely state-bound

Though small in numbers, the Hayden High School track and field team is making some big marks and another couple of podium finishes at the Rangely 2A Western Slope meet has some Tigers looking at multiple state bids.

Senior jumping aces Thomas Rauch and Jack Redmond had some of their best marks of the seaosn in their respective events. Rauch was second in the league high jump. His 6-foot mark was just a quarter inch from his season best. Redmond had a big day at the long-jump pit, throwing down a mark of 20-feet-8.25 inches for the win.

Rauch is currently ranked seventh in the state in high jump, and Redmond is fifth in the long jump and seventh in the triple jump.

On the Hayden girls side, Jewel Vreeman had her best 100-meter dash of the season, taking seventh in 13.54. She was also 10th in the long jump.

The Tigers’ Laura Johnson was the bronze medalist in the two mile, finishing in a season-best time of 13:41.16.

Like Soroco, Hayden is scheduled to compete in Kremmling on Saturday in advance of next weekend’s state meet.

To reach Ben Ingersoll, call 970-871-4204, email bingersoll@SteamboatToday.com or follow him on Twitter @BenMIngersoll