ALAMOSA – The Alamosa High School track and field team began the 2023 season last Saturday at the Banana Belt Classic which took place at Dutch Clark Stadium in Pueblo.

It was a non-scoring meet.

Twelve AHS girls placed in the Top 10 including three individual champions. Lia Castillo won the high jump at 5-0, Sarah DeLaCerda won the 800-meter run in 2:23.03; and Aani Hardesty won the 400-meter dash in 59.16 seconds.

Lia Castillo was also fourth in the 400 in 1:07.23, and Hardesty was 3rd in the 100 in 12.77.

Other Lady Mean Moose placers included Brooke Gonzales who was second in the shot put at 32-5, Lily Heersink who was second in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles in 52.18, Autumn McQuitty who was second in the 1,600 in 5:42.34, Whitney Thong who was third in the 400 in 1:05.62, Miquela Abeta who was fourth in the long jump at 14-7 ¾, Kaidence Boehm who was fourth in the shot put at 30-1 and seventh in the discus at 82-11, Madeline Castillo who was fifth in the 1,600 in 5:50.49, Elizabeth McQuitty who was seventh in the 1,600, 5:53.01, and Avery Mobbley who was eighth in the 200 in 28.96.

The Alamosa girls also placed in three relays including a win in the 4x800 in 10:12.10. They were also third in the 4x100 in 54.26, and ninth in the 4x200 in 2:09.92.

Six Mean Moose boys athletes finished in the Top 10 in their events and they were led by Jaxon Morgan who was second in the pole vault at 12-0, and Jesse Maestas who was third in the same event at 11-0.

Also placing for the Alamosa boys were Santiago Trujillo who was third in the 400-meter dash in 54.51 seconds, Isaac Higareda who was fourth in the 1600 in 4:44.87, Mike Trujillo who wan ninth in the shot put at 38-0, and Mario Villalba who was ninth in the 1,600 in 4:50.92.

The Alamosa boys also placed in two relays. They were fifth in the 4x800 in 9:22.32, and seventh in the 4x100 in 47.22.

Alamosa will return to Pueblo on Saturday for the Larry Pickering Invitational.

Three SLV schools open track seasons at CSU Pueblo

Three schools from the San Luis Valley opened their track and field seasons at the Colorado State University Pueblo Early Bird Meet last Saturday at the CSU Pueblo Thunderbowl.

Center opened its season at CSU Pueblo and it had one athlete place in the Top 10. Cael Ruggles placed eighth in the discus at 106-6.

Three Monte Vista athletes placed. For the boys, Damian Lopez was eighth in the 200-meter dash in 24.40 seconds and 10th in the 100 in 11.64. Jack Noonan was ninth in the triple jump at 35-5.

The Pirates were ninth in the 4x400-meter relay in 4:22.61.

For the Lady Pirates, Syriah Bernal was fifth in the high jump at 4-6, and Nayeli Murrieta was sixth in the triple jump at 29-8 ½.

Moffat also opened its season at Pueblo but had no Top 10 placers.

Several local schools are scheduled to participate in the Bayfield Invitational today, weather permitting.