2024 rifle distance results

Meet day started with excitement, but that couldn't match what was displayed on the track. After the Thursday snow day, we were already a bit behind on planning and coordination. Then the big school bus broke down just west of Avon. Fortunately, I was driving a mini bus just behind, saw the coolant spewing out of the back of the bus and alerted the bus driver. We both pulled over and quickly decided to transload athletes in the early relays onto the small bus. Quick coordination had parents on their way stop, or turn back, to pick up other athletes. In the end, just 10 remained when a new bus was delivered. Everyone made it to their events on time.

The athletes responded with aplomb and went about their day, and we soon started seeing wonderful results.

On the distance side, we designated Rifle as a "workout meet", meaning most runners would compete 3 or even 4 times. Thus, the 4x800s were "warm up" races done at 90%, or perhaps a bit less, to save legs for individual events. That's were things really started sparking.

Ella won the 1600 in what is most likely a SQ (State Qualification) time, that also put her second on the SHS Junior 1600 list. Avery entered the Junior list in sixth, followed by Ashley in a time that puts her 14th on the All Time list, Adaline made her 2024 1600 debut in a time putting her 8th on the Senior list and Claire in her first race of the season ran the 14th fastest Sophomore time.

On the boys side, Jay had a mission. He was told before the meet that in order to qualify for the Arcadia Invitational in California, he likely needed to run about 10" faster than his win at Columbine last week. I love distance runners. Tell them what they need to accomplish to achieve a goal and they set about doing it. Mission accomplished. Jay ran boldly, immediately opening a gap and held it to the finish for the win and a 10" PR. His time will place him as one of the top Freshman when all of the results from this week are posted. The time moves Jay up to 4th on the SHS All Time list and fastest Freshman. 

Two Freshman ran their first high school 1600s. Owen and Lukas ran the 19th and 20th All Time SHS marks and 9th and 11th Freshman marks. Cain was just behind in his 1600 season debut and ran the 7th fastest Sophomore time.

Next up was the 800 and the sparks continued to fly. Ella gapped the field immediately for the win, missing the meet record by just 0.22 seconds in what is most likely a SQ time. Darby ran 4" faster than Columbine for a 14" improvement over two meets and moved up to 18th on the All Time list. Lila PR'd by 9" at Columbine and did it again at Rifle. 18" improvement over last year in her first two meets of the season. Cora, in her first track meet, ran the 10th fastest Senior time ever.

Josh wasn't going to let the girls grab all the limelight, and ran incredibly aggressively, also gapping the field immediately. He rather incredibly held the pace and won in a huge 7" PR. Josh's best time last year was already the 5th fastest SHS time ever. Improving by 7" in the first race of the season is remarkable. It moves him up to 3rd on the All Time list. It is a solid State Qualifying time.

John also continues to show remarkable progress, running his first high school 800 in a time that places him 18th fastest All Time and 4th Freshman. 

We are waiting for official times in the 3200, as there was a timing system malfunction. My hand times have Avery's strong second place a huge 70" improvement over her last 3200 as a Freshman. The mark puts her 8th All Time. Lily and Ashley ran together the whole race in their first high school 3200s. Great pacing resulted in 9th and 10th SHS All Time performances and 4th and 5th Freshman marks. Adaline improved by 7" over last week and was within 3" of her PR from last year.

Josh's 800 was a huge effort, and from his reactions I'm pretty sure it was the hardest he has ever pushed. So it was a statement of courage to come back for the 3200 a couple of hours later. He paced Dylan Blair from Eagle Valley at 4:50 pace for backing off for a workman 10:27. Cain was 2" slower than Columbine, but he did it with a 4x800 and 1600 in his legs. Owen similarly started the 3200 with 2400 meters of racing already done for the day and took a second off his Columbine time. Victor ran his first SHS individual race with the enthusiasm we have already seen is his M.O. and it placed him 15th on the Sophomore list.

The 4x400s were at least the third race for all the distance runners. The sprinter 4x400s scratched, but the distance runners stepped back up to continue a very solid workday.

A stop at Culver's was well enjoyed by those on the mini bus. Cain defended his title and improved his PR to 5 Butterburgers. Seriously.

It was a long day, but with 4 or 5 runners in each event, it was also a very productive day and showed continued development towards a great season.

The girls won their first competitive meet in many years. (It could be ever. Don't know.) The distance TEAM scored 43 points, a solid third of the total. The boys tied for sixth, distance scoring 26 points - over half of the total. Only two races into the season and we are likely qualified for State in 3 events.

We made significant inroads on the SHS Top Times lists. Those can be seen here: Girls / Boys

Summit Daily Article: Summit track and field team remains committed to race plans after bus breaks down; girls team wins Rifle Invite

Myrth McDonald posted a bunch of great photos here. Dillon Benbow will soon and everyone is invited to post their photos. The upload folder will be the same all season. I'll move the photos into subfolders for each meet. Below are just a few.

2024 Rifle INVITATIONAL

WHEN:  Friday, March 15th, 2023

WHERE:  Rifle High School

TRANSPORTATION: Bus departs at 6:30.

RACE TIMES: Running Schedule, no set start times

9:30 AM - Running Events Start

800 Sprint Medley

4X800 Relay

100/110 High Hurdles

100 Meter Dash

4X200 Relay

1600 Meter Run

4X100 Relay

400 Meter Dash

300 Meter Hurdles

800 Meter Run

200 Meter Dash

3200 Meter Run

Throwers Relay (Coed - 2 girls and 2 guys)

4X400 Relay

4 individuals and 2 relays per school per event.

Live results will be here. 

The meet will be on a "Running" Schedule, meaning they will just go as quickly as possible from one event to the next instead of sticking to a prescribed schedule. 

My estimate of the start times for the events is below - IF the meet proceeds at a fairly normal pace.

Want to break a meet or track record? 

Here are the current distance marks.

Meet Records

Track Records

2023 Rifle DISTANCE RESULTS

Full MileSplit results here.

Summit Daily Article: Hard work leads to personal bests and podium finishes for the Summit track and field team in Rifle

The 2023 Rifle Invite started cold and calm, warmed up nicely and then got windy and cold. It concluded with a bit of drama as our bus driver was mandated to check into a hotel because his day was too long. We were almost left standing at the track. A big thanks to Coach Shroll from Eagle Valley! Coach Shroll volunteered to load up half of our team in his white mini-bus and drive us all the way to SHS! That's amazingly sacrificial. We owe him a lot. It's great to have good relations with the other mountain schools. And big thanks to our Athletic Director, Mr. Avery, who drove to the transportation center, checked out a mini-bus, and drove to Glenwood Springs to pick up the other half of the team. 

SHS did great as a team - the girls placed 4th and the boys 6th! The Distance runners contributed greatly to those points.

We again treated this meet as a workout day - a day to get some time in on spikes and run some faster times on a rubber track. And we again had several great performances for early season.

Dom ran a tactical 1600, launched his sprint at 300 meters out and was caught just before the line while knocking 13 seconds off his season best. He then came back to win the 800 in well-paced racing, leading most of the way. 

Ella won the 1600 in a new meet record and came back to win the 800 as well. Lauren made her high school track debut (delayed slightly by alpine season) with an excellent 2:33 in the 800 for 3rd place. Adaline fought off breathing issues for a new PR in the 1600. Claire and Darby made their debuts as well, contributing with fine legs in the 4x800 and 4x400.

Race Splits - a lot can be learned about pacing and effort by studying your race splits. 

Updated school records are here.

2023 team results

2023 Rifle INVITATIONAL

WHEN:  Friday, March 17th 2023

WHERE:  Rifle High School

TRANSPORTATION: Bus departs at 6:00, show time is 5:45

RACE TIMES: Running Schedule, no set start times

9:30 AM - Running Events Start

800 Sprint Medley

4X800 Relay

100/110 High Hurdles

100 Meter Dash

4X200 Relay

1600 Meter Run

4X100 Relay

400 Meter Dash

300 Meter Hurdles

800 Meter Run

200 Meter Dash

3200 Meter Run

Throwers Relay (Coed - 2 girls and 2 guys)

4X400 Relay

3 individuals and 2 relays per school per event.

2022 RIFLE DISTANCE RESULTS

Full results here.

Summit Daily Story - 2022/3/19: Summit track team shows no sign of rust at season opener in Rifle

 2022 Rifle INVITATIONAL

TEAMS ATTENDING:

Basalt High School

Battle Mountain High School

Caprock Academy High School

Central Grand Junction High School

DeBeque High School

Eagle Valley High School

Fruita Monument High School

Glenwood Springs High School

Grand Junction High School

Grand Valley High School

Little Snake River High School

Meeker High School

North Fork High School

Palisade High School

Plateau Valley High School

Rangely High School

Steamboat Springs High School

Summit High School

West Grand High School

Race entries

Partial entries are here: https://co.milesplit.com/meets/463957-rifle-high-school-invitational-2022/entries 

Entries won't be finalized until Thursday evening.

Virtual meet

Based on last year's times, so no Freshman, and not based on the actual entries.

Based on the best times last year from class of 2022, 2023 and 2024 runners. Not all of those runners will be entered in each event.