The end of the the 2018 track season for Fossil Ridge High School has arrived. Following the conference meet on Friday, May 4 and the “last chance” meet on Friday, May 11, only a handful of athletes have qualified for State.

Prior to the conference meet and the “last chance” meet, the coaching staff was hopeful the relay teams would be the successful component of the Fossil track team due to the abundance of talent, however, they were disappointed because only two qualified. The two relay teams that will compete at Jeffco Stadium on Thursday, May 17 for a state title are the boys 4x200m (Blair Durand, Donovan Murphee, Niles Tilley, and Tommy Dishman) and the girls 4x800m relay (Anya Tkachenko, Ellie Black, Allison Edwards, and Sydney Teslow).

Following the relay teams, six Sabercats will be competing in their individual events, two of which hold school records. Blake Hubert has been the star of Fossil’s track team this year, dominating the 1600m and the 3200m. Hubert holds the school record for both of these races, with a time of 4:22.15 in the 1600m and 9:35.43 in the 3200m. Blair Durand, new to track this year, has surprised his competition with his quickness and has lead him to a school record of 10.95 in the 100m dash. Hubert and Durand show promise for Fossil track at the state meet.

Along with the school record holders, Morgan Stewart, Olivia Rankin, Destiny Butler, and Luke Brannen have all qualified for state. Stewart will be competing in both shot put and discus throw. Her better event is the discus throw, placing second at the conference meet after throwing just 14-09.00  short of 2017 state champion Gabriella McDonald. Stewart also placed fourth in the shot put at conference with a distance of 39-04.00. Freshman star, Rankin will be competing in high jump for Fossil at the state meet after placing third at conference, clearing a height of 4-11.50.

Hurdlers, Butler and Brannen will be representing Fossil at the state meet. Both hope to improve their times from conference at state to bump their chances of placing in the top ten. Butler placed ninth in the 300m hurdles at conference and hopes to recover from an injury so she can perform at her best in this event at state. Brannen placed third in the 110m hurdles at conference, only one hundredth of a second behind the second place holder from Broomfield High School. The determination to beat Mitchell Gorman from Broomfield will hopefully push Brannen to a higher placing at state.

Wish these athletes luck as they prepare to compete in their last track meet of the season. The state meet will take place Thursday, May 17 through Saturday, May 19, if you need something to do and want to support the Sabercats, go show some Fossil pride at Jeffco Stadium.