Yuma High School’s track and field teams finally are getting into the full swing of spring.
The teams finally opened the 2023 season last Saturday at the University Bulldog Invitational in Greeley. The athletes travel to Eaton on Saturday and are home Monday for the Yuma Bill Kalb Invitational.
There were 28 schools at University, and big fields are expected again for the upcoming meets.
The boys scored 51.7 points to finish fifth in their division, while the girls scored 36 for eight place.
“I was very happy with how everyone performed on Saturday,” head coach Lucas Lubbers said. “The coaches set some goals for our relays and most of them surpassed the goals we set, so pretty excited to see what we do the rest of the season.”
He noted the Yuma athletes will some some new competition at Eaton, “which is the goal for us, to try to expose our kids to as many different levels of competition as possible.”
As for the upcoming Yuma Bill Kalb Invite on Monday, Lubbers said anyone willing to volunteer to help run the meet would be greatly appreciated.
Last Saturday in Greeley, Daman Hernandez blazed around the track in 51.44 seconds to win the 400-meter dash, the boys’ only first place of the day.
Nash Richardson had a solid opening day. He placed fourth in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 16.91 seconds, was sixth in the 300-meter hurdles in 44.63 seconds, cleared 12-foot-6 for fourth in the pole vault, and placed seventh in the triple jump at 39-5.
Bridger Lynch also scored in the open races, placing eighth in the 300 hurdles in 45.34 seconds.
Yuma scored well in the field events. Alex Lozano long jumped 19-8 to place second. Edwin Munoz cleared 5-8 to place fifth in the high jump, and Kevin Orona was seventh at 5-5. Kevin Hermosillo was eighth in the discus with a distance of 127-5, and was ninth in the shot put at 42-3.5. Lynch cleared 11-6 for ninth in the pole vault.
More points came in the relays as Yuma’s boys placed in all four.
The 4-by-800 team of Orona, Jiovani Perez, Hernandez and Javier Duran placed fourth with a time of 9:15.89. The 4-by-100 foursome Lozano, Cristian Duarte, Jonathan Carrillo and Javier Duran was sixth in 45.18 seconds. Perez, Lynch, Duran and Hernandez placed sixth in the 4-by-400 with a time of 3:43.51. Finally, the 4-by-200 team of Lozano, Jack Blecha, Carrillo and Duarte was seventh in 1:36.03.
All of the girls’ points came in the relays as they won three and placed third in another.
The 4-by-400 foursome of Jayleen Loya, Ashley Ibanez, Carolina Ross and Lea Richardson was particularly dominant, taking first with a time of 4:20.18, 12 seconds faster than second-place Dayspring Christian Academy. The group won its heat by more than 20 seconds.
Another first came in the 4-by-100 as Jade Lungwitz, Richardson, Caddis Robinson and Loya blazed around the track in 51.75 seconds. 
The 4-by-200 team of Ross, Loya, Robinson and Richardson also took first place in 1:50.67.
The 800 Sprint Medley team of Loya, Robinson, Richardson and Ibanez placed third in 1:59.22.
