Lake City Boys’, Girls’ Track Teams Repeat as State Champions

Despite team numbers which were significantly smaller than rival teams from much larger schools, Lake City Community School’s track teams emerged victorious from last weekend’s Colorado State Tournament.
Based on 76 cumulative points from all events, Lake City’s eight-member boys’ team ended the tournament as runners-up in second place. First place winners in 1A Division for schools with high schools 95 students or fewer was the 22-member boys’ team from Heritage Christian Academy in Fort Collins, Colorado, with 105 points.
Lake City fielded a four-member girls’ team which ended the tournament with 37 cumulative points, 8th Place overall among 1A schools in the state competition.
This year’s tournament was especially notable as the second year in which the Lake City boys’ track team was named state champions and the historic first year for an individual member of the team, Isaac Borchers in the 1600-meter, to take first place at state.
Last year, local track athletes also advanced to state tournament competition, boys ending the season 5th overall among 1A schools in Colorado with 40 points, while Lake City girls’ track team garnered 37 points from all state tournament events last year, ending the season 9th overall in Colorado.
This year’s State Tournament was held at JeffCo Stadium and abbreviated to a two-day event, Saturday, May 20, and Sunday, May 21, as the result of adverse weather which passed through the state earlier in the week.
Local track athletes at last weekend’s state tournament were joined by their coaches, Dan Scroggins, Martha Levine and Richard Moore, as well as a cheering squad of enthusiastic parents and well wishers.
Coach Moore says fine showings by both the girls’ and boys’ track teams represent a “huge success for everyone… this was a big win for the kids, the entire school and the Lake City community.”

For the second consecutive year, both Lake City girls’ and boys’ track teams ended the two-day State Tournament as first place winners in the four-person 800-meter relays.
The boys’ team completed the relay with an 8-minute, 39.06 finish time, and the girl’s first place finish time was 10-minutes, 49.40 seconds.
In addition to his fine showing as anchor running the fourth leg with Gabe Murphy, Chris Athey and Riley Moore in the 800-meter relay, local runner Isaac Borchers, a Junior at Lake City Community School, was also ranked as state champion in the boys’ 1600-meter race with a first place finish time of just four minutes, 44.52 seconds. Borchers also landed in 3rd Place in the boys’ 3200-meter.
Lake City Community School’s girls’ 800-meter relay team was composed of Jacee Lawrence, Miranda Hall, Mariah McClung and Megan Levine; Levine, a member of the local school’s victorious girls’ team as a Junior last year and during this, her Senior year at the school, also ended the State Tournament in second place in three solo events, one minute, 1.11-seconds in the girls’ 400-meter, two minutes, 24.41 seconds in the 800-meter, and five minutes, 36.81 seconds in the 1600-meter, each of which represented all-time personal records for Levine.
Lake City track team member Miranda Hall placed 6th in the girls’ 3200-meter run.
In addition to the three first place finishes, Riley Moore finished respectively 7th, 3rd and 4th in the boys’ 100, 200 and 400-meter runs; Gabe Murphy was ranked 4th in the 1600-meter, 7th in the 800-meter, and 5th in the 3200-meter; in the boys’ 200 and 400-meter four-person relay, Lake City teammates Ethan Wuest, Landon Whinnery, Johnny Nichols and Kolten Wonnacott placed 9th, with Wuest, Whinnery, Nichols and Chris Athey, 9th in the 400-meter.
Chris Athey competed in both the high jump and triple jump, and was awarded 4th in the former and 6th place in the latter.
Placement finish times for each of the Lake City track team members are boxed below left.
Coach Moore was asked to comment on specific attributes of the winning team members who competed in this year’s state tournament. He credits enthusiasm by school parent Carol Murphy, who aided the coaches, and girls’ team members Sophie Borchers and Kayla Chambers, who served as alternates at the tournament, administrative aide Hailey Hooper-Gray, and team assistants Autumn Baker, Meredith Ogden, and photographer Cara Chambers.
On the girls’ 4×800-meter relay, Moore noted that first-leg runner Jacee Lawrence, a Sophomore, is the “spark plug” who is “learning just how good she can be”; second-leg runner in the relay is Miranda Hall who, according to Moore, is primed to take over the leadership role in next year’s girls’ relay team.
Hall’s work ethic, he adds, “is second to none.”
Mariah McClung ran third-leg in the girls’ relay and is described by Coach Moore as the “emotional heart” of the team, “she works so hard to get it accomplished.”
Graduating Senior Megan Levine held the anchor position as fourth runner in the four-person relay and is credited by Moore for her leadership skills. He notes that Levine has been committed to running both cross-country and track in Lake City since 8th Grade and was initially apprehensive in advance of each meet. “Now,” he says, “she actually thrives on the competition.”
Levine has an “incredible work ethic,” according to Moore, which she now takes to Adams State University in Alamosa, one of the top running schools in the nation.
On the boys’ running team, Moore credited fine work by Johnny Nichols, Kolten Wonnacott, Landon Whinnery and Ethan Wuest in the 400 and 200-meter relays. “They gave their very best efforts and added much-needed points for the team’s ultimate top ranking.
Coach Moore also praised each member of the championship 800-meter relay team, noting that first-leg runner Gabe Murphy is in his Freshman year at the local high school and has “many, many championships ahead of him.”
According to Moore, Murphy “gives everything he’s got” as first runner to pass the baton to second-leg runner Chris Athey. He terms Athey a “tenacious” track competitor who “refuses to give anything but his very best from the moment he steps out onto the track… he’s a light switch and he can flip it.”
Third-leg runner in the boys’ relay is Riley Moore whose sprints, according to the coach, have developed into a “technical event.” He is described as a tenacious runner who “will chase down anyone in front of him.”
Moore says he has watched boys’ relay team anchor Isaac Borchers steadily hone and improve his athletic skills for five years, a constant being that Borchers “always strives for excellence.” Borchers has grown into his athleticism, according to the coach, and now knows his abilities while continuing to remain humble.
Borchers strives for improvement on a daily basis, Moore predicting that next year he’ll be one of the captains of a truly outstanding team.

Following is a list of Lake City track team members and the primary events in which they participated this past season: Mariah McClung – 800 m, 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles, and 4 x 800 meter relay; Megan Levine – 800 m, 1600 m, 400 m, 200 m, and 4 x 800 meter relay; Kayla Chambers – shot put, discus, 800 meters; Chris Athey – high jump, long jump, triple jump, 4 x 200 relay, 4 x 400 relay and 4 x 800 relay; Johnny Nichols – 300 hurdles, 800 m, 4 x 800 m, triple jump; Cara Chambers – photographer; Miranda Hall – 3200 m, 1600 m, 4 x 800 m; Autumn Baker, – long jump, 400 m, 4 x 100 relay, 800 medley relay; Jasper Roy – shot put, discus, 4 x 100 relay; Ethan Wuest – shot put, discus, 4 x 200 relay, 4 x 400 relay; Riley Moore – 100 m, 200 m, 400 m, 800 m , 4 x 200 relay, 4 x 400 relay, 4 x 800 relay, triple jump, long jump; Isaac Borchers – 800 m, 1600 m, 3200 m, 4 x 400 relay, 4 x 200 relay, 4 x 800 relay; Kolten Wonnacott – 300 hurdles, triple jump, 400 m, 200 m; Landon Whinnery – 300 hurdles, 400 m, 4 x 400 m, 4 x 200 m, 200 m; Skylar Wagner – manager; Sophie Borchers – long jump, triple jump, 4 x 800 relay, 4 x 400 relay, 800 medley relay; Paige Thompson – shot put, discus, 300 hurdles, 200 m, 100 m; Meredith Warren – long jump, 800 medley, shot put, 4 x 100 relay; Jacee Lawrence – triple jump, 800 m, 400 m, 4 x 800 m relay; Alec Boyce – manager; Hailey Hooper-Gray – photographer, manager; Kyleen Murphy – 1600 m, 800 m, 400 m, 4 x 100 m; Kamber Lawrence – long jump, 100 m,  200 m; Gabe Murphy – 3200 m, 1600 m, 800 m, high jump, triple jump, 4 x 400 relay, 4 x 200 relay,  4 x 800 relay; Adrian Ruiz – shot put, discus, 4 x 200 relay, 200 m.