Summit School District’s spring break falls at a unique time in the spring sports season.

While other high school’s across Colorado are gearing up for the state competitions and the playoffs, sports programs at Summit High School are forced to hit pause for spring break.

The respite from the rigor of school and sports may allow several athletes to regain their focus for the final few weeks of the academic year, but for sports like track and field, valuable time may be lost.

With only a few more weeks until the state track and field meet in Lakewood from May 15-17, every weekend and opportunity matters when it comes to shoring up state qualifiers.

As is common during spring break, much of the Summit track and field team went out of the county or state on vacation, but a handful athletes chose to stay close to home for a spring break training camp.

While the group of athletes weren’t logging miles somewhere tropical, they still got the opportunity to enjoy some warmer weather, spending several days in the Grand Junction and Palisade area.

Hosted by Summit track and field distance coach Mike Hagen, a total of six athletes attended the first annual camp including senior Ella Hagen, senior Josh Shriver, junior Carter Niemkiewicz, junior Cain Steinweg, sophomore Jay McDonald and sophomore John McDonald.

Seeing sunny and warm weather, athletes completed several workouts and runs throughout the week. The distance runners even got the opportunity to complete a workout at Stocker Stadium in Grand Junction — the site of the Western Slope League meet from Friday, May 2, through Saturday, May 3.

After training on the Western Slope throughout the week, the group of athletes traveled to the Front Range city of Littleton for the 52nd annual Liberty Bell Invitational on Saturday, April 26. With just six athletes on the spring break trip, Summit did not take an entire team to the meet, but it still used the opportunity to run a couple of fast times.

Most notably, the McDonald twins, Niemkiewicz and Shriver managed to put together a strong 4×800-meter relay performance. Jay McDonald led off the relay with a time of 1 minute, 59.017 seconds before handing off the baton to his brother, John, for the second leg. John pushed hard throughout the relay, running 2:09.653. Niemkiewicz ran a similar time of 2:08.135 on the penultimate leg before handing the baton off to Shriver on the anchor leg. Shriver surged around the track, completing the relay in 2:01.587 for a combined time of 8:18.40.

Averaging around 2:04 per leg, Summit placed 11th overall among a stacked field of other boys 4×800-meter relay teams. The time is 3.38 seconds faster than last year’s state qualification cutoff time and will most likely be enough to make this year’s Class 4A state track and field meet. As of Saturday night, the Tigers ranked 11th overall in Class 4A.

Outside of the 4×800-meter relay team, Steinweg lined up in the boys 1600-meter run. After running 1:09.167 through the first lap of the race, Steinweg found his rhythm and started clicking off steady, even laps.

Closing in 1:15.145, Steinweg ran 4:55.72 for 35th overall. The time marks a personal best for the junior in the event, further backing the hard work that has been put in throughout the duration of the season.

The vast majority of the Summit track and field team will now prepare for the Western Slope League meet in Grand Junction on Friday, May 2, and Saturday, May 3. Routinely known for producing school-record times and league champions, Summit will go into the meet eager to square off against a myriad of other competitive teams.

After winning its first league title in program history last spring, the Summit girls come into the meet as one of the favorites to once again hoist the championship plaque. The boys meanwhile will try to improve upon its fourth-place finish from last year.