Primero Bulldogs earn top finishes at Pueblo track invitational

Kailain Sanford delivered the kind of result that can travel well beyond one invitational, placing second in the shot put at 45 feet, 8 inches and third in the discus at 124 feet, 1 inch as Primero returned from Pueblo with multiple top finishes at Dutch Clark Stadium.

The Primero Bulldogs competed April 3 at the John Tate Steel City Fast Track Invitational, a large regional meet hosted by Pueblo Centennial High School. For a small rural program from Primero Junior-Senior High School in Las Animas County, the trip into Pueblo offered a sharper measure of where the Bulldogs stand against bigger schools and deeper rosters, and Sanford answered with the team’s top individual effort in the throws.

Sanford’s shot put mark stood out most. The 45-8 effort topped his 2025 Colorado State Track & Field Championships performance, when he finished third in the shot put at 44-5.50, and it suggested the senior is carrying early-season form that can matter once district and regional qualifying windows tighten. His third-place discus throw of 124-1 added another points-level performance in a field event that has become a strength for Primero.

The rest of the Bulldogs also turned in a showing that the program could use as it heads toward the Banana Belt schedule and district competition. The meet served as an early-season test at a venue that regularly draws some of southern Colorado’s strongest track programs, and Primero’s results showed the team could compete in that larger setting rather than simply make the trip.

For a school system that serves only a few hundred students overall, those kinds of marks matter. Strong throws can change how a small program is viewed, especially when an athlete is producing measurable improvement against tougher competition. Sanford’s results gave Primero a head start on the postseason conversation and a benchmark for the weeks ahead.

Primero’s track program is coached by Mike Duran, and the Bulldogs’ performance in Pueblo gives him usable evidence as he shapes event assignments and training before the district meets. With Sanford already posting a second-place shot put and a third-place discus in a crowded invitational, Primero left Pueblo with proof that its athletes can score when the stakes rise.