Luke Zuluagoa breaks away in the 400m dash. Arizona Milesplit Photo.
The division 3 state race was held in conjunction with other divisions state at at Mesa Community College on May 9th. It was a relatively cool day for May in Phoenix and potentially no group of athletes benefited more than distance runners from Rio Rico High School.
Having already set a state record in the mile on Friday Carlos Villarreal was the anchor for the Hawks 4x800m team. Coming into the state meet they had been ranked 2nd to Snowflake. The race did not disappoint. Snowflake got out to an early lead. When Carlos got the baton he was already 20m-25m behind Jordan Gardner of Snowflake. Seeing as how Jordan Gardner is a nationally ranked 800m runner one might have erroneously thought the race was over. This was not the case. Clocking a 1:50 and change hand timed split (multiple watches had that time), Carlos steadily reeled in Jordan. Breaking the tape in 8:03 he assured himself his third gold medal of the meet. To put that split in some perspective, if he had done that in an open 800m he would be one of the fastest few 800m runners in the country.
Carlos was not the only Rio Rico harrier to benefit from the cool weather. Coach Steve Schadler's daughter, Allie, put together one of the most impressive performances of the meet in the 1600m. While Carlos had Jeffery Miller of Page to push him the 1600m, Allie had to chase the state record solo. While she fell just shy of Dani Jones' 4:44 (Allie ran 4:45) record, one could not help but be impressed by the resolve she displayed. In fact, she ran negative splits. Had she benefited from the elite competition Dani Jones enjoyed when she set the record it is liekly that Allie could have run 4:44 or faster. Megan Geottle from Mingus Union ran a distant second in 5:11 and Sierra Jarriel of Fountain Hills finished thurd in 5:12.
Both of the Rio Rico harriers anchored their 4x400m relay teams. Allie got the baton in 7th and clawed her way up to a third place finish behind Sahuarita and Fountain Hills. Carlos, on the other hand, showed he was in fact human. In the closing meters of the race, first year track phenom Luke Zuluaga was able to sneak his way past Carlos to win it for Sentinels. Earlier in the day Luke had also defeated Robert Bybee of Buckeye Union and Trevor Clawson of Payson in the open 400m.
For not having a track to practice on consistently Seton Catholic acquitted themselves very well. One event that would be very difficult to practice without a track are the hurdles. Despite the challenges posed by her circumstance, Lauren Shapiro was able to snag points in both of the hurdle races. In the 100H she was second behind Kaitlyn Wayne of Monument Valley HS. In the third position was Kaija Bramwell of American Leadership.
In addition to the hurdles, Kaija won the pole vault by over 2.5' with a leap of 12-07. The boys pole vault was a much closer competition with Cody McBride, Thomas Lofton and Jakob Carter all coming within six inches of each other. In the end Coby McBride prevailed with a vault of 13-06.
Another senior who prevailed was Duece Muldrow of Coolidge HS. After missing the state track meet last year he was able to return and win the 100m dash in a blistering time of 10.89 into a slight headwind. This is an impressive time that would have made him competitive in the larger school divisions as well.
Speaking of being competitive with the larger school's, Michael Williams from Shadow Ridge HS has been competitive against big school competition all year long. In fact his 6-10 leap at the Hokoham Invitational is tied for the best in the state this season. His experience showed off this weekend. He was able to defeat Giancarlo Narvarte (Lee Williams HS) and Dillan Kay (Snowflake) with a leap of 6-08. Yet another D3 athlete that hoped to be competitive with the marks from division 1 and 2 was Sydney Olson (Snowflake), but due to a hamstring tear she was not able to compete in the state meet.
The absence of Sydney Olson left the triple jump wide open in the division 3 girls. Four athletes were all within a little over a foot of each other, but when the dust settled it was Leah Carillo from Fount Hills who prevailed. Elizabeth Holter (Seton Catholic), Taylor Godfrey (Estrella Foothills) and Sydney's teammate Kadi Johnson followed.
When all was said and done the Snowflake boys Show Low girls took the team titles. Results are up on Arizona Milesplit, pictures are in the process of coming up, and stay tuned for post season meet coverage!