Focus on yourself that's all you can focus on. There were a lot of distractions for Jullian Coronado Clark this season. In addition to the typical senior distractions like prom and the disease that most 18 year olds come down with, senior-itus, he had to deal with false starts, more press than he had ever gotten previously and not knowing who was going to run at state in other divisions that might clock a faster time. Despite the distractions that were there going into state Jullian learned he had to stay focused on the task at hand.
“I wasn't really upset with my prelim time, I went sub 11 and you can't really get mad about the #1 seed overall. Coming into finals, I was really focused on what had to be done, the main focus was getting a good reacting and coming out of the blocks hard and trust my top end speed to take care of the rest," recounted the Copper Canyon speedster. Once the gun went off in the finals he had another distraction. DJ Hinton is a fast starter a very fast starter. Jullian recalls being scared but not panicking. He had not lost a 100m dash all season and did not want to lose one come state. “I stayed composed, didn't break form and sure enough I made my way into the front and started to pull away. When I finished, I believed that I probably ran another 10.7 and maybe a high 10.6 but when I turned my back to the clock the crowd started cheering and when I looked back the clock said 10.56 and I couldn't believe it."
Jullian had done it. He had run the fastest time in the state of Arizona this season. The press he received had been well deserved, and this is why he was selected as the division 2 athlete of the year.
Honorable Mention:
Alex Poe: The senior contributed to the Wolverine team victory not only by scoring in the 400m, 200m and 4x100, but through invaluable leadership as a team captain.
Simon Paige: He brought his broom to the state meet. Winning all three distance races is a rare and impressive feat.