The Liberty boys relays showed up at the Sun Angel Classic. Arizona Milesplit Photo.
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I was talking to a well-known coach before the start of the Saturday session of the Sun Angel Classic. Even though his team is among the best in the state he chose to run his horses at the Sun Angel meet because unless you are the best of the best you can find good competition in Arizona. Not to mention, it's a tremendous cost savings.
One individual that benefitted from the local competition was Tavian Patrick of Desert Ridge High School. Clocking a 10.88 for second place, puts him in the top 10 athletes in the state. Possibly the most impressive part about his performance is that he is in his first year of track. “I just like to compete," he explained with a smile. Compete he did as the winner, Julian Clark, looked across at him when they crossed they crossed the tape. “I saw him in my peripheral the entire race," Julian explained, “I just knew I had to stay composed, trust my top end speed and excel to my form." Winning the 100m was not all the night had in store for Julian.
Completing the sprinting double, Jullian walked away from the 200m with another gold medal. After edging out Marcus Park of Centennial and Jake Schuiteboer of Liberty in the 200m, he stated with a grin, “Winning never gets old." Of the two short sprints Julian prefers to the 200m since he “can almost sprint the whole thing." I think 99.99% of the population wishes a 21.64 was “almost sprinting." Due to his natural endurance he sees a future in longer races admitting, “I am more of a quarter miler." He should get the chance to run more of those throughout the remainder of the season as his coach, Mario Jimmerson, indicated the plan is to race Julian in the 100m, 200m and 400m at state.
Even though Jullian was able to edge Jake Schuiteboer in the 200m, Jake still walked away from the meet with a gold medal. In the boys 4x100m the Liberty quartet was able to take down state leading Desert Vista, despite being down two runners from their normal squad. “We came out, worked all week and did what we do best," stated Jake. Teammate Brock Murphy expounded by saying, “This wasn't what we had intended to have coming into the meet, but we got a few exchanges in and went for it." It worked for them, as they passed circled the baton around the track faster than any other high school team this weekend. Look out for them once they get their A-team back up and running.
Another Liberty relay team with their eyes on the state meet is the 4x800 squad. After an intense battle to hold off McClintock High School, anchor leg Abdi Aeden recounted that," I just wanted wanted to stay behind him most of the way and then I wanted to find time to pass him at the end." Clocking the fastest time in the state to date the crew seemed upbeat though winded, as one might expect, afterwards. “I was pleased, because it was a qualifying time," explained Abdi. While the quartet was happy they know there is still work to be done. Their goals are much bigger than just qualifying for state, “We want to beat the school record, get college scholarship and win the state meet," expounded Abdi. Winning state and earning scholarship money are a tall order, but something that is attainable with hard work.
Being able to think ahead towards college and beyond is a very mature thing to do for a high school athlete. Not every teenager has that ability. However, Highland High School's Daniel Egbo is another athlete that does. Missing his prom to run the 400m he cited the role of his parents in his life. “My parents and thinking about my future is really why I did it," he explained, “I just wanted to go out there and make my parents proud." Hopefully his parents are proud of his 48.88 400m. Currently, this puts him 4th in the state. His coach, Dave Montgomery was proud of him. Though for Coach Monty it wouldn't be much of a choice, “let me tell you, given a choice between a dance and running in front of 4000 plus people, I know what I would choose!" The huge crowd at the Sun Angel classic is certainly unique in the world of high school track and field and it has the ability to help pull athletes to great time.
The crowd was certainly a factor in the guy's mile, as several members of the field were pulled to personal and season best times. Desert Vista's DJ Harris won the race in 4:21, but Wesley Gray (Mountain Ridge), Zach Harrach (Highland) and Nic Caruso (Liberty) were all able to dip under 4:24. Another season best was set by William Winfield in the 110H at 14.35. Not only was his time a season best but it was a meet record for the Sun Angel Classic.
A few short heats after William's world record holder and Olympic gold medalist Aries Merritt torched the track. After words he told the throng of reporters that, “the best is yet to come." This is probably not only true for him, but for many of the high schoolers running at Sun Angels this weekend, so stayed tuned to Arizona Milesplit to find out the latest as it happens.
Results from this meet and previous meets can be found on az.milesplit.com, each athletes also has their own profile. Claim your athlete profileand you will be able to see historic results. Shoot, if you want you can even edit your athlete profile to make it look spiffy.