Saturday the top Freshmen Track and Field Athletes met at Desert Vista to show what they could accomplish without their older teammates. It was their time to shine and shine they did. The well run meet had a running clock on the football stadium marquee. The clock stopped when the first place runner crossed the finish line and Ron Smith, the announcer, continued to read off the times for every other runner as they finished the race. The clock and the announcer kept the packed stadium involved in the meet as the crowd was asked to cheer on the runners as they tried to break freshman records. Kristina Vanderhout, from Xavier Prep, was one of those runners. With a perfect cloud cover morning Vanderhout set out in the mile at a very quick pace and by the 800 mark it was clear she was on course to break the mile record set by Haley Paul in 2001. Her time of 5:07.97 was 13 seconds faster than the second place finisher. By the time Kristina Vanderhout was finished with her day she also broke the Freshman Showcase 800 time by clocking in at 2:21.59 two seconds ahead of Yasmine Yacut from Desert Vista. Her two record breaking times earned her the title of Athlete of The Meet.
Vanderhout was not the only one to walk away with double wins. Promise Amukamara (Apollo) won both the 100 and 200m dash by the slimmest of margins. In the 100 Amukamara won the 100 (12.46) as Hannah Carson (Dobson) came in second in (12.64). In the 200 Destiny Lundy (Hamilton) came in 2nd in 25.98 to Amukamara's 25.49.
Talia Jones (Desert Ridge) also set some great times in the 100 and 200m hurdles. In the girls 100m hurdles she be
at out Alex Haun (Corona del Sol) 17.01 to 17.30 and clocked a 49.04 in the 300.
One of them most enjoyable events to watch was the girls high jump as Mackenzie Neumaryr (Desert Vista) and Lauren Milovich (Corona del Sol) matched each other jump for jump. In between jumps Milovich ran over to the triple jump pit to jump against Mackenzie's twin sister Megan who ended up winning the event, jumping 32.09.50. Mackenzie won the high jump, jumping 5-00.00 with Lauren coming in second at 4-11.00.
Kylee Kieser from Casa Grande was another standout as she set an easy comfortable pace in the 3200 winning it in 11
:43.44.
On the boys side Tanner Young from Gilbert won the Long Jump in 19-10.00 and the Triple Jump in 40-02.50 while Jabril Gipson from McClintock threw the Shot Put 45-05.00 and the discuss in 124-08, 8 ft longer than the second place thrower.
In the 1600 meter race Will Firth (Brophy Prep) edged out Jorge Martinez (Alhambra) at the finish line 4:35.46 to 4:36.44 only to switch places in the 3200. Martinez won the 3200 comfortably over Firth.
Other meet highlights:
Brophy Prep 800 runner Tyler Sciotto ran a great 800 race in a time of 2:07.15.
Xavier College Prep.(Bianca Lewis, Alix Miller, Christian Andreen and Brittney Palencia) won the 4 x 100 beating out Hamilton (Brianna Ghosh, Destiny Lundy, Melody Ware and Paige Dixon) 51.74 to 51.92.
Desert Vista girls (Yasmine Yacut, Megan Neumayr, Sydnee Freeman and Sam Goodall) were first over the finish line in the 4 x 400 in a time of 4:02.56 while Cactus Shadows (Beau Bremer, Shan England, Kelsey Stephens and Lauren Lazo) handily won the 4 x 800 in 10:12.75.
Kaiitln Silcox from Mountain Ridge cleared the Pole Vault for the girls in 9-09.00 and Trey Richardson (Chandler) vaulted to first place in 11-06.00.
In the 110 meter hurdles, Nick Seifker (Corona del Sol) finished in 15.44 with Michael Ingrassia (Desert Vista) a close second (15.96). Michael following in his older brother Chris's footsteps won the 300 meter hurdles in 40.43, 3 seconds ahead of second place.
Corona del Sol boys won both the 4 x 100 meter relay (Matt Wattel, Stephen Shieh, Matt Hayhurst and Andrew Jimenez) and the 4 x 400 relay (Michael Seale, Conrad Laboy, Shay Connors and Andrew Jimenez)
The team of Raymond D'Tatavio, Ryan Foley, Matt Schulter and Eriberto Martinez took the 4 x 800 in 9:00.57 for Hamilton.
Desert Vista won both the boys and the girls team titles.