It is time for the 2nd Annual Red Mountain Rampage and some of the best track teams around the State are prepared to pull off some elite performances. Smaller teams like Veritas Prep, Kofa and Florence will compete against some of the bigger names in D1 like Corona Del Sol, Mountain Pointe and of course the host, the Red Mountain Lions. Over the past three years Red Mountain has done an incredible job at gathering top tier teams to give quality performances in east Mesa.
To begin with the 4x800, Corona currently holds the leading time in the State at 8:11, although it will be interesting to see how they will fare against Perry Pumas who return with two legs from last year's meet record team.
(Photo by Alan Versaw)
In the Discus throw, Sebastian Coleman (Sr.) of Desert Ridge will square off against underclassmen Sam Too'Too (Jr.) of Skyline, Matt Pola Mao (So.) of Mountain Pointe and his own teammate, freshman Zachary Landa. Coleman holds a PR of 177' 9" for Disc and will easily be the favorite of the field, although any one of these challengers could have a breakout performance.
The Girls' Shot Put will likely come down to Kali Hathcock (Desert Ridge, Sr.) and Hannah White (Hamilton, Sr.) being the only two girls who have thrown over 37 feet. Kali reached her lifetime best mark of 38' 5" at Brophy AMDG two weeks ago, while Hannah tossed 37' 5.5" at Toro Relays earlier this month, and holds a PR of 38' 1".
In the 110 Hurdles, AZ #6 Johnie Talamantes (Jr.) will get things going for the home crowd. Talamantes opened his season three weeks ago at Aztec, running 14.93 in the High Hurdles taking 2nd place. Challenging him for victory on his home turf will be Koa Tuipala (So.) of Desert Ridge who ran 15.16 at Brophy AMDG, and Drew Elliot (Jr.) from Perry who ran a PR of 15.21, also at Aztec.
In the Distance races, Flagstaff Eagles will go up against a mix of Corona Del Sol and Highland's best. Flynn Fuhrman (Flagstaff, Jr.) is set to double in the 1600 and 800. Earlier this season, he opened his season with a PR of 4:38 at the Buckeye Lions Invitational and a 2:13 in the 800 as well. Also doubling in both events is Scott Sally of Dobson High, who recently ran 4:40 in the 1600 at the PUHSD Metro Relays.
In the Girls 800, Corona's Cybell Cozart, Riley Wright and Mackenzie Burgess are ready to roll out some times in the mid-low 2:20s. Hoping to break up the orange mid-distance machine, will be Jayla Valderas (Hamilton, Sr.) who ran 2:28 at Willie Williams last week, and Karen Rivas (Kofa, So.) who recently ran 2:25 at the Husky Invitational.
As always, best wishes to athletes and spectators attending the Red Mountain HS.