Hohokam Meet Recap-Arizona Athletes Embrace The Wind
As the season winds down in the final weeks, athletes remain eager to extend their marks or shorten their times. Though the Annual Hohokam Invitational always assembles a highly competitive field at
Westwood High School in Mesa, the non-stop gust of an April wind made things very difficult for Arizona athletes this weekend. Here's the rundown of what went down at the Hohokam Invitational in Mesa, Arizona.
Throws
Beginning with the throws, Alexis Jones (Queen Creek, Sr.) claimed the victory in the Girls Shot Put with a new PR of 44-7.5. Alaina Diggs (Millennium, Jr.) took 2nd with a PR of and Samantha Ponds (Chandler, Sr.) took 3rd with a mark of despite being sick earlier in the week. Desert Vista dominated the guys contests with Marcos Figueroa (Sr.) taking 1st in the Discus and Deshon Toney (Sr.) and winning the Shot Put. Their top girl Jaztyne Griffin (Sr.) also won the Girls Discus with a toss of 135-10. That afternoon, Carlan Naisant won the Boys' Javelin with a mark of 201-11, just over 2 feet away from his PR and State record. Keiley Sharp (Kofa, Jr.) won the girls' competition with a mark of 138-04 to tie for AZ #1.
Jumps
Makel Hubbard (
Higley, Sr.) won the Boys' High Jump and Triple Jump contests with PRs of 6-8 and 43-5.75, while
Cierra Tidwell (
Highland, Jr.) matched her High Jump PR tof 5-6 to win the girls' contest in 5-6.
Kenashalee Kerr (Queen Creek, Jr.) jumped 37-04 to win the Girls Triple Jump competition in windy conditions over
Chandler's
Jai Gruenwald (Sr.) and
Diamond Black (Sr.). After winning the Boys' 110m Hurdles,
Johnie Talamantes (
Red Mountain, Sr.) won the Long Jump competition by over a foot.
Jillian Lombardi (Desert Vista, Sr.) won the girls' contest with a season best mark of 18-4, her first over 18 feet this season. Though conditions were less than optimal for the pole vault, AZ #1
Sevanna Hanson (Desert Vista, Jr.) was still able to win with a mark of 12'. On the other hand,
Tyson Smith (
Mesa Mountain View, So.) represented Mesa well with a vault of 14-03 to win the boys' competition.
Hurdles
Myreanna Bebe (
Queen Creek, Jr.) flew through the Girls' High Hurdles in 13.98 seconds with some help from the wind. The guys race was presented instead with a cross wind, through which Mesa's top hurdlers Johnie Talamantes (Red Mountain) and
James Smith Jr. (
Westwood, Sr.) pushed each other to sub-14 second performances with Talamantes holding on for the gold in 13.88 over Smith in 13.95. Later that night, Smith returned to crush the intermediates in 36.69 for a new meet record in front of a home crowd!
Sarah Marske (Mesa Mountain View, Jr.) won the Low Hurdles competition in 44.78. Her teammate
Kennady Davis finished 3rd just a second later, while
Karen Rivas (
Kofa, Jr.) squeaked by to take silver in 45.27.
Sprints
Distance
In the Girls 1600m, Haley Wolf (Chandler, Sr.) led teammates Morgan Foster (Jr.) and Becca Taylor (Jr.) through the first three laps. Morgan challenged Haley over the final lap and pulled through in 5:03.88 for her first 1600 of the season, while Wolf finished 2nd in 5:06.10 and Taylor finished 3rd in 5:09.34. On the guys side, Drew Burns (Brophy, Sr.) took control of a tight pack of elite boys with a lap and a half to go but was unable to shake off Braden Rasmussen (Mesa Mountain View, Sr.). As they kicked down the home stretch, Rasmussen barely got the edge over Burns in 4:23.57 to 4:23.58 with Anekin Hetman (Brophy, Jr.) taking 3rd in 4:27.76.
That evening in the Girls 3200m, Chaparral freshman Sarah Turner held an indomitable lead to clinch the title in 11:17.25. Desert Vista Seniors Nick Thatcher and Bryce Schmisseur pulled away from the field to finish 2st and 2nd in 9:43.14 to 9:46.33 while Michael Jaso (Kofa, Sr.) placed 3rd in 9:49.51.
Relays
Caroline McLeskey (So.) anchored the Highland Hawks 4x8 squad to a win by 13 seconds. Then in the Boys race,
Noah Creighton (Sr.) held off
Leo Daschbach (Highland, So.) to anchor Hamilton to a victory over the Highland Hawks. Later the
Mountain Pointe 4x100m Relay team beat the
Maricopa Rams in 42.26 to 46.62, while the
South Mountain Lady Jaguars secured the victory in the girls' race over Queen Creek by .06 seconds. The Watermelon Relay 4x100m Relay competition lightened things up a bit before concluding with the 4x400s. Desert Vista won the contest in just 53 seconds with three javelin throwers. Highland overtook
Xavier to win the Girls 4x4 in 4:05.03 to 4:06.21. Finally, after winning the Boys 400-meter dash, Desert Vista Senior
Gabe Deutsch anchored the Thunder's 4x400m Relay team to victory in 3:22.63 over the Hamilton Huskies who finished in 3:25.79.
It was the final nail in the coffin for the Desert Vista boys to claim the team title with 115 points, while the Chandler girls went home with the team title with 100 points.
