The Camp Verde High School track and field team had a number of athletes make qualifying standards for the 2017 Arizona Interscholastic Association Division IV state meet at the Friendship Invitational, its third meet of the season, on March 22.
Many of the Cowboys athletes are underclassmen, which forced them to compete in the frosh/soph division, but a lot of their results would have placed highly in the varsity group of the competition, held at Sedona Red Rock High School.
“Overall I’m pleased, the kids are performing well,” Camp Verde head coach Mike O’Callaghan said. “A number of them started or were better than at the end of last season, so we keep moving forward.”
Junior Nate Schultz, who now owns two automatic and two provisional qualifying standards, made off with four medals in four events on the day.
Schultz took gold in the 300-meter hurdles in 45.45 seconds, and also in the triple jump with a leap of 41-01.75. He won silver in the long jump with a 19-08.25 jump and in the 4×800-meter relay along with sophomores Brandon Cruz, Ephraim Navarro and Joseph Jones.
“Going into it, I was pretty confident,” Schultz said of the long jump.
Jones was one of the standout sophomores for Camp Verde. He finished first in the 1,600-meter race in 5:11.67, good for ninth in varsity, and second in the 800-meter race in 2:15.75, sixth at the next level. Cruz took fourth in the 1,600 and seventh in the 800 while Navarro was 11th and 13th, respectively.
“During spring break I went to every practice, I didn’t take one day off,” Jones said. “I think that really benefited my running.”
Sophomore Daniel Carley was fourth in the 100-meter dash at 12.67, fifth-best in varsity. He was sixth in the 400-meter dash at 1:04.19.
Tenth-grader Chris Holdgrafer won the frosh/soph 110-meter hurdles in 17.14 seconds, good for gold on varsity, too, and is close to a state automatic time. He took second in the triple jump at 36-02.75, a provisional distance, and tied for 10th in the high jump with fellow Cowboy Nick Stone.
On the throwing side, junior Matthew Wade was ninth-best in the shot put at 35-08.25 and seventh in the discus at 111-04.50. Sophomore Damian Wathogoma took sixth in the shot put at 32-07.50 and third in discus at 99-02.
Senior Alana Neary was a top performer on the girls side for Camp Verde. Neary finished third in the 100-meter hurdles at 18.53.
She clocked in at 52.62 to finish fourth in the 300 hurdles, and tied for sixth in the triple jump; her 300 hurdles time is a provisional mark. Junior Bryanna Truett was fifth in the 100 hurdles, eighth in the 300 hurdles, fifth in the high jump and fourth in the triple jump, all personal bests and provisional standards.
The 4×800 relay team of sophomores Eliana Paniagua, Edith Paniagua, Chaeli Hoehn and freshman Valeria Pasos-Cruz took third. Hoehn won the frosh/soph triple jump with a jump of 29-10, a provisional standard, and sixth in varsity.
Senior Shayla Campbell-Kilburn was sixth in the shot put at 28-09.50 and second in the discus at 97-06, provisional and automatic standards, respectively, and personal bests. Fellow 12th-grader Elsa Davison was 10th in the shot put and discus.
Freshmen Elizabeth Crofutt and Destiny Dowdle were eighth and 16th, respectively, in frosh/soph shot put. Dowdle was fifth in the discus and Crofutt eighth.
Edith Paniagua took seventh and eighth in the 100 and 400, respectively, in frosh/soph. Sister Eliana was third in the 800 and fourth in the 1,600. Her 800 time would have been fifth place in varsity.
“I feel like I’ve pushed it pretty hard and definitely found my pace better,” Eliana Paniagua said. “My coaches are definitely working me harder because they know my goals are higher.”
The team competed at the Arizona Lutheran Academy Invitational on Tuesday, March 28, but results were unavailable at press time. It next competes in the Red Rock Invitational on Saturday, April 1, at SRRHS.
