Camp Verde High School’s track and field team has had a solid start to its season, most recently competing at the Red Rock Multi-Meet at Sedona Red Rock High School on Tuesday, March 20.
Aside from dropping time or getting personal bests, Cowboys head coach Mike O’Callaghan was most satisfied with the way his athletes actually ran their races.
“What was nice to see tonight was they raced well. They competed well in the sense of not only doing well, but also in how they raced. There’s that aspect of running, too,” O’Callaghan said. “Not just, ‘Well yeah he ran fast or she ran fast,’ but they competed well, they raced well, they raced smart. There were several kids that definitely took big strides in doing that tonight, and that’s always a nice thing to see. Because it’s a big step in any improvement you’re going to make is knowing how to race, and so we had a couple of them tonight you could see that with.”
Official results for the meet, which was not a state-qualifying meet, were not available at press time.
A couple of examples of well-run races were by junior Joseph Jones, who turned in a third-place finish in the 1,600-meter run, and junior Eliana Paniagua in the 800-meter run.
“I felt pretty good, except after the second lap I felt a little dehydrated, and that definitely hit me, and so I slowed down the third lap,” Jones said, who added he wants to get below 4:50 in the race. “But the fourth one I sped it up, got third place like my sticker said. I felt pretty good, but I feel like I could’ve done better.”
Cowboys junior Christopher Holdgrafer won the 110-meter high hurdles in 16.13 seconds. Holdgrafer also competed in the triple jump.
O’Callaghan was happy about his team’s middle- and long-distance running group.
“They did pretty well. The guys in the mile did well, the 800s, the freshmen/sophomore guys in the 800 had nice races,” O’Callaghan said. “They’re pretty new in it, but you can see improvement, and that’s what you’re hoping for as the season goes on — you can see the improvement, they can see the improvment — and that’s always important is they’re making those strides forward.”
Cowboys senior Matthew Wade, a returning state qualifier in the throws, thought he could have done better in the discus, O’Callaghan said.
“He said, ‘It wasn’t my best outing,’” O’Callaghan said. “He’s disappointed but feels like he didn’t waste an opportunity to qualify for state …. If it’s going to happen, better it happens at a meet where going to state doesn’t hang in the balance.”
The team next competes at the Toro Invitational at 4 p.m. Thursday, March 29, at Moutain View High School in Mesa.
