Since the season began in March, Verde Valley athletes have been training to improve their times and distances to qualify for state and put up their best performances once there. From Thursday, May 13 to Saturday, May 15, they had the chance to showcase their progress.
Camp Verde’s athletes were at Perry High School in Gilbert for the Division IV State Championship Meet, while the Mingus athletes were in Phoenix at Desert Vista High School for the Division III State Championship Meet.
Camp Verde’s top performer at state was senior Ashlee Bueler, whose distance in the girls discus throw [101-4] earned her a state championship. The previous weekend, Bueler finished tenth in the state championship for javelin [83-10].
Other high finishers included senior Noah Zimmerman, who was sixth in the boys triple jump [43-1] and ninth in the long jump [20-1]. His teammate, fellow senior Mason Rayburn, was 13th in the long jump [19-6.75]. Also competing in her final high school track and field meet was senior Espi Perez, who was fifth in the girls 100-meter hurdle race [17.62].
Other Camp Verde seniors at state included Caira Poseyesva, who was 10th in the girls discus [88-6] and 23rd in the girls shot put [25-2], Lily Smejkal, who was 15th in the girls long jump [14-10] and Jena Nelson, who was 20th in the girls high jump [4-2].
Junior Jacob Oothoudt, meanwhile, was eighth in the boys discus [119-6] and 16th in the shot put [38-1.5]. After finishing second in the boys javelin the prior weekend [145-4], fellow junior Kayden Boggess was 15th in the shot put [38-9]. Junior Corey Johnson was 18th in the boys discus [102-6], junior Matt Loza was 24th in the boys triple jump [33-8.75] and sophomore Erica Ritzenthaler was 14th in the girls high jump [4-4].
The Cowboys also had three relay teams qualify for the finals. The girls 4×100 team finished sixth [53.24], the girls 4×800 team was 11th [11:23.25] and the boys 4×800 team was 13th [9:18.87].
Like Camp Verde, Mingus had one state champion at the Division III event. Like the Cowboys, the Marauders’ state champion was a girl in a field event. Junior Brooke Peterson’s height in the pole vault [10-0] was good enough for first place. She also sprinted to seventh in the girls 100 meter hurdle event [16.79].
Sophomore Makena Bliss was a finalist in three events. Her best finish came in the girls 3200 meter race, where her distance [11:47.73] was good enough for third. Bliss was also 13th in the girls 800 meter event [2:30.75] and 14th in the 1600 [5:39.78]. Bliss shared the track with her teammate, junior Aubrey Peterson, in the girls 800. Peterson [2:31.19] finished 14th. Sophomore Maisie Babcock also competed with Bliss in the 1600, finishing 20th [5:45.41].
Mingus’ distance running depth showed in the girls 4×800 meter relay, where the Marauders finished third [10:03.34].
Senior Grace Sauer was fifth in the girls pole vault [8-6] while fellow senior Shelby Link was eighth in the girls shot put [33-8].
On the boys side, sophomore Cesar Diaz reached the finals in three events. He finished seventh in both the 800 meter [2:00.88] and 3200 meter [9:42.37] races and 11th in the 1600 meter event [4:31.76]. Junior Isaac Reynolds was 15th in the boys 800 meter race [2:02.49] while sophomore Brasen Durkalec was 20th in the long jump [18-11].
