After a minor setback due to inclement weather, track is back for Camp Verde.
The Cowboys season kicked off at the Northland Preparatory Academy Skydome Classic in Flagstaff on March 2.
Camp Verde’s boys accumulated 19.75 points and placed seventh out of 15 schools.
Cowboys senior Christopher Holdgrafer took the top spot in the 60-meter hurdles after registering a 9.13 time.
Holdgrafer also finished 19th in the 400-meter at 60.63 seconds.
“As far as performance-wise, Chris Holdgrafer has continued to do very well with both hurdle races,” Camp Verde coach Amy Wall said.
Fountain Valley’s Andrew Nunes narrowly finished second at 9.32 seconds.
Cowboys sophomore Noah Zimmerman had a great showing and recorded a top-10 finish in the high jump, long jump and triple jump.
“Zimmerman has been a huge surprise placing in both meets in both the long jump and triple jump,” Wall said.
Zimmerman’s triple jump height [38-1.50] was second only to Sedona Red Rock High School’s Dylan Beattie [38-5.50].
Senior Fabian Herrera Araiza placed 13th [11:44.42] in the 3200-meter while Freshman Rogelio Carrilo finished 21st [13:18.90].
The Camp Verde girls registered two points and finished 12th out of 13 schools.
Cowboys sophomore Jena Nelson registered a 4-04.00 in the high jump, good for a three-way tie for sixth.
Nelson’s 4-04.00 tied Blue Ridge High School’s Merritt Fisk and Page High School’s Raquel Rivard and was also a personal record.
Freshman Kylie Green had a solid outing in her first varsity meet, finishing 12th in the 400-meter [72.42] out of 40 runners.
Green also finished 22nd in the 60-meter dash [9.53].
Sophomore Ashlee Bueler finished 18th in the shot put [22-11.00] out of 40 participants.
Sophomore Kylee Bouse placed 45th in the 60-meter dash and 200-meter.
This season, the Cowboys have 51 players on their roster.
“Our group of freshmen will be a lot of fun to watch, with one of the standouts being Devon James in the 800-meter,” Wall said.
James finished 17th in the 800 after posting a time of 2:19.92.
After the Cowboys ended last season with only 20 players, Wall was shocked by Camp Verde’s turnout this year.
“I really had no expectations coming into this season, so the fact that we have so many athletes out was a very pleasant surprise,” Wall said. “We have a strong group of seniors to mentor our 34 underclassmen.”
Though Camp Verde is young, Wall said she believes the Cowboys’ veteran core of Holdgrafer, Eliana Paniagua, Joe Jones and Damian Wathogoma are up to the task.
“Those four seniors are doing a great job mentoring the young athletes as well as excelling in their performances,” Wall said. “Damian won in discus at the Wickenburg meet and has started out his year strong.”
Holdgrafer, Jones and Wathogoma each qualified for state last season.
Paniagua finished second in the 800-meter at the Red Rock Multi-Meet on March. 20, 2018.
Camp Verde’s seniors are tasked with helping the younger athletes get up to varsity-level speed.
“This is a young group and overall they will have to learn the basics of track,” Wall said. “More than half of our team has performed any track-related events before so it is a steep learning curve.”
The Cowboys’ next meet is Tuesday, March 19, when Camp Verde participates in the Sedona Friendship Invitational.
Sedona Friendship Invitational is a state-qualifying event and begins at 10 a.m.
Twenty-two schools are slated to participate, including Mingus Union, Flagstaff and Coconino high schools.
Sedona Last Chance is the Cowboys’ final state-qualifying event and occurs on Tuesday, April 23.
Last season, Holdgrafer set a personal record at state and finished the 110-meter hurdles in 15.74 seconds, good for third place.
Jones finished 24th in the 3,200-meter [10:46.46] and 12th in the 1,600-meter [4:46.94].
The division four championship occurs on Friday, May 2.
