Camp Verde High School freshman Jiselle Valdez holds the current best stats for the Cowboys in four girls events: The 100-meter run, the 100- and 300-meter hurdles and the high jump.
While she didn’t compete in the 100-meter run or the high jump during the track meet at Mingus Union High School in Cottonwood on April 17, she set a personal record for her other three events.
Valdez placed third in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 18.62 seconds, placing her No. 12 in the state’s Division V. She ran second in the 200-meter hurdles with a time of 52.02, placing her No. 10 in the state. Valdez also helped the girls 4×100 relay team place sixth with a time of 55.82 seconds.
“I started sports when I was in first grade,” Valdez said. “My first grade was wrestling, and then I did cheer for a little bit. And then in middle school, I started doing volleyball, basketball and track.”
Valdez said ever since she was little and would race with her friends, she was told she was fast.
When she had the chance to race, she went for it.
The team has 70 athletes this year, Head Coach Amy Wall said.
“It’s pretty difficult to make it to the state,” she said. “We try to take at least 15 to 20 kids every year, and I am pretty sure we’ll make that goal againthis year.”
Wall, who also coaches cross country, said the team is very young this year with her top two athletes being Valdez and sophomore Caleb Wall, her son.
Her mother, Lori Showers, was the track coach before she was. She still helps out sometimes, and she’s got eight assistant coaches.
“Four of them are former athletes of mine,” she said. She’s been head coach for about eight years. “That’s been really nice.”
Caleb Wall runs 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles. He’s No. 11 in the state for both events.
“I want to run a 37 in the 300 hurdles, eventually,” he said. He set his personal record at the Mingus meet at “17 flat for 110s and 43 for 300s.”
The racing is really fun, he said, but “I justlove the team aspect of track. Everyone’s coming together, cheering each other on. And it’s just very positive. It’s like a great break from all the other intense high-performance sports.”
Junior Ryland Parker is a thrower in shot put and discus. Discus is her favorite, she said, explaining “It just comes easier to me. The technique.”
Her personal record fordiscus is 75 feet 7 inches, the longest throw on the current team.
While the Mingus meet was an off day for her and Parker didn’t score as well as previous attempts, at 62’ 10.5”, she still had a good time. Parker’s favorite part “is coming here to these meets,” she said, “with friends, just hanging out.”
Parker said next year, her goal is to make it to state.