Trojans brave wind in track season’s last home meet

The gusty winds hampered starts, threw off jumpers and postponed pole vault at the Pahrump track meet. The high school hosted three other team: Boulder City, Sierra Vista, and Del Sol.

This meet on Wednesday was the team’s last home meet of the season.

The girls finished in second place (67.5 points) out of four teams behind Boulder City (97.5). Sierra Vista (54) was in third and Del Sol finished in fourth (43).

Freshman high jumper Annabelle Brophy hated yesterday’s wind.

“The wind throws off my step and doesn’t allow me to focus,” she said. Brophy finished the day at 4 feet, four inches and a second place finish. She said her goal is 5-0 this year with her best being 4-08.

Meghan McDermott finished first in the 100 hurdles with 18.4 seconds and second in the long jump (15-05). She had no distance for the triple jump.

She feels the year is going well for the team despite losing a lot of key people last year.

“My freshman and sophomore year we were on top and we lost some people,” she said. “We still have our top people and everyone is working really hard. We are recovering from the loss (of people).”

She said she qualified for the regionals in her first meet.

“In my three jumps I had personal records in all of them,” McDermott said. “In the hurdles I also ran a 16.3 for a personal best.”

When asked why she doesn’t run more 300 hurdles she replied, “The 300 has never been my thing because it always interferes with my triple jump,” she said. “I have to come off the finish line from the 300 and rush to the pit and this messes me up and it’s my strongest event.”

Her coach, Jill Harris, said she likes the way McDermott has been training.

“Her strong point in the hurdles is she is getting stronger and she has more confidence,” Harris said. “Her form is also cleaned up a bit.”

Harris disagrees with McDermott on the 300 and believes she will one day run it.

“It is a better event for her because she needs more distance,” Harris said.

McDermott’s goal is to break the school record in the triple jump, which is 36-1.5 and she is jumping a 34.

Coach Icard loves the way McDermott works with the other jumpers.

“She works hard and she is like having another coach on the team,” he said. “She is really good at helping the other athletes. I am glad she will be back next year.”

Kelbie Middleton continues to race well in the 100 and 200. In the 100 she finished in first place (11.9) and the 200 she finished in first place (25.3).

She said she has been training harder than last year and cares about track more.

“I think my better race is the 100 but my favorite is the 200,” she said. “I think the reason the 100 is better is because I get out of the blocks faster.”

When it comes down to it, Middleton is the fastest female sprinter since Kaitlin Clem (class of 2013), whose fastest time in the 100 was 12.24 and Middleton is about a tenth of a second faster.

Middleton said she has worked hard on her breathing to become faster in both sprinting events.

Freshman Sydney Dennis finished second in the 1,600 (5:50.1). She also ran the 800 relay where the team finished in second place (11:27.6). That team is composed of junior Fenny Descuatan, sophomore Alicia Quiroz, Sydney Dennis and freshman Vaniah Vito.

The 4x100 relay finished in first place (50.3) and is composed of senior Kelbie Middleton, junior Meghan McDermott, sophomore Ashley Floyd and sophomore Kelsey Souza.

In the 3,200 the girls took third, fourth and fifth place Vaniah Vito (13:56.1), Fenny Descuatan (14:41) and Alicia Quiroz (15:25.2).

In field events Caeli Havel placed third in the shot put (29 feet, 8 inches) and Madison Shay placed second in the discus (79-01).

The boys finished last out of four teams with a score of 47 points.

The winner of the boys meet was Del Sol (83 points), Boulder City was in second (70) and Sierra Vista third (68 points).

Sophomore Dylan Montgomery took third in the 200-meter run (23.9) and first in the 400 (53.6).

Freshman Bryce Odegard helped out in the points by taking fourth in the 400 (56.5). Odegard also took second in the 3,200 (10:35.4).

Freshman Layron Sonerholm took first in the 800 (2:15.4) and the 1,600 (5:05). Sophomore Jospeh Sladek helped out in the 1,600 by getting third (5:22.2).

Sophomore Jacob Sawin took fourth in the 110 hurdles (20.8).

The boys 800 relay took first place (9:14.7) and is composed of: Bryce Odegard, Layron Sonerholm, senior Aaron Minjares, freshman Cole Godman.

In the field events, Montgomery threw 104-07 in the discus to get fourth place. Junior Nico Cipollini took first in the pole vault (10-06).

The Trojans boys still have junior Isaac Davis out, but according to Head Coach Wes Icard, he should return for regionals. Davis is the best jumper on the team and could have easily propelled the team to first place yesterday.