Pahrump track athletes post regional qualifying marks

The annual Las Vegas High School Newcomers Meet gives track and field coaches an early look at how their younger athletes stack up, and Pahrump Valley coach Fred Schmidt saw some very good signs.

“We did have some really good performances from a couple of individuals,” he said. “From the girls, most notably was Kate Daffer.”

The sophomore wasted little time in locking up a trip to the Class 3A Southern Regional Championships in May. She qualified in the discus by placing third with a throw of 74 feet, 1 inch and in the 3,200 meters by running it in 15 minutes, 15.41 seconds, almost 1:10 under the qualifying time.

Daffer also showed she likely will be competing in other events at the regionals. Her second-place shot put effort of 25-0 is just 6 inches short of qualifying, and her 300 hurdles time of 57.51 is less than a second away from the target time.

“In the girls high jump we had four of our girls surpass the qualifying mark of 4 feet,” Schmidt said.

All of the qualifiers are freshmen, with Tayla Wombaker clearing 4-6 and Kaylee Morin, Brook Mazlo and Sammy Pacheco each clearing 4-2.

“Our boys team had some shining stars of their own,” Schmidt said. “The bright spot was most notably the high jump.”

The boys qualifying mark for regionals is 5 feet, and sophomores Logan Gavenda and Rance Bill punched their tickets at the Newcomers Meet. Gavenda cleared 5-10, while Bill topped 5-5.

“These young jumpers, combined with the two upperclassmen that are both jumping in the low to mid 6-foot range, will strengthen our field events,” Schmidt said.

“Chris Vega was another athlete to keep an eye on,” Schmidt said. “He is showing promise as well.”

Vega finished fifth in the 200 (26.14), sixth in the long jump (15-6) and 11th in the 100 (12.94).

Chaparral Weekday

Pahrump Valley’s full team headed to Chaparral High School on Tuesday for a weekday meet with the host team and Moapa Valley, and the Trojans boys won four events and the girls captured two. More importantly, the Trojans recorded 31 regional qualifying marks, 19 for the girls and 12 for the boys.

The Trojans were strongest in the field events. Pahrump Valley’s boys dominated the high jump, with senior Chance Farnsworth (5-10), senior Ethan Whittle (5-8) and Gavenda (5-6) taking the top three spots. In the long jump, Whittle (18-11), Tyler Clayton (18-6) and Gavenda (18-5) placed second, third and fourth.

Junior Grant Odegard won the pole vault by clearing 11-0, and senior DeAngelo Brown’s 35-0 won the triple jump. The other winner for Pahrump Valley was junior Kenny Delker in the 100 with a time of 11.5.

“DeAngelo Brown won the triple jump in great fashion,” Schmidt said. “On paper it was nice that we won the event as well as qualified for regions, however I feel the major accomplishment was Dee coming back to competition after a major surgical event this past fall which kept him on the sidelines during football as well as wrestling.

“Kenny Delker turned in an impressive time, and Grant Odegard has picked up where he left of in the pole vault.”

Senior Jacob Cipollini (2nd, 11:16.1) and junior Michael Sonerholm (3rd, 11:41.6) placed high in the 3,200, and junior Armani McGhee was third in the shot put at 36-11.

The Trojans girls team also was strongest in the field events, finishing first and second in the high jump and discus. Daffer won the discus with a throw of 93-1, while junior Angela Zeigler was right behind with an 80-4. Senior Elaina Dattilio won the high jump by clearing 4-4, while Wombaker was second at 4-2.

Junior Jazmyne Turner placed second in both the 100 (13.3) and 200 (28.7), sophomore Patricia Roundy took fourth in the 800 (2:56.7) and third in the 3,200 (14:34), and freshman Kimberly Roundy finished fourth in the 1,600 in 6:57.1.

“Patricia Roundy and younger sister Kimberly are showing the great work ethic that we coaches witnessed coaching their older brothers,” Schmidt said.

Freshman Georgina Avent was second in the long jump (14-3), while Dattilio placed fourth (13-9); in the triple jump, junior Zarah Whittle finished second (27-8) while Dattilio took third (26-4); and Zeigler placed second in the shot put (26-10) with Daffer fourth (23-10.5) and freshman Makani Araujo fifth (23-1.5).

Avent and Daffer each finished third in a hurdles event, with Avent running the 100 in 20.3 and Daffer finishing the 300 in 57.3.

Schmidt said several Trojans posted qualifying times and distances, including Sophia Castro, Turner, Zarah Whittle, Datillio, Zeigler, Ethan Whittle, Farnsworth and Clayton.

Although scores in weekday meets are not as important as qualifying for regionals, Moapa Valley — a team that Pahrump Valley will see at the regional meet, which will be at the Pirates’ track — rolled to both the boys and girls titles, beating out the Trojans boys 88-48 and the girls 105-52.