Senior Jose Granados doubled in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter races Friday at the Bulldog Early Bird Invitational at Virgin Valley High School in Mesquite.
Granados, the two-time defending NIAA Class 1A champion in the 800 and 1,600, won the 1,600 in 4 minutes, 45.07 seconds and the 3,200 in 10:38.09 to account for a sizable chunk of the Hornets’ 56 team points, good for sixth place in the 10-team field that included six 1A schools, three 2A schools, three 3A schools and a 4A school along with one school from Arizona.
While Granados cruised to victory in the 3,200 by more than 24 seconds over Moapa Valley freshman Cyrus Katich, he had a down-to-the-wire finish in the 1,600 with Katich’s junior teammate, Preston Humes. Humes crossed the finish line just four-hundredths of a second behind Granados, with third-place senior Joseph Saucedo of Virgin Valley 22 seconds behind them.
The next-best finish for the Beatty boys came in the 800, where junior Christopher Rodrigues finished third in 2:20.62, 8.45 seconds behind Humes’ winning time. Junior Noel Gutierrez finished fifth in both hurdles events, running the 110 in 18.88 and the 300 in 45.27.
Junior Noel Gutierrez had the Hornets’ other top-10 individual finish, running the 100 in 12.30 to place seventh.
Beatty turned in a strong performance in the 4 x 100, as Jorge Leon, Gutierrez, Victor Alonso and Francisco Granados finished second in 49.10. Ethan Mendoza, Alfonso Sandoval, Francisco Granados and Jovan Oseguera ran the 4 x 800 in a fourth-place time of 9:51.59, while Brandon Rudolph, Adriel Oseguera, Effrain Moreno and Darren Stephenson finished fifth in the 4 x 200 in 1:46.25.
The only top-10 effort in the field events for the Beatty boys came from Victor Alonso, whose 15 feet, 8 inches was good for 10th in the long jump.
The best performance from the Beatty girls came from freshman Montana King, who took fifth in the long jump in 14-5.5. Junior Aphrodite Salazar matched that placement in the pole vault by clearing 5-9.
Sophomore Cristel Lopez finished seventh in the shot put at 24-9.25, while King was ninth in the 100 hurdles in 20.24, sophomore Ana Maria Torres was ninth in the 1,600 in 7:11.60 and senior Joselyn Hernandez took 10th in that event in 7:28.55.
Trojans boys win at Mojave
Senior Grant Odegard (3,200, pole vault), freshman Daniel Edghill (high jump, long jump), junior Logan Gavenda (triple jump) and three relay teams won their events as the Pahrump Valley boys track and field team finished first in a weekday meet Wednesday at Mojave High School.
Sophomore Hillary Valencia (1,600), junior Makayla Gent (3,200) and two relay teams took first place for the Pahrump Valley girls, who finished second to the host school.
Odegard’s time of 11:11.7 was almost 30 seconds ahead of Mojave’s Jordan Sasahara while his pole vault of 11-6 bested teammate Brandon Ruud by 3 feet. Edghill’s 17-7 in the long jump was 9 inches ahead of senior teammate Tyler Clayton, and his 5-4 in the high jump was 4 inches better than Gavenda, whose 39-9.5 in the triple jump was 5-8.5 better than Clayton.
Kenny Delker, Edghill, Neil Redmond and Gavenda won the 4 x 100 in 46.9; Daniel Dilone, Maurice Murray, Winston Nunfio and Jose Mendoza-Lara took the 4 x 200 in 1:51.0; and Kenny Delker, Ruud, Gavenda and Clayton ran 4:23.6 to win the 4 x 400.
Meanwhile, Valencia paced four Trojans in the top five in the 1,600, running 6:45.8 to nose out Mojave’s Dianna Hernandez’s 6:52.4. Gent trounced the field in the 3,200, as her time of 13:56.1 easily outdistanced the 14:42.5 put up by Mojave junior Lilian Salazar.
Pahrump Valley’s Sarah Holmes, Jessica Anderson, Shanniah Tripp and Jazmyne Turner won the 4 x 200 in 1:58.9, while Nrsringa Breathwaite, Zoe King, Zarah Whittle and Gent teamed to win the 4 x 400 in 5:16.7.