Trojan men’s and women’s take first at Bonanza track competition

The Pahrump Valley High School boys and girls track teams both finished in first place at the Bonanza track and field competition on Wednesday, April 6, at Bonanza High School.

The track and field competition had five teams participate from all around the state. The schools were a mixture of three different classes. Two of the schools – Mojave and Bonanza – were in the 4A class, Pahrump was the only 3A class school and two of the schools – Lincoln County and Laughlin – were in the 2A class..

The Trojans boys team finished in first place with a score of 207, while the girls team finished with a total score of 171.

The Trojans set many personal records throughout the competitions on their way to multiple wins in the various events.

In the girls events, sophomore Grace Miller and senior Jessica Kern both had great days in their competitions.

Kern won both of her field events, finishing with a distance of 33 feet, 2 inches in the shot put event and finishing with a distance of 88 feet, 8 inches in the discus throw.

Miller ended the competition with one win and one runner-up finish in her two events, both of which were personal records.

In the high jump event, Miller finished tied for first place with her teammate Aspen McCormack. Each of them successfully jumped a height of 4 feet, 6 inches.

Miller’s second place finish came in the 800-meter event where she finished with a time of 2:47.34.

Freshman Dakota Fodge and sophomore Emily Lewis each had a win for the Trojans as well.

Fodge’s win came in the 400-meter event when she finished with a time of 1:04.40, just narrowly beating out Abby Mathews of Lincoln County, who finished with a time of 1:04.78.

Lewis’ win came in the 1600-meter event when she ran a season record time of 6:17.62.

On the boys side, senior Devin Varlack and sophomore Brennan Benedict both finished the competition with multiple wins.

Varlack won the 800-meter event with a time of 2:09.25, beating his closest competitor by over 10 seconds. His win in the 1600-meter event came with an even larger margin of victory.

His winning time of 4:49.52 was more than 40 seconds better than his teammate, Spencer Van Wormer, who finished in second place with a personal record time of 5:33.21.

Benedict had first-place finishes in the high jump and the long jump events.

In the high jump event, he finished tied with his teammate Cory O’Neal with a successful height of 5 feet. In the long jump event, Benedict jumped a distance of 17 feet, 1 ½ inches, just barely beating out his teammate, Makoa Batongbacal, who finished with a distance of 17 feet, 1 inch.

The Trojans took the top three positions in the 110-meter hurdle event, with all three runners setting personal records.

Senior Angel Quintana finished in first place with a time of 19.54, while senior Ikaika Keanaaina came in second place with a time of 20.02 and sophomore Cole Miller came in third with a time of 20.43.

The next track and field competition for the Trojans will be on Wednesday, April 20, when the teams travel to Valley High School. The first event is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m.