Trojans prepare for regional track appearance

Boulder City High School is set to host this weekend’s 2023 Nevada 1A, 2A and 3A Southern regional track competitions.

The regional competition will be a two-day event beginning on Friday, May 12 and finishing up on Saturday, May 13.

Pahrump Valley will be just one of many schools competing for their shot in the 3A state track meet.

Athletes who finish in one of the top four places in their event(s) will secure a spot in the event next week.

Last season, the Trojans had representatives from 13 of the 25 competitions between the boys and girls, including three of the four girls relay races and four of the six girls field events.

Senior Lillian McGhee is the only returning Pahrump athlete who came away from last season’s regional competitions with a gold medal.

She took first place in the long jump event, jumping a distance of 16 feet, 1.25 inches. McGhee beat the second-place finisher by nearly a whole foot.

Sophomore Sasha Strain will be looking to continue the great success that she has had so far this season in the hurdle events.

Strain has finished in the top-3 in four of the nine 100-meter hurdle events that she has entered this season and she has finished in the top-3 in six of the 10 300-meter hurdle events this year.

As a freshman last year, Strain finished in sixth place in the 100-meter hurdle regional event and 10th place in the 300-meter hurdle regional event.

She is running significantly faster in both events this season.

Another Trojan girls runner to watch for in the regional competitions is Dakota Fernandes.

The sophomore has finished in the top-4 in seven of the eight 400-meter races she has entered this season and she has won two of those races.

She also has multiple top-4 finishes in the girls 100, 200-meter and relay races this season.

On the boys’ side, freshman Aydon Veloz has been running great lately.

He has four consecutive top-5 finishes in the 400-meter event, including two wins and a personal record time of 52.14 seconds he set at the Liberty weekday competition two weeks ago.

Friday’s field events will begin at 1 p.m. and the track events will begin at 1:30 p.m. Saturday’s field events will begin at 9 a.m. and the track events will begin at 9:30 a.m.

Contact sports writer/editor Danny Smyth at dsmyth@pvtimes.com. Follow @_dannysmyth on Twitter.