By DAVE BELCHER
Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Valley High School Track teams hosted the NIAA Southern Regional Track and Field Championships for the 3A, 2A and 1A divisions last weekend.
It was an outstanding day for the Pirate girls’ team as they won the southern regional tournament scoring 109 points over the two-day event. Sunrise Mountain placed second with 95 points, Mojave third with 77. Virgin Valley placed fourth with 70 and Pahrump placed fifth with 68. Del Sol finished sixth followed by Desert Pines, Boulder City, Cheyenne, Chaparral and Western.
The top five finishers qualify from the south this year. The Pirates will send eight individuals and three relay teams to Carson City for the state championships.
It was MVHS junior Ashlyn Western who had the strongest performance. She won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:26.03. Then she went on to win the 1600-meter run with a time of 5:37.26.
Freshman Hannah Watson finished qualifying in two events. She won the pole vault with a vault of 8-6. Then she placed third in the long jump with a leap of 15’8”.
Natalie Mills placed third in the 100-meter hurdles and third in the 300-meter hurdles.
Another Freshman, Skotlyn Hill will participate in two events at the state meet. She placed fifth in the 300-meter hurdles and fourth in the high jump.
Andrea Mogren placed fourth in the Triple Jump with a leap of 31’6”.
Faith Witter placed second in the pole vault.
Mariah Mendoza finished fifth in the Discus.
Alexis Schraft placed fourth in the 400-meter run and will be part of two relay teams. Moapa Valley’s 4X400-meter relay team won first place with a time of 4:10.82. The 4X800 team placed second behind Pahrump Valley with a time of 10:44.36. The 4X200-meter team finished in fifth place with a time of 1:52.7
The MVHS Boy’s team placed seventh in the team scoring behind region champion Desert Pines who scored 139 points. Mojave placed second with 133 points. Pahrump Valley was third with 111 points, Western was fourth with 69 points, then came Cheyenne, Del Sol, Moapa Valley, Boulder City, Chaparral, Sunrise Mountain and Virgin Valley.
Josh Lee won the pole vault with a vault of 13’ in the wind.
Josh Leavitt placed fourth in the discus with a throw of 122’5” and Josh Cox placed fifth with a throw of 117’9”.
Freshman Preston Humes placed fourth in the 3200-meter run with a time of 10:36.68.
The Pirates boys qualified two relay teams each placing fifth. The 4X100 team had a time of 45:77. The 4X200 team had a time of 1:34.04.
The track teams will travel north on Thursday for the championship Friday and Saturday. Go Pirates.
