By VERNON ROBISON
Moapa Valley Progress
Track and Field season arrived early for a handful of Moapa Valley High School athletes last month. A group of seven students and their coaches travelled to Pocatello, Idaho for the 38th annual Simplot Games held on February 18-20 at Idaho State University’s Holt Arena.
Attracting more than 2,000 athletes from around the world, the annual J.R. Simplot Company-sponsored event is one of the nation’s premier high school indoor track and field events.
The local kids were sponsored at the event by Simplot Silica plant in Overton. The local sand mine facility provided $3,000 to take care of hotel rooms and travel expenses for the group.
Simplot Silica General Manager Jared Jackson said that he had worked with the high school in hosting science field trips to tour the large silica mine south of Overton. MVHS Science teacher Shane Hickman was involved in coordinating those trips. Hickman is also the MVHS Track and Field Coach.
So at some point, the connection was made to the Simplot Games,
“I asked Shane if he had students that would be interested in going to the games and he was excited about it,” Jackson said. “So we started looking into what we could do to send them there.”
Hickman said that he had never even thought of the Simplot Games as a possibility for his athletes, let alone asking Simplot Silica to pay for the trip.
“We were extremely grateful to Jared and the Simplot company for the opportunity,” Hickman said. “They just went out of their way to get funding for us and it was a great experience for our kids. It is so much appreciated!”
In addition, each athlete was required to select just one event in which they would compete.
The field of competition was huge, with athletes coming to the meet from all over the country including Florida, Texas, Washington, California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho and more.
Of the seven local students who attended, only shotput athlete Hunter Soderquist qualified for the second round of competition. He threw a distance of 45-00.75 at the competition.
“I think that it was the furthest throw he had ever done,” Hickman said.
MVHS Senior Sterling Simmons ran the 200 meter dash. In a field of 126 competitors, he placed #34 in the preliminary round.
Senior Kierra Zerkle ran the 60 meter dash and placed 62 among 106 competitors.
Sophomore Alexis Schraft, senior Summer Evans and sophomore Natalie Mills all ran in the girls 400 meter dash. Schraft placed #58, Evans at #66 and Mills came in at #83.
Junior Matilda Thompson also travelled to the meet intending to run the 1600 meter race. However, injuries sustained during the basketball season prevented her from running in the event.
Hickman said that the meet was an excellent experience for each of his athletes.
“It was definitely a long way for the kids to travel to participate in just one event,” Hickman said. “But it was definitely worth the experience. I think it is one of those things that they will just always remember.”
