MVHS Track Teams Win Regionals

By DAVE BELCHER

The Progress

It was an incredible two days for the Moapa Valley High School track and field teams as they both won 3A Southern region titles on Friday and Saturday, May 12-13 in Boulder City.

It was the Pirate girls’ fifth consecutive team title. The MVHS boys will be in the running for their second consecutive state title this week on Friday and Saturday at Liberty High School in Henderson.

The Moapa Valley girls beat Durango, the favorite going into the meet, with 134.5 team points to 107. Virgin Valley girls placed sixth in the regional meet with 50 points.

The MVHS boys team dominated with 222 team points. Second place went to Rancho with 97 points while Virgin Valley finished in seventh with 52 points.
The top four athletes in each event qualified for the state championships.

On the boys side, Degan Jones ran a personal best for the Pirates in the 100 meters for second place with a time of 11.07.
Ethan Witter placed third in the 400 meters with a personal best 52.31 for the Pirates.

Moapa Valley swept the 800 meter race with runners in the top four. Mordechai Yadegar placed first at 2:04.27. Ethan Witter placed second, 2:05.57. Marcus Shambaugh was third 2:06.58. And Gavin Hendricks was fourth with a time of 2:09.26. Virgin Valley’s Owen Rappleye had a time of 2:09.43 for fifth place, just missing state qualification.

Yadegar won his second region title in the 1600 meters with a time of 4:37.63. Shambaugh placed second, 4:43.92. Rappleye qualified with a fourth place finish at 4:52.72.
Yadegar won his third title as the sophomore won the 3200 meters with a time of 9:56.44. Shambaugh placed second with a time of 10:17.13. Rappleye placed third for the Bulldogs with a time of 10:39.96. Isaac Thompson was the third Pirate to qualify at 19:51.91.
Brody Redd placed third in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 16.55.

Moapa Valley’s relay team won the 4×100 with a time of 44.44 including team members Ethan Stankoski, Tanner Hammons, Tyson Redd and Degan Jones.

The Pirate team of Yadegar, Lucas Sandberg, Trevor Witter and Ethan Witter also took second in the 4×400 with a time of 3:36.01.
The Pirate 4×800 team of Joey Boss, Trevor Witter, Gavin Hendricks and Ethan Witter got a second place with a time of 8:47.11.

MVHS athlete Logan Stewart came off as the regional champion in shot put and discus with Gavyn Frederick placing second in both. Stewart threw a 49-06 in the shot and 134-01 in the discus both personal records. Fredericks threw a 45-02 in the shot put, a personal record; and 122-08 in the discus.

Jeremy Gosett placed third for Virgin Valley in the shot with a throw of 41-10.
Jones and Tanner Hammons were second and third in the high jump for the Pirates; both clearing 5-10.

Virgin Valley’s Dylan Vellinga won the pole vault to win Virgin Valleys lone region championship at the meet. He vaulted 11-0. Moapa Valley filled the final three spots in the pole vault with Gavin Hendricks placing second at 10-00, Shambaugh third, 10-00 and Nicholas Leavitt fourth, 9-00.
Hammons placed second for the Pirates in the triple jump, 40-04.5.

On the girls side of the meet, Talli Fairchild placed third for the Pirates in the 400 meters with a time of 1:01.81.
She also won the 800 meters with a time of 2:31.56. Paige Fairchild placed second, 2:34.91. Brooke Sherwood placed third in the 1600 meters with a time of 6:01.01.
Andrea Bell placed fourth for Moapa in the 3200 meters with her time of 14:39.65.
Allison Mills placed second for the Pirates in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 16.92.

The Moapa Valley 4×400 relay team of Mills, Paige Fairchild, Sherwood and Talli Fairchild won the event with a time of 4:17.56. Virgin Valleys team of Logan Cude, Sophie Tobler, Mattea Wahl and Jasmine Aguilar placed fourth in the race with a time of 4:24.50.

Moapa girls team of Fairchild, Fairchild, Sherwood and Miriam Werner won the 4×800 relay with a time of 10:41.91. Virgin Valley’s team of Aguilar, Ava Woods, Camryn Lee and Tobler. also placed fourth at 11:21.34.
Audrey Fiso of Virgin Valley placed second in the shot put with a throw of 38-01.

Moapa Valley’s Leyah Carvajal won the discus event with a personal record throw of 101-05. Fiso placed third at 94-10.
MVHS athlete Claire Cox placed third in the high jump with a leap of 4-10. Hailey Western placed fourth for the Pirates jumping 4-08.

Virgin Valley’s Hailey Vellinga won the pole vault, 8-06. Aubrey Wolfley placed second in the event for the Pirates with a vault of 8-00. Daphnee Auger placed third for Moapa at 7-06.
Wahl placed fourth for Virgin Valley in the triple jump, 30-09.5.

The state championship meet starts at 1:00 pm on Friday at Liberty High School.