The Moapa Valley High School track and field teams opened the season at Centennial High School in the Newcomers Meet on Thursday, Feb. 26. Top finishers included freshman Lillian Cox, who took second in the shot put, and sophomore Talia Dominguez, who placed second in the discus. Cox also took eighth in the high jump, clearing three feet, 10 inches.

MVHS freshman Sawyer Thornton was fourth in the girls long jump, with a leap of nine feet, one inch. Junior Shanaya McCauley was fourth in the shot put, and sophomore Phoebe Leavitt took sixth in the 400-meter race.

For the boys, junior Ryan Dennis was the Pirates’ top competitor – finishing fourth with a discus throw just over 82 feet, and taking fifth on a shot put toss of 32 feet, nine inches.

Moapa Valley freshman Rowan Miller cleared six feet in the pole vault to tie for fifth place with classmates Cru Palmer and Gray Martino. Sophomore Donovan Denter took sixth with a 1,600-meter time of 5:21.94 and was ninth in the 800-meter race (2:30.85).

Moapa Valley head coach Shane Hickman was also impressed with the performance of freshman Aiden Steen, who took 16th in the 100 meters with a personal best time of 11.92 seconds. He finished just outside the top-25 in the 400 meters, running it in just under a minute.

The Pirate track and field teams have a meet in Mesquite at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3. MVHS will play host at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 11.