Moapa Valley High School senior Hal Thompson won the Male Athlete of the Meet at the Richard Lewis Invitational on Friday, April 24, leading to a first-place finish for the Pirate track and field team in front of the Moapa Valley faithful. 

Thompson won the 800 meters with a personal best time of 1:59.34. He also set a personal record in the two-mile race (9:38.91) to take first place, and was part of the first-place 4×800-meter relay team.

The Pirates nearly swept the relay races, with Trig Overson, Kamden Drosos, Ashton Hickman and Ryker Katich winning the 4×200-meter race, and Jeremiah Dominguez, Hickman, Katich and Brenden Van Vliet taking the 4×400-meter gold. 

“Our boys 4×400 team broke a 30-year-old school record dating back to my senior year (1996),” MVHS head coach Shane Hickman said.

Moapa Valley senior Tony Carillo swept the throwing events, with a personal best shot put toss of nearly 49 feet and a personal best discus throw of 139 feet, two inches. Classmate Eric Lee took the pole vault title over teammate Dakota Bush. 

Other notable finishes for the boys include Van Vliet’s second-place finish in the 400-meter dash with a personal best time of 49.36 seconds. He also took fifth in the 100 meters and sixth in the 200-meter dash. Junior BJ Robison was third in both the 800- and 1,600-meter races, posting a personal record in the mile of 4:43.33.

The Lady Pirates were led to a second-place finish by hurdlers Taylee Bunch, Anna Winward and Phoebe Leavitt. They were third, fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 100-meter hurdles, and fifth, sixth and eighth, respectively, in the 300-meter hurdles. Bunch also took second in the high jump and fifth in the triple jump, setting a personal record in the triple of 31.75 feet. Leavitt was second in the long jump with a personal best leap of 16 feet, two inches. 

MVHS sophomore Madilyn Thompson ran a personal best two-mile race, finishing in second place with a time just under 13 minutes. She was also part of the second-place, 4×800-meter relay team along with classmates Irelynn Lewis and Charlotte Kynaston, and junior McKayla Western. Kynaston was fifth in the mile and 10th in the 800.

Freshman Lillian Cox took the bronze in the shot put with a personal best throw of 28 feet, 11 inches. Senior Janet Werner also took third in the discus. Sophomore Ana Freeman was fourth in the pole vault.

“I want to thank our sponsors Kim Marshall and Byron and Kim Mills for their continued support in making this meet one of the premier invitationals in southern Nevada,” Coach Hickman said. “We had so many parents and community member volunteers helping. This meet would simply not see the success it does each year without their support.”

Roughly 40 Pirates will make the trip to Provo, Utah for the BYU Invitational on Friday, May 1, with the rest of the athletes competing at the Boulder City Invitational. Coach Hickman said the Boulder City meet will serve as a “great opportunity for the bulk of our younger athletes who don’t typically make it to the weekend invitationals.”