Scorcher meet an early chance to secure spot at state

Qualifying for the state track and field championships can never come soon enough.

And for many of the area high schools' athletes, the only other chance after today's 2nd Annual State Farm Scorcher to guarantee themselves a spot in the season finale will be at their region championships.

So in spite of the early date in the track season for today's meet at Cibola, the time to perform is now.

"Any time you can get a kid qualified for state it takes a lot of stress off them in the region meet," Cibola coach Gordon Mosher said. "If they get sick or have an injury later on, they've always got that outside qualifying time to get them in."

Cibola will host 10 other teams, half from the Yuma area and the rest from the Imperial Valley. Field events will begin at 9 a.m. and track events will begin at 9:45 a.m. Admission is $3 for adults and $2 for students with and ID card.

"I think we worked out the kinks of having an invite that big, but they were small issues to start with," Mosher said of last year's first crack at hosting the Scorcher. "We've got kids here that will be running and competing in college, so it's a high-quality track meet, and that doesn't happen everywhere."

A number of athletes who won their events last year are expected to defend their meet records, including Yuma High's JC Baker (triple jump) and Yuma Catholic's Paul Corona (pole vault). With five of the six Gila Valley Region teams on hand, today's meet should be a sneak peek into which boys and girls teams will be the favorites for May's championship.

The Scorcher will also host a "bragging-rights only" throwers co-ed relay run as runners exchange a discus instead of a baton. But ultimately the end goal for each team and purpose for organizing the event revolves around those state-qualifying marks.

"This gives kids a chance to compete in their home town, and for us, it allows us to spend that money we already have on going to other invitationals," Mosher said. "State Farm of Arizona and its local agents are absolutely amazing with what they do to donate the money to run this program and the meet. It's just amazing how ready some organizations are to step up and help, and we hope that can spread to other teams and events."

Plaques and trophies for the top athletes and teams will be awarded on the field during the competition, an addition to this year's meet. The trophies and plaques were donated by Sunrise Optimist Club of Yuma.