Yuma teams take early lead at region track

With the Gila Valley Region title already in his back pocket, Cibola pole vaulter Chad Plymale wanted to take three more stabs at breaking the school record.
 
The Raider junior knocked off the bar on all three attempts to clear 11 feet, 10 inches, but walked away knowing he'd get one more chance at the record next week at in the 5A-II State Championships.
 
"Three weeks ago I wasn't even near going to state, and now it's a sure thing," Plymale said. "I went into a pretty bad slump, and at the Cibola Scorcher I hit rock bottom and didn't even clear eight feet. But a couple weeks later I went to a lighter pole and got significant results."
 
Plymale was one of 10 individual competitors who took home region crowns from Day 1 at the Gila Valley Region Track and Field Championships on Wednesday at Raider Field, where the Yuma boys led the field in the team competition and the Yuma girls were tied with Kofa.
 
The meet resumes at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Raider Field, with the last race of Day 2 scheduled for 7:25 p.m. The Criminal boys (44) have a slight lead over Kofa (28) and Cibola (26), while the Yuma and Kofa girls' point total (31) is narrowly ahead of Gila Ridge (28) and Cibola (22).
 
Once Plymale (11-06) beat Kofa's Nick Klakulak (10-6), the pole vaulting mat was all his. After the first miss at the 11-10 height, Cibola coach Gordon Mosher came over and offered a few reminders, but he slapped the bar with his feet on his second attempt and nudged it with his back on the final try.
 
"It's just the same thing," Plymale said of his failed attempts. "When you go straight and get vertical you can get over, but if you can turn your body that's an extra foot, so it's a vital part and I'm just starting to get it figured out."
 
Dressed like Captain America in his blue and white Yuma uniform, stars and stripes socks and red shoes, Yuma's JC Baker beat out teammate Steven Rojano in the long jump on his final attempt with personal-best mark of 20-07.25, a jump that had four Criminals left in the competition oohing and aahing.
 
"This is the first time I've actually beat him, so it feels pretty good, and that was a PR, so I was excited to get that one," Baker said.
 
The Crims took the top four spots in the event, and Rojano will join Baker at state because of his qualifying mark earlier in the season. The two will try for a region sweep in the jumping events on Friday.
 
"I've got triple and the 4x100 on Friday, so I'm looking forward to that," he said. "Triple is my favorite event, and I love doing the 4x100 because we want to prove that we have the fastest team in the region."
 
Kofa's Amanda Nieves gave the Kings' team score a boost in the discus. Wasting no time inside the cage, Nieves launched her top throw this season at 109-01, more than 20 feet farther than Yuma's Albany Mathews (87-10) and Erica Mumford (86-06). She nearly equaled the mark on her next throw at 109, but scratched on her final throw of the day.
 
"I usually don't scratch. I think this is the first meet this year I've actually done that," Nieves said. "I just want to get it done and get it over with. I don't mind doing discus, but I'm a lot better a shot put."
 
Amanda's brother Josh Nieves won Wednesday's boys shot put competition with a mark of 45-03.75, staying ahead of Yuma's Juan Gonzalez (41-07.25) and William Kereluk (40-06.25).
 
Other region champions declared on Wednesday in field events were Cibola' Dezarae Rodriguez (7-00) in pole vault, Yuma's Keshia Merritt (31-06.50) in triple jump and Gila Ridge's Destiny Dilworth (4-10) in high jump.
 
Kofa won three of the four finals events on the track. Stephanie Ledgerwood beat teammate Amaris Pauly in the 3,200-meter run by nearly a minute with her time of 11 minutes, 53 seconds, and Pauly got a win with her 3,200 relay team (11:07), beating Gila Ridge's foursome by three seconds. Ricardo Valdez was the region champion in the boys 1,600 (4:41.33) ahead of Cibola's Josh Lopez (4:44.65), who took home the top honor in the 800 (2:04.87) in front of Yuma's Cesar Villegas (2:06.32).

GIla Valley Region Track and Field Championships - Day 1

Finals

Pole Vault - Girls
1. Dezarae Rodriguez, Cibola 7-00
2. Jenna Lantz, Cibola 6-06

Pole Vault - Boys
1. Chad Plymale, Cibola 11-06
2. Nick Klakulak, Kofa 10-06
3. Caleb McClure, Cibola 8-06

High Jump - Girls
1. Destiny Dillworth, Gila Ridge 4-10
2. Sophia Cole, Gila Ridge 4-06
3. Aisha Abedi, Yuma 4-06

Triple Jump - Girls
1. Keshia Merritt, Yuma 31-06.50
2. Aisha Abedi, Yuma 30-09.50
3. Eden Andrade, San Luis 30-02.00

Long Jump - Boys
1. JC Baker, Yuma 20-07.25
2. Steven Rojano, Yuma 20-04.00
3. Quincy Young, Yuma 19-10.25

Shot Put - Boys
1. Josh Nieves, Kofa 45-03.75
2. Juan Gonzalez, Yuma 41-07.25
3. William Kereluk, Yuma 40-06.25

Discus - Girls
1. Amanda Nieves, Kofa 109-01
2. Albany Mathews, Yuma 87-10
3. Erica Mumford, Yuma 86-06

3,200 Meter Run - Girls
1. Stephanie Ledgerwood. Kofa 11:53
2. Amaris Pauly, Kofa 12:52
3. Ashleigh Price, Gila Ridge 13:02

3,200 Meter Relay - Girls
1. Kofa (Eldrige, Rivera, Pauly, Miranda) 11:07
2. Gila Ridge (Jarvis, Shore, Haney, Foley) 11:10
3. Yuma (Soto, Montez, Martinez, Diehl) 11:16

800 Meter Run - Boys
1. Josh Lopez, Cibola 2:04.87
2. Cesar Villegas, Yuma 2:06.32
3. Adam Spencer, Kofa 2:07.22

1,600 Meter Run - Boys
1. Ricardo Valdez, Kofa 4:41.33
2. Josh Lopez, Cibola 4:44.65
3. Santos Castro, Yuma  4:50.04

Team Totals (6 events completed) - Girls
1. Kofa 31
2. Yuma 31
3. Gila Ridge 28
4. Cibola 22
5. San Luis 6

Team Totals (5 events completed) - Boys
1. Yuma 44
2, Kofa 28
3. Cibola 26
4. Gila Ridge 2
5. San Luis 2