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SKYHAWK INVITE: Valley’s Wharton excels; Chaparral boys, Palo Verde girls take home titles

Valley’s Garic Wharton took home male Athlete of the Meet honors from the Skyhawk Invitational.
Those watching him run Saturday took home quite a memory, if they could keep up.
Wharton won the 100-meter dash and anchored the Vikings’ winning 400 relay team but saved his best performance for the 200, where he set a meet record and nearly a national record for the year.
“I was really tired, but I’m ahead of where I want to be,” Wharton said.
The senior’s time of 21.34 seconds in the 200 was the third-fastest official time run in a high school meet in the U.S. this year, according to dyestat.com.
“At this point this is the best he’s been in four years running at Valley,” Valley coach Mark Salzman said. “His times are way ahead of where he has been before.”
Defending Class 4A state champion Chaparral won the 20-team boys meet, albeit by a close margin, scoring 78½ points to nose out second-place Green Valley (76).
Palo Verde took the girls meet with a score of 93½. Faith Lutheran, led by female Athlete of the Meet Joy Goynes, was second with 87.
With 20 out of 33 of the 4A teams present, this event was a pretty good “midterm exam” before the regional meets in May — especially in the Sunrise Region, where only Rancho and Sunrise Mountain stayed away.
In addition to Wharton’s record-breaking 200, Centennial’s boys 3,200 relay team set a meet and stadium record with a winning time of 7:57.06, the fastest time run in Nevada this year and faster than the winning time at state last year.
Del Sol’s Colin Smith also set a meet and track record in winning the 3,200 in 9:40.74. Smith broke away from the field early and crossed the finish more than 16 seconds ahead of Centennial’s Nick Hartle (9:57.30), the runner-up.
“I started out faster than I wanted to,” Smith said. “I knew that Carl (Greene, his Sunrise rival from Foothill) was in the race. I knew I had to get away from him because he would outkick me.
“The second mile was brutal, but I got through it.”
One of the day’s closest races was the boys 1,600, where Liberty’s Al Galan outkicked Green Valley’s Julius Kim and won by less than a tenth of a second—4:28.72 to 4:28.78 — with Silverado’s Dante Carter a close third in 4:30.46.
“I was not expecting to beat Julius today, but I really needed to break 4:30 today,” Galan said. “I really, really, really wanted it, beyond no other. (Kim) went out so fast that first lap. We had to run negative splits to catch him.”
In the girls meet, Goynes nearly pushed Faith Lutheran over the top, taking the 100 and 200 and running the anchor leg on a second-place 800 relay team and a fourth-place 400 relay unit.
“I wasn’t even expecting a top-five finish,” Faith Lutheran coach Rich Baird said.
The Crusaders, the defending state 3A girls champs, have taken their step up to 4A in stride. They recently finished first at the Ron Ressler Invitational at Boulder City, beating a number of 4A schools.
Faith Lutheran’s boys have done well, too. Individual winners Saturday included John Cartier, who won the 400; Jack Leavitt, who won the pole vault; and Paul Morton, who won the discus.  
Still, Palo Verde used a team effort to win the girls meet, winning only one individual event, Cayce Bryan’s 400 conquest.
The Panthers had numerous top-four individual finishes and won three of the four relays.
“Our relays have been building for two years with the same girls,” Palo Verde coach Mike O’Dea said. “They’re not Western, but they’re doing real well.”
Defending state champion Western wasn’t at Silverado and was competing at Mt. Sac in California this weekend.
Two other athletes who won multiple events were Karli Johonnot of Centennial and Malcolm McMurray of Chaparral.
Johonnot won the high jump and the 100 hurdles.
McMurray won the high jump, took second in the 100 and anchored Chaparral’s two winning relay teams, the 800 and 1,600.
 
Skyhawk Invitational
At Silverado
Boys
Chaparral 78½, Green Valley 76, Foothill 63¼, Centennial 62¾, Liberty 60½, Basic 57, Valley 54, Palo Verde 52½, Faith Lutheran 41¾, Del Sol 38½, Shadow Ridge 37, Silverado 30, Coronado 15, Spring Valley 12, Las Vegas 10, Desert Pines 7, Sierra Vista 3¼, Canyon Springs 3
100–Wharton, Val, 10.58; McMurray, Chap, 11.03; Bibbs, Bas, 11.25. 200–Wharton, Val, 21.34; Robinson, Pal, 22.60; Hill, SR, 22.67. 400–Cartier, FL, 50.23; Peeples, Val, 51:03; Scott, Spr, 51.26. 800–Schultz, Lib, 2:00.59; McDonough, Cen, 2:01.63; Schlenkert, Chap, 2:02.34. 1600–Galan, Lib, 4:28.72; Kim, GV, 4:28.78; Carter, Sil, 4:30.46. 3200–Smith, DS, 9:40.74; Hartle, Cen, 9:57.30; Greene, Foot, 10:04.39. 110 hurdles–Norris, Lib, 15.07; Darnell, Bas, 15.52; Weinstock, DS, 15.88. 300 hurdles–Killebrew, Foot, 41.01; Porterfield, GV, 41.56; Blake, Pal, 41.93. 400 relay–Valley 43.31; Basic 44.25; Palo Verde 44.35. 800 relay–Chaparral 1:30.08; Shadow Ridge 1:30.97; Basic 1:32.23. 1600 relay–Chaparral 3:25.78; Valley 3:28.61; Foothill 3:28.98. 3200 relay–Centennial 7:57.06; Foothill 8:16.40; Del Sol 8:23.49. High jump–McDonald, GV, 6-4; Whitaker, Foot, 6-2;Garner, Foot, 6-2. Long jump–McMurray, Chap, 21-7; Calvin, Bas, 20-9½; Vashon, Lib, 20-6. Triple jump–Forshee, Cen, 43-7½; Vashon, Lib, 41-4; Perez, Val, 40-6. Pole Vault–Leavitt, FL, 14-0; Olague, Chap, 13-6; Galardy, Bas, 13-0. Shot put–Godkin, Pal, 49-4; Kapeli, Lib, 47-5½; Maddox, GV, 46-5. Discus–Morton, FL, 154-8; Maddox, GV, 149-3; Hanson, GV, 139-6.
Girls
Palo Verde 93½, Faith Lutheran 87, Centennial 81, Coronado 64, Green Valley 60, Valley 53, Silverado 42, Liberty 37, Foothill 35, Del Sol 32, Shadow Ridge 27, Las Vegas 24, Basic 18, Spring Valley 15, Sierra Vista 11½, Desert Pines 8, Eldorado 7, Chaparral 4, Canyon Springs 3
100–Goynes, FL, 12.90; Brass, SR, 12.91; Richardson, Bas, 12.95. 200–Goynes, FL, 26.61; Richardson, Bas, 27.20; Bryant, Pal, 27.44. 400–Bryan, Pal, 1:00.69; Mutaguchi, DS, 1:02.02; White, Foot, 1:02.31. 800–Underwood, Val, 2:22.54; Lucas, Cor, 2:25.40; Smith, Cor, 2:26.96. 1600–Lucas, Cor, 5:28.45; Koch, Pal, 5:32.74; Smith, Cor, 5:35.44. 3200–Cerrato, Val, 12:15.08; Koch, Pal, 12:32.56; Mullen, Cen, 12:40.23. 100 hurdles–Johonnot, Cen, 15.41; Melton, LV, 16.54; Helm, FL, 16.66. 300 hurdles–Suarez, Foot, 47.15; Melton, LV, 49.02; Davis, Val, 50.56. 400 relay–Palo Verde 51.27; Green Valley 51.68; Coronado 51.97. 800 relay–Palo Verde 1:47.04; Faith Lutheran 1:48.32; Green Valley 1:49.50. 1600 relay–Palo Verde 4:09.96; Foothill 4:17.69; Green Valley 4:18.90. 3200 relay–Centennial 10:14.09; Green Valley 10:29.06; Silverado 10:40.26. High jump–Johonnot, Cen, 5-4; Larocco, Pal, 5-2; Mayo, FL, 5-2. Long jump–Mayo, FL, 17-1½; Larocco, Pal, 16-2; Mosley, GV, 16-0½. Triple jump–Fosu, Lib, 35-3½; White, Val, 34-4¼; Pickus, GV, 31-11. Pole Vault–Vogel, FL, 10-6; Schwebel, Cen, 9-6; Frantom, GV, 9-6. Shot put–Shaw, Cen, 38-5; Wright, Sil, 36-1; Still, DP, 33-11. Discus–Scott, DS, 109-10; Wright, Sil, 107-10; Bormann, FL, 98-3.

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