Staton Elementary third-grader wins for guessing emergence of Mojave Max

A third-grader from Staton Elementary School in Summerlin was surprised Monday with a trophy and other goodies for winning the Mojave Max Emergence Contest.

The boy, Brian Garcia, had the closest guess of any other Clark County student about when the famous tortoise would emerge from his winter hidey-hole.

This was the 10th year of the contest to see when Max, a mascot of sorts for Clark County, comes out of his winter hiding. Experts contend he is a better indicator of the onset of spring than the famous eastern groundhogs.

For his win, Garcia got prizes and his class will get to have a pizza party later this month at Red Rock National Conservation Area.

Garcia guessed that Max would emerge at 3:19 p.m. on April 7. The tortoise came out at 2:37 p.m. on that date.

Stacy Irvin, the Mojave Max Program manager, said there were about 5,200 entries in the contest.