Bonanza’s Taylor clears hurdles to repeat in 100

Bonanza’s Jayveon Taylor went into Friday’s state track and field championships at Silverado eager to defend his title as the fastest man in the state.

But the junior had to overcome adversity to keep his crown.

Taylor and the rest of the field had to endure an extra 45-minute wait prior to the boys Division I 100-meter race after the official timing system went out. Once the gun sounded to start the race, he ran into a nasty head wind.

But Taylor came through in the end, outleaning Legacy’s Casey Hughes at the finish to win in 10.92 seconds.

“This wind killed everybody. You felt it right off the bat,” Taylor said. “But I was just focused on winning the race and trying to beat the clock. It feels really good. I love it.”

Taylor said everyone also was thrown a little off after the timing system shut off midrace during the first boys 100 of the day in Division IV, which a Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association official deemed a “complete system shutdown.”

The outage caused the race to be scored with no times and set back the meet 45 minutes after the athletes in the 100-meter races had been called to warm up.

“That bothered everybody. We were all warmed up, then had to wait 45 minutes, then had to warm up in five minutes,” Taylor said. “I wanted to get the record, but it just didn’t happen. I’ll be ready next year. And because of the wind, I’m looking forward to (today) to try for the record in the 200.”

The meet continues today at Silverado with track events beginning at 8 a.m. and field events at 9.

Also overcoming the delay to win a state title Friday was Mojave’s Tyreek Carter, who won the Division I-A boys 100-meter title.

Carter powered through the wind to outlast Desert Pines’ Eric Wilkes, grabbing the state title in 11.40 seconds.

“The wait didn’t bother me too much. I was just trying to stay off my feet,” Carter said. “(The wind) was crazy. I’m not used to the wind, but I just did my best. I’ve been running since sixth grade, so it’s all about repetition.

“Being a state champion feels great.”

McQueen led the team standings over Centennial after nine events, 40-37. Dajour Braxton won the 3,200 in 9:22.62 to keep the Bulldogs in striking distance heading into today’s competition.

Other highlights from the first day included Cimarron-Memorial’s boys 400 relay team, which eked out the closest win of the day over Legacy. The Spartans won in 42.152 seconds to edge the Longhorns by 0.007 seconds.

In Division I-A, Tyson Teerlink of Virgin Valley cleared 15 feet, 4 inches to win the state title and set a meet record in the boys pole vault — eclipsing the old mark of 15-3 from 2005.

Churchill County led the team scores with 39 points after eight events. Mojave sits three points behind in second. Carter’s win and Jalon Dean’s victory in the 300 hurdles (39.56) powered the Rattlers.