Gorman high jumper Cunningham breaks region record set in ’77

Sometimes setting records is not enough. Bishop Gorman’s Randall Cunningham II broke the oldest Zone/Region track and field record on the books Friday at the Sunset Region meet at Silverado and still wasn’t satisifed.

The junior cleared 7 feet in the high jump, breaking the mark of 6-10 set by Western’s Rod Smith in 1977.

“I could have done better,” Cunningham said. “It was a good day to jump, and I felt good.”

Cunningham, who has cleared 7-3 this season, missed on three attempts at 7-2.

“He was not satisfied with it,” said his jump coach and father, Randall Cunningham. “(Randall) sets his own goals and sets very high standards for himself. I have to train him differently ... keep his energy levels up. He’s putting a lot of time in with football, which uses up a lot of energy. Plus, this is really just midseason for him (in track). He will be competing in national and international meets this summer.”

Another record came in the Sunrise girls shot put. Liberty’s Ashlie Blake broke her own region mark of 47-9½ with a throw of 47-10¼. She has a best of 51-3½ this season.

“I was happy to get the win and now look forward to state,” said Blake, who topped her nearest competitor by more than 11 feet. “There was not much pressure today; it was hard to push myself.”

It was Blake’s second meet victory. The junior won the Sunrise discus Wednesday.

Liberty’s Reno Tuufuli also picked up a throwing double, winning the boys discus with a toss of 175-2 after claiming the shot put Wednesday.

“I was really happy with my throwing today,” Tuufuli said. “This was an all-time (personal record) for me. It is finally coming together for me in the discus. Lots of practice and lots of help from my coaches.”

Cimarron-Memorial’s Kaycee Luke cleared 11 feet to set a Sunset Region record in the girls pole vault, and Valley’s Arphaxad Carroll missed setting the Sunrise boys triple jump record by a quarter inch with his leap of 23-8½.

“I was satisfied, even though I just missed the region record,” Carroll said. “There are a lot of good jumpers in the Sunrise; we really push each other. I’m hoping to win state (in the long jump).”

Centennial was the big winner in the two running finals. The boys took the 3,200-meter relay (8 minutes, 2.96 seconds), winning easily over Desert Oasis (8:14.05) and Cimarron-Memorial (8:17.78).

The other running final was the girls 3,200. Centennial’s Sydney Badger led from the start and shattered her own Sunset record (11:11.82) set last year. Badger’s time of 10:56.49 was the fastest of the day.

“Sydney is in the best condition of her life,” coach Roy Session said. “We have figured out what the medical issues were. She’s also hungry. She is training and racing at a very high level. As for the rest of the team, we’re right where we want to be. All (our athletes) who I expected to qualify have done so, plus a few I didn’t expect.”

In the Sunrise, Silverado won the boys 3,200 relay in 8:08.71, and Coronado’s Sara Dort won the girls 3,200 (11:42.66).