Valley’s Wharton breaks mentor’s record in 200

RENO -- For 25 years, Michael Dexter has watched his state meet record in the 200-meter dash hold up.

Little did he know, he would end up coaching the boy who eventually broke it.

Dexter's club track protege, Valley sophomore Garic Wharton, ran a 21.10-second 200 to break the record by .03 seconds at Friday's state track and field championships at Damonte Ranch High School.

In the boys team competition, Damonte Ranch led the meet through 72 events with 43 points, 11 better than Galena. Chaparral was next with 31 points, and Cimarron-Memorial was fourth with 20.

Neither Wharton, who ran for Dexter's UNLV Elite track program as a freshman last year, nor Dexter expected Wharton to break the record this early.

"I haven't really thought about breaking that record; I just always think about first place," Wharton said. "Honestly, I really didn't expect to break it this year. The last meet, I thought I ran my fastest, and that was a 21.68."

Said Dexter, who coaches Canyon Springs at the high school level and set the record for Clark in 1982: "I told him if anybody could get it, I would love to see him do it, but I didn't think it'd be this year. Now, I'm proud that somebody I trained broke my record."

Dexter said he believes Wharton will continue to improve.

"From Day One, he was lazy, but we saw he had speed," Dexter said. "When we got him out there and groomed him, he came around. Now, at the rate Garic is going, he just has to put on some weight. Maybe this will wake him up."

On the girls side, Western's 400-meter relay team was wide awake -- and hungry.

The Warriors retained their state title with a state meet record-breaking time of 47.17 seconds, .49 seconds better than the 1977 Western 400 team, which previously held the record.

Entering the state meet, Western's unit -- comprising Tierra Tyler, Unique Conner, Kendra Irving and Megan Key -- said it would not be satisfied with merely a championship. The Warriors also wanted that record.

"The goal was to break that record; we wanted it two years ago," Western girls track coach Freddy Morrison said. "A lot of things happened in the process -- kids wouldn't give it all they got, the team wasn't together -- but this year, everything clicked."

Western's titles in the 1,600 relay, 400 relay and 100 dash (by Tyler) had the Warriors leading the girls competition with 35 points. Carson and Canyon Springs were tied for second with 26 points, one ahead of Reno.

Still, Morrison said he didn't think Western has run its best races.

"We know we can run around 46 seconds (in the 400)," Morrison said. "That 47 wasn't really a surprise to me because we run those in training, over and over and over. This group of athletes is hungry, and they know what it takes to do it."

Contact reporter Jon Gold at jgold@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0264.