Ponce’s pair of wins propels Patriot boys past Skyhawks at Sunrise Frosh-Soph meet
Martin Ponce posted two wins to help Liberty’s boys track team capture the Sunrise Region Freshman-Sophomore Meet on Friday.
The freshman won the 800-meter and 1,600-meter runs to lift the Patriots to a narrow 104-102 victory over Silverado at Del Sol.
“I thought the competition would be more,” Ponce said. “After the first lap, I was thinking about my time. I was trying to PR, but the wind was tough.”
Ponce, Brian Marshall of Foothill and Colin Schultz of Silverado battled through three laps of the 1,600 before the Liberty freshman broke away to win in 4 minutes, 47.12 seconds. Marshall finished second in 4:54.16.
Ponce had to come from behind to win the 800, finding himself in the back of the pack after the first lap.
“Everyone in front of me started getting slow,” he said. “I was able to pick up the pace with about 200 to go.”
Ponce took the lead in the final stretch and then hung on to win a photo-finish time of 2:05.92 over Daniel Marquez of Sunrise Mountain (2:05.94).
Donnel Pumphrey of Canyon Springs was selected as the Outstanding Male Athlete of the Meet for wins in the 100 and 200 and running a leg on the 1,600-meter relay team.
“My coaches helped me out,” Pumphrey said. “I didn’t have a good start. I like the 200. It gives me a second race.”
Coronado’s girls team nipped Valley for the team title, 84-81.
The Cougars were helped in their team quest by the upset win of freshman Logan Lucas in the 1,600.
Lucas had the sixth-best seed time but prevailed in what turned out to be a tactical race.
“It was hard with the wind. I just stayed with the pack for the first two laps,” Lucas said. “On the third lap, a couple of people died. I was afraid it was going to be a sprint at the end.”
It was.
In a near blanket finish, the top three runners were within a second of each other, with Lucas winning in 5:38.90 over Jessica Tobbler of Boulder City (5:39.15), and Ebonique Diaz of Sunrise Mountain (5:39.77).
Liberty sophomore Jazzlyn Wilkins was named the Outstanding Female Athlete of the Meet.
Wilkins won the 300 hurdles, finished second in the 200, was fourth in the 100 high hurdles, and placed sixth in the 100 for a total of 26 individual points.
100–Pumphrey, CS, 11.14; Flintroy, DP, 11.33; Steel, BC, 11.37. 200–Pumphrey, CS, 22.07; Henderson, Foot, 22.55; Larocca, Lib, 22.86. 400–Henderson, Foot, 52.15; Lewis, CS, 53.36; Lopez, Lib, 53.43. 800–Ponce, Lib, 2:05.92; Marquez, SM, 2:05.94; Perkins, Ran, 2:07.46. 1600–Ponce, Lib, 4:47.12; Marshall, Foot, 4:54.16; Zimdars, GV, 4:57.39. 3200–Marshall, Foot, 10:26.33; Zimdars, GV, 10:36.58; Dennis, Foot, 10:48.04. 110 hurdles–Wisner, Cor, 16.88; Nelson, GV, 17.06; Mertikas, Cor, 17.12. 300 hurdles–Nelson, GV, 41.84; McConnell, MV, 44.38; Wisner, Cor, 44.43. 400 relay–Canyon Springs 44.55; Chaparral 46.3; Liberty 46.32. 800 relay–Liberty 1:36.34; Silverado 1:36.69; Canyon Springs 1:37.05. 1600 relay–Silverado 3:38.85; Foothill 3:42.56; Virgin Valley 3:44.98. 3200 relay–Foothill 8:48.33; Silverado 8:59.3; Coronado 9:07.7. High jump–Cunningham, Sil, 5-10; Williams, Val, 5-10; Bryant, Chap, 5-10. Long jump–Luna, CS, 21-7; Carroll, Val, 20-11¼; Williams, 20-10¼. Triple jump–Smallwood, Sil, 41-9; Luna, CS, 40-8; Conterelli, Sil, 37-9. Pole Vault–Insigne, Lib, 10-6; Boren, MV, 10-6; Martin, Foot, 10-0. Shot put–Hernandez, Chap, 48-1; Ashby, Lib, 44-10; Tuufuli, Lib, 42-10½. Discus–Hernandez, Chap, 119-10; Flippen, GV, 119-3; Polu, Lib, 118-0.
100–Sailor, SM, 12.64; Carter, LV, 12.7; Garcia, Sil, 12.81. 200–Carter, LV, 25.68; Wilkins, Lib, 26.27; Sailor, SM, 26.42. 400–Swaine, Cor, 1:02.29; White, Foot, 1:02.5; Chitwood, CS, 1:03.07. 800–Lauten, Cor, 2:37.95; Bryson, Lib, 2:40.69; Allison, CS, 2:41.61. 1600–Lucas, Cor, 5:38.9; Tobler, BC, 5:39.15; Diaz, SM, 5:39.77. 3200–Czerwinski, Cor, 12:24.16; Tobler, BC, 12:24.66; Eskin, GV, 12:35.93. 100 hurdles–Laengle, Foot, 15.37; Norris, Sil, 16.16; Johnson, Val, 16.19. 300 hurdles–Wilkins, Lib, 47.82; Norris, Sil, 50.6; Francis, LV, 52.38. 400 relay–Silverado 53.61; Valley 53.62; Canyon Springs 53.68. 800 relay–Canyon Springs 1:51.58; Coronado 1:54.47; Las Vegas 1:54.49. 1600 relay–Canyon Springs 4:29.26; Coronado 4:35.88; Green Valley 4:39.8. 3200 relay–Coronado 10:33.07; Green Valley 10:33.18; Foothill 10:59.34. High jump–Laengle, Foot, 4-10; Fullow, Val, 4-8; Ke. Wharton, Val, and Herring, CS, and Arquette, VV, 4-6. Long jump–Garcia, Sil, 15-1; Attila, Val, 14-4; Yurek, SM, 14-2. Triple jump–Shorts, Val, 33-4; Attila, Val, 32-0; Herring, CS, 31-6¼. Pole Vault–Buck, GV, 8-0; Caton, SM, 8-0; Villa, DS, and Bailey, Foot, 7-6. Shot put–Ford, Chap, 35-0; Blalark, Ran, 33-5; Gray, MV, 31-8. Discus–Stevenson-Collins, Val, 86-2; Blalark, Ran, 84-8; Janosik, Sil, 83-2.
