Record book takes beating at Las Vegas Track Classic

It might be easier to just start a new record book.

Twelve meet records were either broken or matched Saturday on a banner day at the Las Vegas Track Classic at Del Sol.

Despite no team scores being kept, Liberty had a memorable day with throwers Ashlie Blake and Reno Tuufuli each setting a meet standard, and Colin Schultz, Martin Ponce and Jaylon Mitchell each claiming a win.

Blake, a junior, set a meet record in the shot put with an effort of 49 feet, 0½ inches and threw 142-5 to take the discus title en route to Outstanding Field Athlete honors.

“The shot is my main focus, but I’ve got to be good in the discus for when I go to college, so I work harder on that,” Blake said. “That 49 today put some fire in me for this early in the season.”

Tuufuli fired 169-0 to set a record in the boys discus, and teammate Mitchell jumped 22-3 to take the boys long jump.

Ponce turned what was expected to be a close boys 1,600-meter race into something of a runaway, breezing to a win in 4 minutes, 26.16 seconds, more than four seconds ahead of Cimarron-Memorial’s Seth Wright.

“I was happy with the result,” Ponce said. “The pace was slow, so I just took it out. The competition wasn’t that great. I expected to be pushed but it didn’t happen.”

Schultz was pushed for the first 600 meters in the boys 800 before pulling away to win in 1:54.73.
Liberty coach Dave Butler was all smiles.

“What has impressed me most this year is how humble they are and how hard working they are,” Butler said. “We’ve had kids come out of nowhere this year. We expected Schultz and Ponce to do well, but Mitchell in the long jump today jumped over 22 feet, almost two feet better than he has ever done. And Reno Tuufuli threw 169 (feet) in the discus today. He’s been having trouble with it, and then today, almost out of nowhere, he pops one.

“And Ashlie (Blake) is Ashlie. She is incredible, one of the top high school throwers in the country.”

Bishop Gorman brother and sister phenoms Randall and Vashti Cunningham got in on the record-breaking action, too.

Randall, who earlier this season cleared 7-2 in the high jump, cleared 7-0 on his second attempt Saturday and had the bar moved to 7-3, but failed to clear.

Vashti, who has the best mark of any high school girl in the country this season at 5-10, set a meet mark by going over at 5-7.

“I’m really happy with the kids,” Gorman jumps coach Randall Cunningham said of his son and daughter. “They’re making good progress.”

The boys 100 and 200 featured two of the closest finishes.

Bonanza junior Jayveon Taylor, a two-time state champion who never has been beaten in the 100, barely kept his streak alive, nipping Legacy junior Casey Hughes by two one-hundredths of a second. Taylor’s time of 10.74 tied a meet mark.

Hughes got revenge in the 200, winning in a meet-record 21.73. Taylor was second in 21.83, marking the first time he was beaten in a 200 since his freshman season.

Faith Lutheran’s Clarissa Maxey won the girls 100 in 12.38 and the 200 in 25.54.

Arbor View’s boys 800 relay team set a meet mark by finishing in 1:27.77, the fourth-fastest time in the country this year according to track website Athletic.net.