Originally posted to the web in Sports, on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 6:36 PM CDT.
Peirce sets school record with fourth at state
Wickenburg High School senior Kara Peirce eclipsed her own one-week-old school record in the 800-meter run Saturday (May 10) with a fourth-place finish in the Arizona 3A State Track and Field Championships at Mesa High School.
Peirce, who won the 3A West Region title in the half-mile event a week earlier in a school record time of 2:27.37 minutes, completed the two laps Saturday in 2:25.98.
Her performance was the highlight of the 18 Wickenburg High athletes’ efforts in 14 events at the two-day state meet.
The other top finishes for Wranglers included the girls 4-by-100 relay team’s seventh place; freshman Viviana Ruiz’s eighth in the 3200 meters and ninth in the 400 meters; and junior Wyatt Leavitt’s ninth-place finish in the boys discus.
“The girls capped off the season scoring some points by Kara, Viviana and the 4-by-100 relay team,” noted Wickenburg’s veteran track coach Doug Clementz. “The girls in the 4-by-100 were a pleasant surprise. They were in the slower heat and were able to run faster than three of the teams in the fast heat while finishing second in their heat and running a near-perfect race.
“It was their personal best (53.39 seconds), and their handoffs were great, which is what we were hoping for,” he added.
The foursome included Ruiz, Hannah Schuck, McKenzie Roberts and Jordyn Schuck.
Ruiz finished ninth in the 400-meter preliminaries Friday (May 9) -- narrowly missing qualification to compete in the eight-girl final Saturday -- but medaled with her eighth-place finish in the 3200 meters.
As an indication of how challenging that event will be in the future for the Wrangler freshman, all 16 qualifiers in the 3200 finals were underclassmen -- and seven of them were freshmen. She was the third best among the freshmen.
Wyatt qualified for the finals on Saturday after finishing in the last qualifying spot, ninth, in Friday’s preliminaries. He topped his preliminary distance of 121 feet, 2 inches with a toss of 124-2 in the finals but remained in ninth.
One other Top 10 performer for the Wickenburg athletes was sophomore Sarilda Grantham in the girls discus. Her personal best distance of 86 feet, 8 inches was good enough for 10th place.
“Sarilda did an outstanding job finishing just outside qualification for the finals in her first year in track, which is good,” Coach Clementz noted.
Junior Shane Martin was the most active of the Wickenburg participants
in the state meet. He finished 11th in the boys 400 meters; 13th in the 200 meters; led off the boys’ 4-by-400 relay team in their 12th-place
finish; and ran the anchor leg of the team’s 13th-place 4-by-100 relay squad.
Senior Jordyn Schuck capped her track career at Wickenburg High by not only anchoring the 7th-place 4-by-100 relay team but also placing 12th in the girls 200.
“Jordyn ran a good race but missed the finals after making them the previous two years, and she closed out a tremendous career,” Clementz concluded.
Blue Ridge, out of the East Region, won the girls’ state championship title against runner-up Sedona Red Rock.
Safford, out of the South Region, won the boys’ state crown against second-place Blue Ridge, followed by Wickenburg’s West opponents Sedona Red Rock in third and Chino Valley in fourth.
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