Printable VersionLed by titles in the boys and girls 4x100-meter relays, the Lake Havasu High School track teams trekked through the 29th Annual London Bridge Rotary Club Invitational on Saturday at Thunderbolt Middle School.
Yuma Cibola (118 points) won the girls title while Goodyear Desert Edge (158) claimed the top finish in the boys competition.
Knights coach Geno Licari said his young squad excelled in Saturday's meet.
“I thought we had a tremendous effort,” Licari said. “I was real pleased with the effort ... We had a great day.”
In girls events, Havasu's Maria Schmeling, Demi Muha, Taylor Tamayo and Rachel Cortez captured first place in 55.40 seconds to edge a team from Bullhead City Mohave by nine hundreths of a second.
Knight runner Nikki Morris gained second-place finishes in both the 1,600 and 3,200 races. Morris finished the 1,600 in five minutes, 53.04 seconds and completed the 3,200 in 13:06.15.
“I think I did good in the 1,600 ... I don't think I did as good in the (3,200),” Morris said.
Morris said high winds added difficulty to the competitions.
“It was tough,” Morris said. “You try to draft.”
Discus and shot put hurler Tiffany McMann said the wind also played a role in her field events.
“The wind kind of messed me up a lot,” McMann said about her discus performance.
McMann placed fifth in the discus with a heave of 80 feet, 2 inches. She took fourth in the shot put (28-0.5).
Schmeling earned silver in the pole vault by clearing 7-6, captured bronze for the triple jump at 26-5 and finished sixth in the high jump (4-8).
In the long jump, Lauren Bledsoe leaped 14-4.5 for third place.
Cortez dashed to third in the 100 (14.42) and fourth in the 400 (1:07.89). Muha completed the 200 in 29.58 for third.
In relay events, the Knight girls finished third in the 4x800 (10:57.68) and fifth in the 4x400 (4:50.53).
For the Havasu boys, Blake Garcia, Alex Cude, Brett Mesica and Doug Greene combined for a 44.69 finish to capture the 4x100 relay title.
Jeff Beickel gained the Knights' lone individual title on Saturday after clearing 6 feet in the high jump.
Havasu also gained sixth-place points in the high jump from Tommy Fothergill (5-4).
Greene placed third in the 800 (2:15.19).
The Knight freshman said he started to wear down near the end of the race.
“At first, I was kind of ready for it. Then the last two laps ... I was kind of tired,” Greene said.
Fourth-place finishes went to Wayne Salazar in the 100 (11.90) and Cody Ferguson in the 400 (55.11).
R.J. Sossaman earned fifth in the shot put (39-11.5). Discus throwers Ryan McEuen (119-4) and Josh Plummer (113-4), fifth and sixth respectively.
The Knight boys gained second in the 4x200 relay (3:45.55).
Licari said the 29th running of the Rotary Invitational went off without a hitch.
“The overall running of the meet was great,” Licari said.
The meet is one of several annual events the London Bridge Rotary Club requires its members to assist with each year.
Ashley Aitken of Yuma Catholic received Outstanding Female Athlete honors and Desert Edge's Deandre Thomas earned the Outstanding Male Athlete award.
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