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Phil Lawton on the Skyhawk Invitational

Published by
John Dixon of DyeStatNV   Apr 15th 2012, 12:51pm
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Green Valley’s Durrell MacDonald Jumps Seven Feet at Skyhawk Invitational

 

The Skyhawk Invitational, held on the Silverado High School track, began on a chilly morning under cloudy skies and drizzle, but things warmed up considerably with some hot performances by a number of athletes, especially Green Valley’s Durrell McDonald, Liberty’s Ashlie Blake, and pair of athletes from Palo Verde, Marissa Suan and Nahjee Matlock. 

 

McDonald became only the third Nevada athlete to clear 7 feet in the high jump, according to John Dixon, Nevada Track Stats webmaster. 

 

“There was a kid named Trujillo from Hug years ago and Rod Smith from Western that also jumped 7-00,” said Dixon. So Durrell McDonald is the state’s 3rd ever 7 footer.”

 

"Amazing!" said Head Green Valley Coach, Blaine McDonald. "I've never seen a high school kid jump seven feet. Durrell was as relaxed as I have ever seem him... He's jumped 6-10 three times now and had four of five really good attempts at seven. Today he was finally able to do it. Today we wanted him to start at six-four, so he'd have a better shot at it. But, he said, 'ah, it's a little too cool.'" 

 

But as the  skies cleared, it warmed up.

 

"It was perfect conditions, said Durrell, I felt good."

 

"The other thing he has the facility for that most of us don't have,"added Thompson, "is...the higher it goes, the more people are watching, the better he gets. Instead of getting tense, he just get psyched!" 

 

With a big smile on his face, McDonald nodded shyly, "Yeah!"

 

Ashlie Blake, ranked by dyestat.com as the #2 shot putter in the USA, with a season best of 49 feet 10 an a half inches, was hoping to break 50 feet. 

 

“It’s not raining any more. It’s a good day for it. I’m hoping to PR and throw 50 feet, said Blake. I threw 49-10 at Arcadia.” I’m healthy and I feel good.”

 

Blake settled for a throw of 48-03.75 in winning the shot and a winning throw of 144-10 in winning the discus. The margin of victory in each event was impressive to say the least. The runner-up toss in the shot was 35-01.75, while the second best throw in the discus was 99-03, both by Cortney Miller of Calvery Chapel. 

 

The second double winner among the girls was Canyon Springs junior Courtney Robinson, who dominated both hurdle races. Robinson also ran on two of Canyon Springs’ three winning relay teams: the 400 and 800-meter relays. 

 

Robinson won the 100 meter high hurdles in 15:99—over a full second ahead of second place Amari Norris of Silverado, who ran 17:09—and the 300 meter intermediate hurdles in 43.87—over four seconds ahead of runner-up Norris, again, who ran 47.97. 

 

“I didn’t feel too good with my 100 hurdles,” said Robinson, There was a strong wind coming against me.” 

 

When commenting on being on two winning relay teams, the Canyon Springs junior added, “We work way beyond harsh, to get to where we are to break new records and setting them.” 

 

The third double winner among the girls, Palo Verde sophomore Marissa Suan, won both the 1600 and the 3200. The 1600 was one of the most exciting races of the day as Suan and Coronado sophomore Sara Dort traded places back and forth over the last lap, Suan winning in 5:19.50 and Dort a second back in 5:20.89. 

 

“Basically, I just wanted to stay calm and pace off of them (other runners),” said Suan after her win in the 1600. “I really wanted to work in the middle of the race rather than the beginning and the end…. She (Dort) started kicking way earlier than I did, so I realized that I had time.”

 

“We have work to do,” said Coach Robert Davis, after Suan’s win the 1600, “but we’re where we want to be at this point in the season. Marissa has only run one other invitational. It’s a long season.”

 

Suan had an easier time in winning the 3200. She led “wire-to-wire” and was never seriously challenged, winning in 11:40.50 over Desert Oasis freshman Brooke Locey, who ran 11:46.32. Dort, who finished third, was the only other runner to break 12 minutes (11:50.85).

 

The only double individual winner among the men was Palo Verde senior Nahjee Matlock, who won the 100 in 11:17 and the 200 in 22.05. 

 

The men’s 1600 produced the closest finish of the day as Shadow Ridge sophomore Nicholas Oberdin nipped Clark’s Basabose Bahati by two hundreds of a second: 4:33.96 to 4:33.98. 

 

Bahati was not to be denied, however. The Clark senior won the 3200 by closely following his game plan. 

 

“I wanted to run a five-minute (first) mile. It was slow so I started to pick it up,” said Bahati, who surged on his fifth lap and broke away from the pack. “I was really happy to get under 10.” 

 

Bahati’s winning time of 9:57.30 included a 70 second last lap. The only other runner to break 10 minutes was Valley’s Alec McMillan, who finished second in 9:59.20. 

 

Faith Lutheran and host Silverado led the team scoring. 

 

The Crusader men, with 87 points, outscored Canyon Springs (79) and Silverado (78), while the Silverado women finished ahead of Coronado by a score of 68 to 62, with Green Valley and Palo Verde tied for third with 57 points. 

 

(Phil Lawton)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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