Verrado Competes at Covina Invite

Verrado's Emily Pompa clears her five foot attempt in the high jump.

Verrado Competes At Covina Invite

  Verrado High School’s track and field team traveled to California’s San Gabriel Valley last weekend to participate in the Covina Invitational track and field event. This was the event’s 23rd year.

  The Covina Invitational was the creation of current Verrado and former Agua Fria Head Track Coach Ted Campbell, who previously taught and coached at host Covina High School. Campbell’s Covina legacy has grown into an event attended by more than 30 schools this year.  In addition to Verrado, other teams also traveled from Nevada and Washington state.

  Verrado took 51 athletes to the event which held track and field events for Varsity and Freshman/Sophomore levels.

  Some of the Vipers’ best performances in the field events.  Senior boys high jumper Chris Jones finished first overall with a jump of 6’ 4”, which is equal to his personal record. He finished with a jump 2 inches high than his closest competition.

  Madison Goss finished fourth overall in the girls high jump, clearing a height of 5’ 2”. 

  Other field competitors included David Bassett, who threw the discuss more than 133 feet and put the shot more than 43 feet.  Morgan Irish was the girls top performer in the throwing events. She launched the discus more than 83 feet, while registering a distance of more than 31 feet in the shot put.

  In the Frosh division Jacob Wahlstrom was the top Verrado high jumper with a height of 5’ 4”.

  On the track, Verrado fielded athletes in sprinting and distance events.  Top finishers on the track included Ross Dietz who finished eight in the 100 meter dash, Paden Goucher who was sixth in the 1600 meter run and Xavier James who finished 8th in the 300 meter hurdles.  The boys 4x400 team of Nathan Roehl, Dillon Ratliff, James and Goucher finished fifth overall.

  For the girls, Justice Spivey and Megan Dentler finished sixth and tenth respectively in the 300 meter hurdles.  Spivey also finished tenth in the 100 meter hurdles. The 4x100 hurdle team of Goss, Kelly Smith, Melissa Cramer and Uche Uchendu finished seventh overall.

  In addition to the track and field event, the Viper athletes also got to have some fun when they traveled to Magic Mountain theme park on Friday afternoon.  The team stayed into the evening.

  The weekend also included a little unplanned excitement as two earthquakes and a series of small aftershocks shook the greater Los Angeles area.  Verrado Principal Thomas Huffman tweeted the team was safe after the first earthquake hit on Friday evening. The team was on a bus en route to their hotel.  A second quake hit Saturday afternoon during the track meet. It went largely unnoticed but the tremor did cause a moment of instability for those on their feet.

The Viper track team has several more events scheduled this year including the Sun Angel Classic at Arizona State University,  the Agua Fria District Championships on Apr. 24 and the Viper Last Chance Qualifier on Apr. 30.  The Arizona Div. II track meet begins on Wedneday, May 7.