Girls track: Turner wins state title

Favorite’s bizarre choice leads to Preston taking second in high jump

LAS VEGAS — Dayton High’s Kaylee Turner ended her 2015 season in grand style.

Turner won the 1A discus title with a meet and school-record throw of 132-feet 11-inches at Saturday’s NIAA State Track & Field Championships at Del Sol High School.

Turner had throws of 119-9, 115-3 and 123-4 in addition to her winning throw. She also had two fouls.

The only other Dayton girl to medal was Zaria Landis, who was third in the 1600 at 5:23.68. Rebecca Mason was sixth in the high jump at 4-6.

Turner was able to shrug of the disappointment of not winning the shot put on Saturday.

“My coach (Mike Paul) told me he wanted me to bounce back and come back with a win,” Turner said. “I think I let it go. Today was a good day. I just wanted to come out and throw better than I did before.”

“I’m so proud of her,” Paul said. “She has been throwing those numbers in practice, and it was just a matter of time before she got one in a meet.”

Turner won the shot and placed second in the discus a year ago at Carson.

D1: Bizarre second for Preston

When Maddie Preston left the high jump pit, she thought she had finished third at 5-2.

About 30 minutes later, without making another jump, Preston ended up in second place.

The reason? Vashti Cunningham of Bishop Gorman.

Cunningham, who has cleared 6-4 before, decided not to come into the event until the bar was at 5-10. All the other competitors had already been eliminated.

Cunningham no-heighted at 5-10, giving the state title to Legacy’s Victoria Wuest, who cleared just 5-3.

It was shocking to say the least, and that strategy was questioned by many coaches. Most felt Cunningham should have come in earlier to get one jump in when the bar reached 5-3. Had she cleared that she would have won on fewer misses.

Preston, still showing signs of her hamstring injury, cleared 4-8, 4-10 and 5-feet with just one miss. She cleared 5-2 on her last attempt at the height.

Julie Reid, Carson’s jumps coach, said Preston was having issues with her approach.

Preston said her leg was still bothering her throughout the competition despite being able to take off on her left leg instead of the injured right leg.

“I’m worried about the high jump,” Preston said after the high jump. “This run is a lot shorter than the run for the long jump.”

Preston did struggle in the long jump, posting a mark of 15-9 which placed her last. Teammate Hailey Palotas was sixth at 16-1 1/4.

The Senators’ only other medal came in the 800 relay when the quartet of ValerieSue Meyer, Athena Favero, Sahara Winder and Palotas clocked a 1:43.95.

When Winder got the baton for the anchor leg she was in sixth. She was able to pick off two runners and get Carson into the medal position.

“We’re happy,” Winder said. “We had pretty good exchanges.”

The only slow one was between Favero and Meyer, who apparently took off a little early.

Meyer came back and ran a season PR of 59.1, but didn’t medal. Winder finished sixth in the 200.

Douglas’ Morgan Weston took third in the discus with a 122-3.

“I didn’t throw as well as I hoped,” Weston said.

“It was a little bit of an off day.”

Weston felt the ring was a little slick, and she was unable to get comfortable.

At least Weston got to compete.

Lindsey Adams, according to coach Jim Abbott, was having a lot of health issues which led to her poor performance in the 800 on Friday. She opted not to run the 1600 on Saturday.

D-4: Marchegger shines for Falcons

Elaina Marchegger state meet debut was a ringing success.

She followed up her two individual wins on Friday with two more on Saturday.

Marchegger won the 1600 with a PR of 5:45.18, and she ran a relay leg on the Falcons’ winning 3200 relay team (10:57.1).

Marchegger only got into running after her 10-year-old horse, Torrey Pines, passed away. She was big into the equestrian scene until this year.

“I’d been riding since I was 5,” Marchegger said. “My friends and family talked to me about running.”

So far, it’s turned out to be a good decision.

The Falcons got a first place from their 800 relay team of Rebeka Churchill, Abby Ferenz, Grace Bonfede and Torreyana Sanguinetti. Cali Benton won the discus with a throw of 105-2 and took fourth in the long jump with a 14-6 1/2.

Ferenz had a second in the high jump (4-8) and Amy Westre was second in the discus (91-10).

NOTES: Five records were set on Saturday, including Turner’s D-1A mark in the discus. The Centennial girls (D1) ran a 9:18.32 3200 meters for a state and meet record in that division. Spring Creek’s Kellie Kinaman set a D1A record with a 15.06 110 hurdle win. The old mark was 15.07 back in 1997. Clarissa Maxey tied a 1A meet record with a 55.19 in the 400. Delaney Gosse set a D-3 high jump mark when she cleared 5-8 … Sierra Lutheran won the title handily. Carson finished sixth in the D-1 event and Dayton was unofficially seventh in 1A.