MHS runners head to finals

Toby finishing the 1600 m (Photo courtesy Don Qualls)

By Don Qualls

On April 27, Mammoth High School sent six athletes to compete in the pre-lims of the Desert Mountain Track Championships, held at Antelope Valley College, in Lancaster, Calif.

High schools present were Mammoth, Desert Christian, Vasquez, Lone Pine, Boron, Mojave, Trona and Silver Valley.

Mammoth High School sent Senior Sam Knadler, Junior Jesse Harris, sophomores Toby Qualls and Sydney Knadler, and freshmen Trevor Meads and Hailey Hugelman.

With no track to practice on, lots of snow, and little equipment, coaches Brian Pennington and Meghan Bair made do, and made good. All six athletes gave their coaches and community something to cheer about, as all six finished high enough in the rankings to move on to the finals to be held May 3, again at Antelope Valley College.  In order to move on athletes had to finish in the top nine of each event.

The ladies got things started in the 1600 m run. Hugelman and Knadler finished 4th and 5th respectively, with times of 6:25 and 6:30 for the one mile run. Knadler also qualified for the women’s 800 m run, finishing 6th, with a time of 2:59.

Toby Qualls then ran the men’s 1600 m, and beat out two very good Desert Christian runners, to take first place. Qualls out-sprinted all runners the last two hundred feet to get the win. His time was 4:45.

Jesse Harris qualified in second place in the high jump, at 4′-04. She qualified in sixth place in the women’s 100 m hurdles, with a time of 21:74 and 4th in the 300 m hurdles, with a time of 59:62.

Sam Knadler, sister to Sydney, qualified 6th in the women’s long jump, with a jump of 11-00′ .75″.

Trevor Meads qualified by finishing 8th in the men’s 300 m hurdles, with a time of 54:99.

Qualls finished the day by winning the 3200 m run, with a time of 10:26. He drafted off of Desert Christians Scott Acton, then out-sprinted him to the finish line. Watch for faster times next week as all runners will give it their all in order to qualify and be considered in the state process.