It was a perfect day with great conditions and a lot of personal bests in Sedona.

The Sedona Invitational that occurred on Saturday, April 6, was the Scorpions’ track and field teams second meet this season.

The Scorpions girls freshmen and sophomores finished first out of 18 teams after accumulating 99 points.

Scorpions coach Harry Schneider said the younger athletes’ performance improves Sedona’s state qualifying odds.

 Would you consider Saturday a success?
Absolutely. I do not believe there were any negatives from Saturday. We have a lot of players with minor injuries,
such as Emma Beattie and Abby Stevenson, but they performed well. Emma had not been practicing due to injury, but she performed exceptionally well on Saturday. Francisco Bekele won the sophomore 400 meters and was in the relay team that finished third.
Our pole vaulting team was excellent, Forrest Hartley was shooting for 13 feet but ended up at 12 feet 6 inches, which is great.
Shota Yabuuchi placed second in the mile at 4:52, so he had an excellent day as well. It was a great performance from the freshman as he ran his personal best in the mile and in the 800 meters. Some kids ran what they typically run but nobody had a bad performance last week.

 What were you looking for from your team?
I wanted to see them compete with athletes at their level. There is a big difference in physical maturity between a 14-year old and an 18-year old.
Courtney Hanson won the freshman/sophomore shot put and discus, which was great. If players continue to achieve personal bests, then I cannot argue with the results. Even if they did not place, it was important that they still did their best.
At this point, I am looking for everyone to keep going after their personal bests. Unfortunately, we are not a sport where we can say we will win the league championship because there is not one. Hopefully the kids continue to improve, so they can look forward to coming back next season.

What was your favorite moment from the meet?
From a competitive standpoint, the 4×400 relay towards the end of the meet was very exciting. Even though we were not involved in that event, it was a great way to cap off a great meet. We were in it for most of the day but we were lacking one leg due to injury. Christian Welch is nursing an injury, which tempered our chances in that area. We do not have a superstar in the quarter-mile but we do have a lot of good runners in that area. We also did not have any computer glitches this time, which is great.

 Did the Scorpions fare better than at the Sedona Friendship Invitational?
I would say so. The players did fine in the first meet, but they have definitely improved since then.

 Did any athletes qualify for state?
Courtney Hanson has either qualified or is very close for the discus. She has already qualified for shot put, so she had a solid season.
Tory Ferguson is right there, I felt like she had to throw an 80 in the discus and she posted a 79 ‘2 on Saturday. Our relay teams have qualified but the question is, who will participate in it? As a coach, that is awesome because the athletes will work hard to make it. In some years, the four kids running can walk and make the team but not this year. Dylan Beattie is currently injured, but he has already qualified
in the high jump. He also qualified in the triple jump but I do not know if it will hold up for the rest of the season.

 How have the seniors led the team?
Gabe de Luz did a very fine job and Cheyenne Javey has been very consistent for us. She has not had a breakthrough performance but she typically runs the same time when she runs.
The Scorpions will participate in another local meet as Mingus Union has its Mingus Invitational on Friday,
April 12. The first event is slated to begin at 3 p.m.
Sedona’s regular season ends at Last Chance on Tuesday, April 23.

regular season ends at Last Chance on Tuesday, April 23.