No one on the Fountain Hills High School track and field team had ever had a home meet to start the season. The seniors spoke of comfort and excitement racing in their own back yard, and both the boys and girls teams won second place in the home Falcon Relays last Thursday, March 9.

“It’s nice to do it early on so we can kind of get that out of the way,” head coach Kevin Clancy said. “It was a fun meet for everyone. Marks don’t matter a ton at this point. People are still getting good and into their fitness. We can just focus on coaching and developing our athletes after.”

There were hundreds of competitors, and it took parent and teacher volunteers, as well as a full coaching staff, to make it all happen. Clancy was thankful for all the support, and he said the meet was well-liked by the five other teams present.

The Falcons won several events, like the 100m hurdle relay and girls long jump. The Falcons have only practiced for a few weeks, but the impact of Ed Tafoya, a new assistant throwing coach, along with former javelin state champion Stephanie Lies, was noticeable right away.

Seven Falcons vaulted up into the school records in javelin this past week. Senior Jentezen Behnke placed second in the Falcon Relays, and is now fourth in school history with a 126’3” toss. Coming in fourth at the relays, and now ninth in school history, is senior Brandon Despain with a 105’0” toss.

Junior Julian Sepulveda is now 13th in school history (91’10”), freshman Jaysonn Thompson is 16th (75’10”), and senior Dylan Horsfall is 17th (75’7”). Sophomore Tyler Tolis is now 19th (68’7”), and junior Katelyn Smout is now eighth for girls (39’0”).

Sophomore Katherine Hampton already held the fifth best record and came in third in the javelin toss last week (63’2”). Junior Skye Alker is also on the leaderboard and set a new season best last week (44’0”).

Junior Keian Evans came in third in shot put (34’5.5”). He is still 10th all time in school history with his new personal record, and his younger brother, sophomore Avery Evans, moved up to 20th all time in shot put (31’8.5”).

Another new Falcon through recent transfer, sophomore Sara Dethlefs, shined in the long jump. She came in first at the relays (13’5”) and also finished fifth in 300m (48.13). She was the first Falcon to finish, and another fellow first time Falcon runner, sophomore Aysha Rasool, finished close behind in the 300m (54.75).

Junior Erin Hooley came in third on the long jump (12’8”) and senior JP Cahill tied for second place in the long jump (17’10”). Seniors Zion Atwood and Gunnar Wise tied for first in the 100m hurdles at (19.7).

The seniors and juniors have devoted years to running, but they are impressed with how the underclassmen have been performing. The upperclassmen hope to benefit from the large influx of talent by making the state meet this year, and they also have high hopes for the future of their teammates.

“It’s really surprising, how into it they already are,” senior Franklin Fiola said. “We have a lot of people already coming in every day, and even before practice they stay with Clancy and do their homework so they’re all ready and stress free. They’re really putting in the work and you can see it already.”

The Falcons have eight freshmen on a roster of 45 athletes. Allison Guerrette is the only freshman girl, and she ran cross country with freshmen Tyler Eastman, Mathew Gonzales and Colby Wright last year. They are all experimenting with shorter distances and field events in track and field.

Several of the freshmen only ran relays and do not have specific times to report yet. Gonzales (44.72) and Eastman (54.65) ran the 300m race, and according to senior Tyler Irvine-Violette, Wright is trying to do pole vaulting this year.

“He’s always trying so hard at practice, and it’s just really awesome to see,” Irvine-Violette said of Wright. “I know by the time he’s in his senior year, that kid’s going to be a lot faster than I am.”

The Falcons ran a senior lap at the end of the meet and had fun by using a leaf blower as a relay baton. The seniors did not have home meets as freshmen or sophomores, and they had two home meets last year against one other team.

The home meet kicked off the season with high spirits, but now the Falcons will focus on qualifying for state. Their next chance will be this Friday, March 17, when they travel to Tucson for the Mario Castro Invitational at Sunnyside High School.