The Fountain Hills High School track and field team was busy with three meets last week. The Falcons only have three more meets before the postseason begins, and the team has several qualifiers already and even more athletes on the outside looking in.

The Falcons had 29 finishes in the top 10 at the Sedona Red Rock Invitational on Saturday, April 8. Junior Eliana Bartman and freshman Allison Guerrette led the team with three top finishes each, and sophomores Katherine Hampton and Sara Dethlefs each had two top-ten finishes.

Seniors JP Cahill, Tyler-Irvine-Violette and Zion Atwood had two top-10 finishes for the Falcons. Junior Caleb Lara also had two top finishes, and freshman Colby Wright placed in the top five in the 1600m and the 3200m.

Wright took first place in the 3200m at the Falcons’ next race on Wednesday, April 12, and it was Wright’s third medal this season. His personal record of 11:00.27 in the 3200m stands at No. 33 in the division.

The Falcons had 36 total top-ten finishes at the Notre Dame Prep senior night invite last Wednesday. Junior Keian Evans took fourth in discus with a new personal record (109-01.5), and he stands at No. 29.

Bartman came in second in discuss (78-04) and sits at No. 34 in the division. Hampton came in fourth in discus (70-08) and fifth place in both javelin (66-0) and shot put (23-0). Hampton No. 26 in javelin standings at the time of writing.

Junior Giada Lombardo continued the field sport success and took third in pole vault with a new personal best (7-06). She’s now tied for 17th in the division.

The Falcons excelled in distance runs and hurdles. Irvine Violette took third in the 800m (2:04.57), and senior Franklin Fiola and junior Nathan Eastman finished 11th and 12th respectively. Atwood took fourth in the 1600m (4:55.54) and Lara took fifth (4:58.73), and the Falcons had top five placement in three of their four hurdle races.

Senior Gunnar Wise took fourth in both the 110m hurdles (17.71) and 300mh (45.67). He’s ranked No. 15 in 110mh and No. 23 in 300mh. Junior Garren Keeler took sixth in the 110mh (18.93) and fifth in the 300mh (46.16), and he’s ranked No. 27 in both events.

Junior Skye Alker finished third in the 800m (2:45.97), and Guerrette took fifth (2:49.12). Both girls are ranked in the top 50 in the 800m, and junior Erin Hooley is ranked No. 24 with her PR (2:35.24).

Hooley also has qualifying marks in two other events. She’s No. 16 in the 400m (1:04.41) and No. 18 in the 1600m (5:44.57).

The girls have qualifying marks in the 4x400 and they are close to qualifying for the 4x100 relays. They moved up to No. 15 in the 4x400 with a new best (4:38.92) from Alker, Bartman, Dethlefs and Guerrette. The Falcons’ 4x100m girls relay stands at No. 19 (55.60).

The boys set new marks for the 4x400 relay at Sedona and moved up to No. 13 (3:42.24). They improved on their 4x100 time to No. 19 (47.40) at Notre Dame, and their 4x800 relay has stayed at No. 14 (9:00.6) since the Chandler meet in late March.

The top 16 relay teams compete at the state meet, and high jump, pole vault and javelin take the top 20 qualifiers instead of the top 24. The Falcons got even closer in some events when they set 22 personal records at the BMHS Bears Invitational this past Saturday, April 15.

Head coach Kevin Clancy said the Falcons have had major leaps forward in their last few outings. The Falcons only have three more races until the postseason, and their next chance to improve their times is this Friday, April 21.

The Falcons will travel to Queen Creek for the True Grit Invite this Friday, and then they will run in the Northeast Valley Championships at Horizon High School on Wednesday, April 26, and Friday, April 28.

“It’s a really good championship atmosphere. It’s kind of like our non-state championship,” Clancy said. “We’re probably going to [take part in] the Desert Vista Last Chance Qualifier the Saturday after that Friday, for anyone that hit a really good mark and just needs one additional shot to try to hit a mark the following day. We’ll probably end up going to that one, too, and then divisionals start the following Friday.”

The division races will be on Friday and Saturday, May 5 and 6, at Red Mountain High School. The top six finished in each event at the division race will automatically qualify for the state meet, which will be the next weekend, Friday and Saturday May 12 and 13, at Mesa Community College.