The Fountain Hills High School track and field team went to Queen Creek for the True Grit Invitational last Friday, April 21. The Falcons had a few standout performances, and several athletes are closing the gap to qualify for state.

Senior JP Cahill overcame several challenges and set a new personal record (PR) in long jump (20-0). Last year, Cahill jumped 20-3 at a home meet but it wasn’t a state qualifying meet. According to head coach Kevin Clancy, Cahill broke his femur on his next jump at that home meet, and Cahill missed his chance to compete at state.

Cahill is now qualified for the state meet but needs to maintain his standing and his health. Cahill placed fourth at the wrestling state championships this year, and Clancy said this year he’s on a “redemption tour.”

Another standout was junior Brendan Davies, who set a PR in pole vault. The opening height was higher than Davies had ever cleared, but he managed to make the nine-foot mark.

Senior Dylan Romans set a new PR in the 100m (12.64) and 200m (25.80). Romans now has the second fastest 200m time on the team and fifth fastest 100m.

Junior Skye Alker improved her 1600m (5:56.54) and helped the 4x400m girls team set a new record (4:36.18). Freshman Alli Guerrette, and juniors Eliana Bartman and Erin Hooley also ran in the relay, and the Falcons will be debuting their girls 4x800m relay team this week at the Northeast Valley Championships.

“It was an okay meet for us,” Clancy said. “I was telling the team, it feels like a little bit of a plateau. Sometimes we have mediocre, off meets because it means we're going to have a breakout meet, and that's what happened with Northeast Valley last year. It was just a complete breakout meet and I think this is kind of setting the tone for that.”

The Falcons only set new records on 21 of their 71 events at True Grit. Several athletes ran comparable times to their best of the season, but they only have one more week to qualify for state.

“I think we’re at the point now that we know this is the last weekend,” Clancy said. “It's not always linear. Progress isn't linear and sometimes you continue to improve and sometimes you have setbacks and sometimes you just don't see progress. I think this is one of the ones where, they’ve been improving so much, they just had a little bit of a plateau.”

Clancy and his assistants gathered around 16 athletes in a room last week and showed them how close they were to making state, and what they need to work on in order to get there. His goal is to have a similar number of people in a room when they prepare for state.

Outside of relay events, there are no team competitions at state. Clancy said several relay teams are ready to make a late push, and he’s excited to see the girls 4x800m team of Hooley, Alker, Guerrette and sophomore Sara Dethlefs debut at the Northeast Valley Championships.

Junior Jeneya Boone returned from injury on a limited basis and only ran in the 4x100m relay. Clancy said to look out for Boone as she gets her health back, as well as Guerrette in the 800m, Alker in the 1600m and senior Tyler Irvine-Violette in both events this week. Clancy also has his eyes on the hurdles event, as three Falcons are close to making it.

Senior Gunnar Wise set a PR in the 300m hurdles last weekend (45.64), and so did junior Garren Keeler (45.74). They are ranked No. 30 and No. 31 respectively, and senior Zion Atwood is ranked No. 16 (43.80). Wise is ranked No. 20 in the 110m hurdles, Atwood is No. 31, and Keeler is ranked No. 35.

The Falcons had huge jumps in their records last year at the end of the season. They can happen at any time, as junior Eliana Bartman had been throwing discus around 75 to 80 inches but threw 94’11” at the Bears Invitational on April 15. She went from not being ranked to being No. 16, and Clancy hopes others will have breakout performances this week.

The Falcons will compete in the Northeast Valley Championships at Horizon High School today, Wednesday, April 26, and Friday, April 28. Division meets will be next Friday and Saturday, May 5 and 6, and the state meet will begin on Friday May 12.

“Last year we had only two kids that went on, now we have double that who have ensured themselves in,” Clancy said. “Probably four times that amount have the ability to do it. It’ll be exciting to see who’s able to make it.”