It is just natural that Canyon del Oro's Jaide Stepter would stand out on the track. And that is exactly what she did Wednesday at Amphitheater.
The sophomore hurdler and sprinter won three events, but she could have credited herself with four.
Her first event, the 100-meter hurdles was called back because of a missing hurdle. She won the official go-around in 15.47 seconds to set the tone for her day. She said the rerun helped her out in a sense.
"I executed the first race how I wanted to, but then I saw some things I could have corrected," Stepter said. "In the second time I ran, I tried to work on that stuff. I was trying to stay lower on the hurdles and take quicker steps between them."
Almost immediately afterward, Stepter also won the 100 meters in 12.79 seconds. Then later in the meet she won her third event, the 200 meters.
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"I have been working a lot on my sprinting this year and for me to be winning that is good," she said. "My goal is to do the best I can and I am trying to race my times."
Stepter's natural talent comes from CDO sprinting coach LaTanya Sheffield, who is also her mother.
Sheffield was a finalist in the 400 hurdles of the 1988 Olympics as well as an NCAA champion.
She described her daughter as "tenacious" and said that on the track, Stepter calls her "Coach" instead of "Mom."
Despite Stepter's sweep, CDO's girls fell just short of Ironwood Ridge, the Nighthawks winning 89-76, with Amphitheater scoring nine. It was mostly because of a come-from-behind win in the 1,600 relay for the Nighthawks.
Abbey Barbera took the lead for Ironwood Ridge with about 20 meters remaining in the final leg. The team won in 4:17.97.
"When I saw her slowing down in the last 100 I knew I could catch her," Barbera said about her opponent. "It's always fun having someone to chase and then be able to pass them, especially if they have a big lead."
Barbera also won the 400 meters in 58.70 and placed third in the 100. Teammate Jaclyn Zibrat placed second in both the 100 (12.09) and 200 (26.21) and ran in the relay as well.
The boys 200 was another close race that involved a comeback. Ironwood Ridge's Adrian Brahler had a solid lead after Amphitheater's Zion Harvey got off to a slow start. But Harvey pulled into a virtual tie in the final 10 meters.
Harvey narrowly won in 22.24, while Brahler took second in 22.27.
The two also faced off in the 100. Once again, Harvey won in 11.22 and Brahler placed second in 11.41.
CDO's Josh Robbins dominated the jumping events and helped the Dorados to a win on the boys side, as CDO (79) outscored Ironwood Ridge (72) and Amphi (26).
Robbins, an Arizona football commit, easily won the high jump (6 feet 2 inches) and long jump (21- 1/4). He completed his hat trick with a 42-11 1/4 leap in the triple jump.
"It was good conditions out here today for jumping," Robbins said. "Overall it was a good day for me."
The Dorados also claimed wins in the boys discus and shot put.
Ironwood Ridge's Steve Magnuson powered himself to a win in the 800 meters in 1:58.87 and took second in the 1,600 behind freshman Wally Hensley, who never trailed in winning in 4:50.27.