HIGH SCHOOL TRACK
"Christine is such a beast!" noted a Tucson athlete as she watched teammate Christine Clark pull ahead in the 300-meter hurdles of a home dual meet with Mountain View.
"I hear it a lot," said Clark, who is Southern Arizona's premier high jumper.
"I just take it as a compliment, I guess."
She may not have gotten the best jump out of the blocks in her race but still managed an aggressive victory for Tucson in a time of 50.80 seconds, nearly 4 seconds ahead of Mountain View's Michealina Sorrell.
Clark, who ran the hurdles for the first time at the Willie Williams Classic on Friday, finished second Wednesday in the 100 hurdles with a time of 16.76, just behind Mountain View's Kelsey Williams (16.70).
"I think it is a lot like basketball; you just have to go after it and be aggressive," Clark said, "I just want to run really anytime I can."
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"The sky is the limit for her," said coach John Warren.
The Mountain View girls won the meet 81-54.
Tucson's presence in the girls hurdles transferred to the boys team as well, who triumphed over the Mountain Lions 84-60.
Senior Kosmos Ververelli handily won both the 110 (15.5) and 300 hurdles (41.89).
"Today, I was just really hoping to match what I got at Willie Williams or surpass it," Ververelli said.
His time of 15.5 in the 110 was well ahead of his personal record of 15.8 set Saturday while he fell one second shy of his 40.8 best time in the 300.
"I just want to do my best this year. It's my senior year and I want to go out and feel like I really accomplished something," said Ververelli, one of the top competitors in the 5A-I.
He also added that his eyes were set on the prize of a 70-year-old school record in the 300 hurdles, set by school legend Joe Batiste.
Mountain View's Donovant Grant had a quiet afternoon, competing in the triple jump as his only field event.
Grant, who holds Southern Arizona's top jump in the long jump of 23 feet 5 1/2 inches, placed first in Wednesday's triple jump with a distance of 42-9.
Grant, and many other athletes, was resting in preparation for Saturday's coveted Chandler Rotary Track Invitational.
Other impressive races featured one of Tucson's defending region champions, Mike Turner.
Turner (11.48) took first the 100, but Mountain View's Mark Vera edged the senior by eight-tenths of a second for first in the 200 with a time of 23.02.
