The loudspeakers at Cholla High School blared a warning to the athletes surrounding the outside of the fence that lined the discus landing zone, alerting them to a severe health hazard.
"Please stay away from the area near the fence. Please stay away from that area. We have an athlete here that's known to throw it over that fence. Watch what you're doing out there."
The urgent message was referring to Canyon del Oro's Aaron Tevis, Southern Arizona's premier thrower of the shot put and discus this season.
"It was distracting to keep having to hear that," Tevis said. "But those type of things shouldn't affect me. I didn't have the day I was hoping, but I was able to win. Now it's down to preparing for regionals and state."
Although Tevis was not satisfied with his performance on Wednesday, he still topped the field in the shot put (53 feet) and discus (125-11) as CDO (116 points) dominated Marana (33) and Cholla (29).
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Tevis' best shot put (54-1 3/4) and discus (166-5) of the season — by far the top throws among local athletes — came April 20, adding pressure to surpass those marks.
"I know those won't be my best throws of the year," Tevis said. "I can do better than that, especially in the shot. And everyone seems to be expecting me to have better throws than that now."
Tevis' teammate, Charles Flannigan, is one of the most remarkable stories this season, and the sprinter added another chapter Wednesday.
In his first year of track, Flannigan owns the fastest mark in Southern Arizona when he blazed to a time of 10.62 seconds in the 100-meter dash.
"It felt like a good day, and I guess it turned out to be a good day," said Flannigan. "I wanted to put on a show before regionals and state."
Purely a basketball player until this spring, Flannigan was basically forced onto the track by Dorados assistant coach LaTanya Sheffield.
"She didn't ask me if I wanted to run track. She said, 'You are going to run track, no question,' " said Flannigan.
Sheffield wouldn't take no for an answer.
"He won't call it, so I'm calling it for him," said Sheffield. "He is going to be the state champion in the 100. There is no doubt in my mind about that."
Cholla's Nate Reddoch locked up the only two victories for Cholla. He won the long jump (20-9) and the triple jump (39-9).
The CDO girls (106) roared past Marana (42) and Cholla (29) as hurdler/sprinter Kala Stepter claimed the top spot in the 300 hurdles (47.43) and the 200 (26.61).
Erdmann has career day
Tara Erdmann is widely regarded as one of the state's best athletes. On Wednesday, she proved why.
The Flowing Wells senior, a state champion in cross country and track, won the 2-mile run, the 300-meter hurdles, the long jump and the pole vault in a home meet against Palo Verde and Sierra Vista Buena. It was her first time competing in the hurdles and pole vault.
"I practiced the pole vault here and there, but I really didn't do too well," said Erdmann, a premier distance runner who won with a vault of 8 feet. "But I thought I would do the best in that event, and that the hurdles and long jump would just be for fun."
Her time in the 300 hurdles, 47.64 seconds, was nearly 4 seconds better than the second-place finisher and is among the fastest times in Southern Arizona this season. She won the long jump with a leap of 14 feet 10 inches.
"It was a nice way to end the (regular) season," Erdmann said. "I had a lot of fun."
