Setting two meet records in the 37th annual Rincon Relays is quite an accomplishment.
Such was the case Saturday for the Sahuaro girls track and field team at Rincon/University High School. The Cougars impressively broke two marks in the meet's opening two events.
The 4x100-meter shuttle hurdles featured Sahuaro's Brianna Jackson, Shauna Butt, Melissa Russo and Miranda Brower, who finished in a time of 1 minute 11.10 seconds, ahead of the two-year-old record set by Nogales (1:14.74).
The top three times in that relay Saturday were faster than Nogales' old mark. Sierra Vista Buena (1:13.33) finished in second place, and Empire (1:13.65) took third.
The atypical format of the 12-team meet turns all events into relays with distinctively unique and fun formats. Field event relays are tallied from four individual scores.
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Sahuaro's second event, a mile medley split into segments of 200, 200, 400 and 800 meters, pitted the Cougars against a record they set last season.
Sophomore Tiana Ross ran the first 200 meters, taking the lead away from a Goodyear Estrella Foothills runner near the handoff.
"I was surprised," Ross said, who ran the same event last year. "I didn't think I was gonna get to her."
Freshman standout Kathy Fisher ran the 400-meter portion of the race for Sahuaro in a split time of 57.3 seconds. The team finished the race in 4:22.42, ahead of 2008's finish of 4:25.14.
The Sahuaro boys team opened the meet with a win of its own in the 4x100 hurdles (1:04.55), anchored by senior Kevan Howe.
The Cougars were behind Santa Rita before Howe's leg against the Eagles' J.J. Holliday. Howe's split of 14.3 seconds overtook a Santa Rita lead to secure the boys team medal.
"I didn't know how J.J. would be," said Howe, who currently owns the area's fastest 110 hurdles time this season (14.22). "But I knew we had this … this was one of my best races."
Rincon had some early wins in the meet, with runners Emilio Pedraza, Raymond Williams, Oscar Thompson and Noah Kenyawani taking the mile medley (3:43.78).
The Rincon girls won the 4x1600.
Sahuarita's Daniel Conorque set a personal best in the high jump, clearing 6 feet 8 inches. His personal goal is to clear 6-10 before the season's end. Sahuaro's Lasai Banks cleared 6-6.
