For 18 Sedona Red Rock High School athletes, a spring full of practices and competitions will culminate in the two-day Division IV state track and field state championship meet.

Of the 12 individuals and three relays that qualified for the meet on Friday and Saturday, May 4 and 5, at Mesa Community College, only five bring experience from last year’s meet.

“Having 18 kids, and most of them are young, is fun. It’s about how they react at a big meet,” Red Rock head coach Harry Schneider said. “The state meet is a super situation. You get to see all of the divisions, especially Saturday. If they pay attention they can see what the sport is all about. The stands are packed, they see it is a big sport.”

This year’s team is smaller and less-experienced than last year’s. Twenty-five Scorpions competed in 2017, bringing home 12 medals en route to a third-place finish for the girls and fifth place for the boys.

Schneider’s goal every season is for the boys and girls to finish in the top five in the team standings. Despite the smaller squad and lack of experience, Schneider believes those goals remain realistic.

The lone hiccup along the way has been the final preparations heading in to the state championship. Due to the closure of Sedona-Oak Creek School District since April 26, Schneider has not been able to coach the team. Instead, they have met three times during the last week, where Schneider has given them voluntary workouts.

There is good underclassman representation for the Scorpions this year. Even though many of them will not be in the running for state titles, the experienced to be gained is important for their future.

“You hope the state meet sets them up for the future,” Schneider said. “Their mindset is everything, which is hopefully good. You never know, that’s why you go to the state meet.”

Three of the team’s top athletes are seniors. Julia Koss will look to complete her streak of steady improvement in the pole vault. As a sophomore she took third place, was runner-up last year and is the top seed by nearly a foot this year.
Nathan Hoyer has one of the top times in the 800-meter run. Collier Trcic, who took home a fourth-place medal in the triple jump last year, returns. Trcic is also in the long jump.

Eduardo Jimenez is another senior, who will be with the 4 x 400- and 4 x 800-meter relay teams.

“For some of the seniors, it is their last competition of their lives, and we want them to have a positive experience,” Schneider said.

The Scorpions are junior heavy as well. Abby Stevenson qualified in the 100- and 200-meter dashes as well as the long jump. Stevenson was 16th in the long jump last year. Evan Favorite, who was not on the team as a sophomore, made it in the same events as Stevenson.

Schneider said Favorite has dealt with a few injuries and sickness in recent weeks, so his potential performances are a big question mark. In the latter part of the season, Gabriel DeLuz rose to be one of the team’s top 400 and 800 runners after starting the year looking to be a sprinter and jumper.

Between the boys and girls, there are six pole vaulters who qualified: Koss, juniors Drake Ortiz and Forrest Hartley, sophomore Dylan Beattie and freshman Eric Schrader and Serena Allen. Ortiz and Hartley qualified last season, with Ortiz taking fourth.

Beattie also made it in the high jump and triple jump, while Koss returns in the discus.

After graduating nearly every single state-qualifier in the throwing events, one Scorpion made it in: Freshman Courtney Hansen.

Hansen qualified in the shot put after throwing a season-best 29 feet at the Red Rock Invitational Last Chance on April 24. At the first meet of the year, Hansen threw 20-09.25, and improved at nearly every subsequent meet afterwards.

Sophomore Morgan Fritz qualified in the state’s newest field event, the javelin. Schneider said she began practicing the event just over a month ago and has only competed in it twice.

“We don’t have large numbers,” Schneider said. “The freshman group is huge, the sophomores are very good but a small group. The juniors should step up very nicely next year.”

The atmosphere of it all, especially on the final day when all four divisions are racing with the stands at MCC packed, can be decisive. By the time the Scorpions get there, all of the work will be done, and all that will be left to do is compete.

“Even after all these years, I still get a kick out of it,” Schneider said. “We worked the last three months for this, so we’ll see.”