Hartle and Gorczyca Lead the Pack at Labor Day Classic

Centennial junior Nick Hartle and Palo Verde sophomore, the defending state 4A champions, both turned in the fastest times of the day over the 2.8 mile Palo Verde campus course on Saturday.

The meet consisted of four varsity races: two freshman-sophomore races—boys and girls—and two junior-senior races.

The freshman-sophomore boy’s race was won by Martin Ponce, Tech sophomore, who was a state qualifier a year ago and is the number one returning freshman from the Sunrise Division. Ponce led early but was closely followed by two Centennial sophomores, George Espino and Carter Jackson over the first two miles. Ponce then pulled away and won by a wide margin (15:09.2) over Espino (15:49.1) and Jackson (15:57.0).

 “The race went well,” said Ponce. “The people that I knew were going to be behind me, and that were next to me, they ran great too. They were pushing me really good.”

The junior-senior boys race turned out to be the most competitive race of the day. Hartle led from the start but was never able to shake Clark’s Basabose Bahati from Clark. Hartle, the state defending state 800 meter and 1600 meter track champion as well as the state cross country champ, was able to use his speed to hold off the Charger senior in a winning time of 14:10.6 to Bahati’s 14:17.3. Alan Ekanger of Coronado finished a distant third in 15:08.4. But it was still the third-fastest time of the day for the Cougar junior. 

“Basabose (Bahati) is definitely lot stronger than he was last year,” said Hartle. “He had me running today. He’s going to be tough this year…. I still have a little ways to go….”

The biggest margin of victory was turned in by Katie Gorczyca in winning the freshman-sophomore race. The Palo Verde sophomore, who usually stays back in the pack for the first half mile, led wire-to-wire this time and won going away in 17:18.5. Her sophomore teammate Marissa Suan finished second, nearly a minute back in 18:13.9. Green Valley sophomore Kayla Anderson was third (18:30.7).

“I had a pretty good day today,” said Katie after the race. “I was happy I won but I wasn’t happy with my time. I went out way too fast in the first mile. And then I suffered. It’s a learning experience…. I feel strong. I’ve been training a lot. I hope it pays off.”

The girls junior-senior race was won by Coronado’s Kelly Smith. The Cougar junior led a tight pack of a half dozen girls through the first mile and never trailed, winning in 18:40.1 over Green Valley senior Summer Holloway (18:52), and Arbor View junior Kayla Landau (18:58.3).

Smith was the seventh runner on the Coronado team at state last fall but this year is aiming much higher. 

 “I wasn’t really healthy last year. This year I’m focusing on being a top runner; that’s my goal…. Last year my sister won regionals; I’m trying to do what she did. Everyone works really hard (on our team). We don’t have anyone that holds us back. Everyone on the team is great.”

In fact, led by Smith, Coronado’s girls won the Large School Team Trophy.  Team scores* were compiled by combining the top five times on each large school team (more than 15 runners) and top three times on each small school team (15 or less).

Large Schools (Girls)

1. Coronado (3:17:51)
2. Arbor View (3:26: 17)
3. Green Valley (3:27:21)

Small Schools

1. Bonanza (2:10:57)
2. Tech (2:17:03)
3. Pahrump Valley (2:22:15)
4. Rancho (2:37:52)

Centennial’s boys came out on top in the large school scoring, led by Hartle.

Large Schools

1. Centennial (2:44:06)
2. Tech (2:47:48)
3. Coronado (2:49:16)
4. Palo Verde (2:51:01
5. Green Valley (2:55:20)
6. Arbor View (2:56:20)

Small Schools

1. Clark (1:43:11)
2. Pahrump Valley (1:43:21)
3. Rancho (1:57:11)

(Phil Lawton)

*These scores/results were not reported on the Internet posting by John Dixon, but I stand behind them.