As the track and field meet between Valencia High and Canyon High came to a close, the Cowboys’ Steven Arrington was laying down on his back as a coach removed his shoes.
He had a long, tiring meet and helped contribute to the Canyon boys 74-62 win on Thursday evening at Canyon.
Arrington won both the 100 and 200 meter races and was on the winning 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams.
“Every year he gets better,” Cowboys coach Paul Broneer said. “When he was a freshman, he made our varsity and was our slowest guy. Then he was our second slowest guy. This year he’s our fastest guy by far.”
The 4×400 was a close one, with Valencia’s Sam Pica hot on Arrington’s trail in the final leg of the race.
“I know what he’s capable of and what he’s done in the past, so there’s a lot of pressure there,” Arrington said. “I was thinking, ‘Oh no, what if I’m not able to get to him,’ but towards the end I felt like I still had a little juice to kick.”
Canyon also swept in the shot put and discus, earning a crucial 18 points for the win.
The Vikings girls had a confidence boost, defeating the Cowboys 78-58.
“We knew this was going to come down to very possibly inches. Fractions of a second,” Valencia coach Jeff Gilkey said. “Both boys and girls. And we got some breaks on the girls side and didn’t get them on the boys side.”
Cheyenne Cheshier won the high jump (five feet), triple jump (36-10 1/4) and long jump (16-5 1/4).
Hailey Kirsch came in first in both the 1600 and 3200.
Saugus 69.5, Hart 66.5 (boys)
The Centurions’ Cameron Scott won the triple jump with a length of 42-1 and Blake Walkowiak threw 166 feet in discus.
Saugus 103, Hart 33 (girls)
Abby Bryant won both the 100 and 300 hurdles for the Cents and Kayla Medof won the discus at 97-2 and shot put at 29-8.5. Alicia Hurst won both the 100 (12.82 seconds) and the 200 (27.16) and Mariah Castillo won the 1600.
Golden Valley 74, West Ranch 62 (boys)
Hasani Fields of the Grizzlies won both the 100 at 11.56 and the 200 at 23.30. Golden Valley also won both relays. The Wildcats came in first for both the long jump and triple jump, with Andrew Mercado winning the former (2-08) and Cody Falkenberg winning the latter (41-089).
West Ranch 84, Golden Valley 47 (girls)
The Wildcats’ Adaugo Oguejiofor came in first for the 100 hurdles, high jump and long jump. Bailey Pate won the 200 and the 400 with times of 26.72 and 58.23, respectively. Sophia Hoelzel won the 800 (2:27.53) and the 1600 (5:39.33).
