After adjusting lineups in attempts to win specific events at the Open Track and Field State Championships on May 11 in Mesa, a pair of Goodyear boys teams came away with most of what they were after.
Desert Edge put a lot into winning in both the 100 meters and the 4-by-100 meter relay, coming away with 1-2 finishes in the 100 and narrowly winning the relay.
Millennium senior Diego Aguirre-Stewart, meanwhile, after placing third in the 100, held off a pair of tough opponents to win the 200 meters later on May 11.
“It wasn’t my best start,” Aguirre-Stewart said of the 200 meters. “Luckily, I was able to adjust. I wasn’t focused on anyone else. I did see the guy to my right gaining on me, and that’s when I knew I had to go.”
The 200 race capped an eventful day and a couple of weeks’ worth of back-and-forth, both in wins on the track and in social media talk. Aguirre-Stewart said the father of Desert Edge junior Jamar Beal-Goines told Millennium coaches this week that the Scorpions star was going to beat Aguirre-Stewart, so everyone involved was extremely motivated leading up to May 11.
After posting nearly an identical time in the May 10 prelims of the Open meet in the 4-by-100 relay as rival Chandler High, the Desert Edge team of Antonio Para, David Cabrera, Jonathan Kamara and Beal-Goines finished 0.23 seconds ahead of Chandler in the final the following day.
The teams tied with 41.08 in the prelims.
Cabrera barely beat his Scorpions teammate, Beal-Goines, 10.612 seconds to 10.615 seconds, in the 100-meter final. Aguirre-Stewart was third at 10.71 seconds.
“We promised our coaches yesterday (after the prelims) we were going to win it, and we did,” Beal-Goines said after the relay win. “We were ready. They thought they were going to beat us. But we were gone when David came out of the blocks at the gun. Everyone executed excellently.”
The wins helped the Scorpions tie with Gilbert High for fifth place at the Open championships. Queen Creek edged Chandler High by one point for first place in team points.
Sprinting strength, at the state level in boys track, has been shifting westward. O’Connor senior Aiden Harvey claimed the sprinting crown in 2021 with Centennial senior Dominick Brister a close second and Valley Vista’s Blaise Nelson took the title in 2022 and 2023.
One West Valley sprinter who didn’t get anything he wanted at the Open Championships was Willow Canyon junior Tyreeq Jones, who placed sixth in both the 100 and 200. But he figures to be a factor in many key races in 2024.
In Friday’s state prelims, the full 100-meters field was back. In the preliminaries Friday, Jones ran a 10.51 in the 100, just edged in his heat by Aguirre-Stewart in a photo finish.
Aguirre-Stewart said he isn’t sure about his college plans yet, but Ohio State is “in the picture.”
Diego Aguirre-Stewart of Millennium, right, stays ahead of Otis Knapper of Chandler in the 200 meters during the Open Track and Field State …
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