By Skye Merida

The high school varsity track and field teams for the boys of Brophy College Preparatory and girls of Xavier College Preparatory dominated the competition Wednesday in their first meet of the season at Brophy's Sports Campus.  

Xavier’ 82 points and Brophy’s 119 points gave them commanding first place wins over North Canyon High School (48 points) and Fountain Hills High School (10 points), respectively.

One of the more entertaining events of the day was the boys 800-meter race, where Brophy senior Joseph Mamola ran past North Canyon's Kevin Moreno at the last second to claim victory.

"Usually the kick is my specialty," Mamola said. "Right at 200 meters left I relaxed a little bit, but I stayed with them right behind the front pack. Then with 100 meters left, that's when I can dig in, shoot, and pass around them. And that's just what I did today."      

Another bright spot for Brophy was junior Cole Yandell, who finished first in both the boys triple jump and the boys 100-meter dash (11.22 seconds). What's impressive about Yandell's performance is that he doesn't have much experience running the 100-meter dash.

"It's pretty exciting, because I haven't really run the 100 in the past," Yandell said. "I got a lot of work in in the offseason, and I just decided to go for it in the first meet. It's good to get a win"

(Brophy's Cole Yandell. Photo by Skye Merida.) 

Brophy senior Ben Posorske talked about how the preseason helped him in his first place finish in the 400-meter dash.

“I'm happy that I could score for my team, and I'm happy we've been performing so well at this meet," Posorske said. "Hopefully we'll be a good contender at state."

Xavier dominated the girl’s hurdling events thanks in part to junior Annie Grant’s first place finish in both the 100-meter hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles. Grant mentioned how her older brother, Robert, a former Brophy student who runs track at Texas A&M, helped her development as a hurdler.

"He helps with all of my races, teaches me form, and gives me advice," Grant said.     

Xavier junior Sarah Carter finished first in the girls 1600-meter run, was also impressed by her team's performance and is excited about its potential.

"Our team is amazing this year," Carter said. "We have some great girls on distance, and we have some really awesome up-and-comers in all of the other areas. I 'd love to see us run at state, and maybe place. That would be awesome."

Skye Merida is a sports journalism student at Arizona State University.