Another leap forward
Corners delivers impressive sophomore season highlighted by long-, triple-jump showings
When Briar Ploude was in the process of getting hired as Gila Ridge’s new track and field coach not quite a year ago, one of the first things he learned about the program was that it had a sophomore-to-be sensation named Mia Corners.
“Mia’s name was kind of the one that I kept hearing, talking about this freshman that was top-of-thestate,” Ploude recalls. “I was really excited to get (to Yuma) and see where she was at developmentally. “And I wasn’t disappointed.” Corners followed up her standout freshman campaign with an even better sophomore season this spring, further widening the gap between herself and other local sprinters/jumpers by improving her personal-bests nearly across the board and once again placing in three events at the Division II state meet.
For the second year in a row, she is the Yuma Sun/ Yuma Rotary Club Girls Track Athlete of the Year — an easy decision given her accolades.
At state, Corners recorded the highest local finish (second in the triple jump) by any local girls athlete and was the only one to place top-four in two events (third in the long jump) and top-eight in three events (seventh in the 200-meter dash).
At districts, she swept all four of her events; no other girls athlete won more than two.
And at the Southwest Region Championships, she was the only three-event winner on the girls side — without even entering arguably her best event, the long jump.
Perhaps most notable about