Cibola’s Meyer-Wills runner up at state 3200

YC baseball eliminated in semifinals

On Saturday, Cibola High School track and field standout Bennett Meyer-Wills finished as the runner up in the 3200 meters at the AIA Track and Field State Championships in Mesa. It marked the second straight year he placed this high at state.

Meyer-Wills clocked in with a personal best time of 9:11.72, just shy of first place runner Noah Jodon of Desert Vista who ran a time of 9:09.88. As it turned out, Jodon was also the first place runner who defeated Meyer-Wills in the same event last year at state. According to Cibola track and field coach Kevin McLean, this was one of the best performances of Meyer-Wills’ high school career.

“Strategically, this was probably the smartest and best race he’s ever had. I thought Bennett bided his time very well and waited for his opportunity to move ahead,” McLean told The Yuma Sun.

This came after Wednesday’s effort where Meyer-Wills secured a fourthplace finish in the 1600 with a time of 4:17.93. Meanwhile in the girls division, fellow Cibola senior Janelle Sanchez medaled in one of the two state events she qualified for. She placed fourth in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 44.60 seconds. McLean stated he was proud of not only Sanchez’s performance, but also the collective effort of both track teams this past season.

“It was a personal record of over a half-second, so we are all excited for her. She had an amazing race,” McLean added. “As a team, I thought it was a really good year for us. The boys and girls teams showed a lot of camaraderie, became district champions and showed they are a hard working group. Both programs are definitely going in the right direction.”

Also on the day, Sanchez took eighth in the 100 hurdles.

3A STATE BASEBALL SEMIFINALS

GAME 3: ALA-GILBERT NORTH 7, YUMA CATHOLIC 1

The Yuma Catholic baseball season came to an end on Saturday with a 7-1 defeat to American Leadership Academy-Gilbert North in the third and final game of the AIA 3A State Semifinals. Shamrocks head coach Judd Thrower could not be reached for comment after the game.