Chinle runners stand out at Mogollon

HEBER, Ariz.

At last Friday’s Joseph City Invitational (held at Mogollon High due to weather conditions) Chinle runners once again made a stand out performance during the track meet.

Last year, the Chinle girls relay team took third at state. One of the members had graduated, but this year’s team is proving to be just as strong.

Two members of the team competed in the girls 1600-meter run, with senior Temyra Bia taking first with a time of 5:33.00, while her teammate, junior Reshila Curley came in five seconds behind her for second-place.

The girls again placed in the 3200-meter run with Bia coming in first again at 12:12.00 while Curley came in third, narrowly losing second to Snowflake’s Alesyia Barlow.

Curley is the newest member of the relay team, but she is familiar with the other girls, having been on the Chinle team for years.

“I feel pretty good about it [the placements]” Curley said. “It was a little challenging but I pushed through it and I’m happy with the results that I got.”

When facing stiff competition, Curley would keep thinking, ‘I can do it, I can do it.’ That mentally has helped her to place, but for Curley she doesn’t think of competition as her against the world, but more of “me versus me.” She puts all her focus on training herself to be a better athlete, but she will always aim to place first for her team, especially when it comes to the relay.

The third member is sophomore Janessa Segay who placed second in the 200-meter dash. Sophomore Tumayah Bia is the fourth runner on the relay team, who also competes in the 400-meter dash.

Together, the girls dominated the relay events, with them winning the 4×800 relay and then taking second in the 4×400 meter relay.

In its previous meet at the Chandler Rotary Invitational, the team had a time of 10:29.10 in the 4×800 relay. At the Mogollon meet, the team bettered its time with a new PR of 10:02.70.

Temyra said she was happy with her overall performance. Although she took first in the 1600 and 3200 runs, her proudest performance was when she ran in the relay.

“To be back with my girls on the 4×800 team it feels really good,” she said. “I just feel like we all push through and our split times were good out there. I feel pretty confident in that last lap.”

She said all the work that they put into practice showed its benefits at Mogollon that day as the 4×800 relay team plans to contend for a gold medal at state this year. Despite the high placements, Bia assures the team will continue working hard.

She wishes the other teams good luck as they continue competing for state, as well as her hometown team.

Another stand out from the meet was junior Sincere Tso, running in the 100- and 200-meter dash and competing in the triple jump.

The week prior, Tso ran at the Chandler Rotary Invitational, where he was named the top 200 sprinter in the Arizona’s Division IV level.

“It feel’s great,” Tso said about being top runner. “Just working, taking it meet by meet and just staying humble.”

The competition at Chandler was tough as he went up against some of the best runners in the state. His main competitor was Valley Christian that day as they had some of the best sprinters in the division. He went in doing his best to focus, treating the Chandler meet like it was a state meet, not once thinking he would come out as one of the top runners in his division.

Despite the achievement though, he is going to keep pushing himself to improve his times.

At Mogollon, he took first in the 200-meter dash, finishing nearly a whole second ahead of his competitors with 23.33 seconds.

His best time for said event is 23.12 seconds.

In the 100 meters, Snowflake’s Braden LaDuke took first place with a time of 11.92, beating Tso by an inch as he took second place with a time of 11.94.

He felt he ran pretty well at this meet, having improved on some parts of his running, particularly in his start in the final 50 meters of the race. When he races, he always tries to beat his competitors, but he puts his focus first and foremost on beating the clock and improving his time.

He was caught off guard a day ago when the team learned they would be competing at Mogollon instead of Joseph City, but Tso said all you can do is adapt as quick as you can and be ready for the change in elevation.

Last year he made it to state for the 4×800 boys relay, but this year he wants to make the finals in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes if he keeps improving. He’s looking to get qualified in the 400-meter run too if he gets a chance.

He is happy about his placement in both events. The season has just started, but already he is exceeding his own expectations. He wishes his team and other runners the best of luck as track season reaches its midway point.

“Just stay humble and keep working,” Tso said.

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