Page senior Symond Martin tops Division IV running field, earns three state crowns

WINDOW ROCK

Page running phenom Symond Martin added three divisional state crowns to his list of accomplishments during the two-day Arizona Interscholastic Association Division IV Championships at Shadow Mountain High School in Phoenix.

Martin successfully defended his 1600- and 3200-meter titles while adding another gold medal in the 4×800 relay team with teammates Jaiden Jordan, Desmond Goldtooth and his younger brother Max Martin.

On Friday and Saturday, Martin is scheduled to compete in the AIA Open State Championships at Mesa Community College where he’ll run the 1600 on Friday and 3200 on Saturday.

“I thought that I did really good,” said Martin, who has amassed seven state crowns in track. “I went into my races wanting to be the state champion again. I defended my titles, but I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy because my competitors also ran really fast times this year, so I knew I had somebody there fighting for the win with me.”

Those two individuals where Valley Christian senior Micah Newkirk and Seton Catholic’s David Williams.

In the 1600, Newkirk and Williams challenged the Page runner the entire race under some unfavorable conditions.

“It was very hot out and it was windy too,” Martin said of the one-mile race which was held on Friday afternoon.

Despite the elements, Martin managed to squeak out the win over Newkirk in a photo finish with Martin leaning in at 4:14.60 while Newkirk clocked in at 4:14.73. Williams finished roughly six second back for third at 4:20.21.

“Symond outkicked a really good kid, who really improved over the past couple of years,” Page coach Tim Martin said of Newkirk. “He made his jump to be one of the best in Arizona, so we just had to figure out a way to beat the kid.”

In that final lap, Symond fended off Newkirk’s advances as the younger Martin hugged the inside lane the entire time.

“I tried to keep him in the outer lane and if he were to pass me, he would have to use more energy to get around me,” he said. “That is what I did. I just kept my form and in the last 100 (meters) I just kicked it in.”

The elder Martin said when his son gets the lead down the stretch, he’s very hard to beat.

“Symond is one of those gamers and when the pressure is on, that is when he performs his best,” Tim said. “He probably ran one of his best races that I’ve ever seen to win that title.”

In the 3200, the Valley Christian runner challenged Symond during the eight-lap race, but this time he won the two-mile race by a three-second margin.

“The weather was a lot nicer in the two-mile race, and it was at night too,” said Symond, who clocked in at 9:16.59. “My race plan was to be comfortable for the first mile and just see who everybody was running it. The last mile, I slowly distanced myself from the rest of the people. I just took the win to where I didn’t have to leave it to a kicker there at the end.”

Newkirk finished his two-mile race in 9:22.05 while Williams clocked in at 9:23.76.

In the 4×800 relay race, the Sand Devils won the event in 8:03.77 with Seton Catholic taking second at 8:12.54 and Valley Christian third at 8:12.54.

“Last year we got outkicked at the finish line,” Tim said while adding that the Sand Devils hadn’t won the 4×800 relay race since 2019.

“We had won it two years, back-to-back, with Bowen Martin’s group,” the Sand Devil coach said. “We’re pretty excited to get that title and take it back to Page.

Jordan led the group and according to Tim, the Page junior ran a 1:56 flat.

“He ran a great leg, and he handed off to Desmond Goldtooth, who also ran a great leg,” Tim said.

The baton was then put in Max Martin’s hand before his older brother anchored the team to a first-place win.

“Max kind of relaxed and cruised through because he was running the 3200 that night,” Tim said. “Symond did the same thing even though he ran a two-flat. He just ran a nice solid leg just to make sure that we were not in any trouble.”

As for the upcoming open state meet, the Page coach is contemplating on whether to run Symond for the 4×800 race.

“We’re gonna make a decision on the day of, just to see how the kids are feeling,” he said. “I have one other kid that could pop in there, but obviously if we run Symond we’re gonna do a lot better.

“But we don’t want him to go all out,” he added. “We just need a solid performance out of him for the team to do well.”

At the divisional state meet, the Sand Devils also received a podium appearance from Jordan in the 800 race as he placed third at 1:58.38. Tucson Sabino junior Milo Mandolini won the race in 1:52.34 while Newkirk took second at 1:55.94.

“Jaiden didn’t perform as well as he was wanted to,” Tim said of his pupil. “I mean, he still got third, but we were looking for either first or second. But, you know, you can’t have your best race every time you step on the track. The next day, he ran two, three seconds faster in his relay leg.”

In addition to Jordan, the Sand Devils also had Goldtooth place 11th at 2:02.33. and freshman Brydan Bennett 18th at 2:05.01 in the 800 race.

In the 1600, Max Martin (4:28.19) placed seventh while Goldtooth (4:37.92) took 17th and Bennett (4:47.30) 22nd. As for the 3200, the Sand Devils had Max Martin in sixth at 9:34.96 followed by senior Maximus Reid (10:10.80) at 17th and freshman Peyton Seimy (10:37.61) at 21st.

As a team, Page was the area’s top finisher as the Sand Devils placed sixth overall with 41 points. State champ Snowflake won the division crown with 112 points followed by Valley Christian (80), ALA-West Foothills (55.50), Seton Catholic (44), Safford (43) and Page.

“Our team got sixth, so that was pretty exciting,” Tim said. “We usually end up right around there because of all the distance runners. Our sprint program is really starting to come around and if we can score more points on that side in the future, we’ll be a little bit better.”

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