Red Mesa senior aiming for his fourth state qualification

HEBER, Ariz.

One year ago, Red Mesa long-distance runner Alex Yellowhair had to count his blessings.

The then junior turned in the 26th best time during the regular season in the 1600-meter run amongst his peers in Arizona’s Division IV.

Yellowhair was the last person to get qualified for the state meet but at the finals he finished a respectable eighth.

With this being his senior year, Yellowhair is looking to secure his spot for next month’s state meet, which is scheduled for May 4-5 at Mesa Community College.

With two scheduled meets left in the regular season, Yellowhair finds himself almost in the same predicament as last season. With a time of 4 minutes, 50.54 seconds at the Mustang Classic on April 10, Yellowhair has recorded the 21st fastest time thus far this season.

That time surpassed the provisional qualifying mark by more than three seconds but the Red Mesa harrier is looking to break 4:35 this season.

“I want to try and medal at state but I want to hit that mark,” he said. “This is my main goal this year.”

At the beginning of the season, Yellowhair was running most of his races just over the five-minute range but in the last few meets he’s made some significant progress.

Before the Mustang Classic, Yellowhair ran a 4:53.52 at the Lake Powell meet.

“I was running pretty slow but I knew that was going to happen,” Yellowhair said. “I wasn’t in shape but my overall plan is to hit that 4:35 mark at the end of the season.”

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