National-leading 4x800 relay sparks Centennial to Mt. SAC title

After three straight top-three finishes, Bulldogs finally break through at Mt. SAC Relays to win girls sweepstakes championship; Great Oak extends legacy with fifth boys crown in six years, with Centennial placing second

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

When the members of the Centennial track and field team posed for photos Saturday following the 59th Mt. SAC Relays, the Bulldogs referred to them as “family” portraits.

It was a fitting description for how the elite program in Nevada performed during the two-day high school competition at El Camino College’s Murdock Stadium in Torrance, Calif.

Relying on their team mottos of #StrengthInNumbers and #EmptyTheTank, Centennial secured three relay victories to capture their first Mt. SAC girls team sweepstakes championship and added two more boys relay wins to secure its highest finish, taking second by a 125-84 margin to Great Oak CA, which captured its fourth consecutive sweepstakes title and fifth in six years.

Centennial’s girls, who had placed in the top three in each of the previous three years, scored 74 of their 81 points in the relays to produce a seven-point victory over Great Oak, seeking its third straight sweepstakes title. The Bulldogs had 62 relay points to earn their seventh straight top 10 boys’ finish, with neither team winning an individual event.

The highlight for the Las Vegas-based group, winner of the past six Nevada state 4A girls team championships, was Alexis Gourrier, Karina Haymore, Kayla Roberts and Julia Weaver running a national-leading 9:07.31 in the 4x800 relay Friday.

Centennial opened Saturday with Talie Bonds, Quincy Bonds, Cheyenne Jones and Ashley Moore running the third-fastest time in the country this year to win the girls 4x100 shuttle hurdles relay in 1:00.34.

Quincy Bonds, Elize Larsen, Gourrier and Moore also prevailed in the 1,600 sprint medley relay in 4:04.35, with the Bulldogs adding a third-place finish in the 4x400 in 3:57.73 and a seventh-place effort in 49.01. Talie Bonds’ fourth-place finish in the 100 hurdles in 14.47 and Haymore taking fifth in the 800 in 2:12.64 accounted for the only individual points for Centennial.

Great Oak’s Carlos Carvajal, Solomon Fountain, Gavin Korby and Jacob Korgan won the boys 4x800 title in 7:47.69, the fifth-fastest time in the country, along with the 4x1,600 championship Friday in the nation’s second-fastest effort 17:29.53. The Wolfpack took second in the distance medley relay Saturday, with Claremont (10:01.90) and Great Oak (10:03.43) running the two fastest times nationally.

Great Oak also took runner-up in the 4x110 shuttle hurdles relay in 1:03.75 and added a fourth-place finish in the 1,600 sprint medley in 3:35.89 and had its ‘B’ team do the same in the distance medley relay, along with its ‘B’ team place fifth in the 4x800 relay.

CJ Stevenson provided valuable points for the Wolfpack by sweeping the long jump and triple jump titles with marks of 23-2 (7.06m) and 48-4.25 (14.73m).

Centennial, which has won three Nevada 4A boys state titles in the past five years, countered with James Johnson taking second in the triple jump with a leap of 46-4.25 (14.12m), Randall Jubilee finishing second in the 400 in 49.16 and Savon Scarver placing third in the 200 in 21.82.

Jeremiah Steed, Marvin Perkins Jr., Tre Harley and Jubilee won the 1,600 sprint medley in 3:32.73 for Centennial. Harley, Johnson, Jubilee and Scarver won the 4x200 relay in 1:25.97 for the Bulldogs, who concluded the meet by finishing second in the 4x400 in 3:19.94 after opening Saturday with a fifth-place finish in the 4x100 in 42.03.

Great Oak seniors Kiyena Beatty, Sydney Belus, Evelyn Mandel and Nicole Rice won the girls 4x1,600 title Friday in 20:14.29, with the Wolfpack taking second in the 1,600 sprint medley in 4:09.38 and runner-up in the distance medley relay (11:55.18) behind El Toro (11:52.99), which ran the second-fastest time in the nation. Great Oak also had ‘B’ teams place fifth in the distance medley and 4x1,600 relays.