Next stop: state

If Lex Black, JC Baker, Rod Ford and Paul Corona's competitors weren't already aware of the crop coming from the Yuma area, they are now.
 
The four local track and field athletes from Yuma, Kofa and Yuma Catholic have the top seed times and marks in one of their individual events at their respective track and field state championship meets this week.
 
Black and Baker will join their teammates at the 5A-II Championships today and Saturday at Chandler High School, and Ford and Corona will head to Mesa Community College for the 2A Championships on Friday and Saturday with the rest of the Shamrocks. San Pasqual also qualified seven individuals for the 1A Championships on Friday and Saturday at Mesa High School.
 
Baker's time of 10.80 seconds at the Gila Valley Region Championships in the 100-meter dash was just enough to beat Gila Ridge's Tyler Cerka and made him the favorite in the event at state,
 
"Oh yeah, he knows," Yuma coach Curt Weber said of his sprinter, who is also competing individually in the long jump and triple jump. "He checks everything. We went up to the Chandler Relays this year to get all of our kids on that track, and they performed well.
 
"I think all of them want to take this next step to go thinking 'I want to show everyone how good I really am.'"
 
Black (14.80) is one of three athletes at state with a seed time in the 110 hurdles of less than 15 seconds. He finished sixth in the event last year behind four seniors, and now enters his senior year as the man to beat. Black will also run in the 300 hurdles at state, aiming to improve on a fifth-place finish.
 
"We let him know he had a high seed, so he know's he's got to have a very good time," Kofa coach Charlie Splawn said. "We don't tell them that everybody's got to beat you. We emphasize that you gotta beat everybody else."
 
Ford heads to the 2A meet as the leader in the 400, with a strong chance to medal in the 200 and high jump as well. Corona's top event is the pole vault, but he has the second-best seed in the triple jump and a third event as well in the long jump.
 
A host of Yuma-area girls will also be in the running for top-eight finishes and medals. Cibola's Nicolette Monroe will be competing as the top girl from the Gila Valley Region in the 100, 200 and 400, something her former teammate Hannah Heredia did last year. Monroe was fifth at state in 2008 in the 200 and broke JennaBree Tollestrup's school record in the 100 on Friday with a time of 12.30.
 
"She's running pretty hot right now and definitely peaking at the right time," Cibola coach Gordon Mosher said. "We've been fortunate to see some pretty successful sprinters in this area from JennaBree to Jackie Johnson and Hannah last year, and she's next."
 
Kofa's Stephanie Ledgerwood also won the right to compete in three individual events, but Splawn said she may not run at state in the 800. Her first individual race is tonight in the 3,200, an event she finished seventh in a year ago.
 
The Kings will also be keeping an eye on hurdler Amanda Garcia and sprinter Paige Perry, who are running in four events, and two-time state medalist Amanda Nieves, who will throw in the discus today before her preferred event on Saturday in the shot put.
 
Yuma Catholic's Alexandra Rosado (discus, shot put) and Rachel Harman (1,600) head to state with high seeds in 2A, as do Gila Ridge's Destiny Dillworth (high jump) and Alyssa Williams (400) at the 5A-II meet.
 
Yuma High's boys dominated at region despite some key absences, but will be much closer to full strength for state. Steven Rojano will be one of four Criminals competing in the long jump, and Gabe Torregrosa is back from illness to take his best shot in the distance events.
 
"Gabe's recovery is a little more iffy because he was sick for quite a while," Weber said. "At this stage he's put in so many miles he's just tried to put together some speed and pace work this week because his reserve tank is pretty deep."
 
Along with Cerka in the 100 and 200, other 5A-II boys expected to contend for medals are Cibola's Josh Lopez (800) and Chad Plymale (pole vault), and Kofa's Ricardo Valdez (1,600). Yuma Catholic's other top medal hopefuls at 2A state are Ed Harris (triple jump) and Ernie Samaniego (300 hurdles).