The boys’ track and field team from Sedona Red Rock High School ran their first tournament of the season at Notre Dame Preparatory High School in Scottsdale on March 5th.

Junior Choki Karstens won the 1,600 metres in the 4:52.09 hour, finishing almost three seconds ahead of Notre Dame Prep senior runner-up Drake Hanley. The Carstens also finished first in the 800m, with sophomore Khrystian Cordova placed eighth in the 2:22.16 hour of the 31 competitors field.

“It feels pretty good to be a captain,” Ramon Betancourt said. “Being a captain is not just about work ethic, it’s about compassion. It creates a positive environment, so it’s important to be mindful of your teammates. Of course, you want to be competitive, but that makes it difficult to build chemistry, so you don’t want to hate each other on a team.

Betancort competed in the 100, 200 and 400 metre dash events and the 4×400 relay, saying the 400 metres would be considered his powerful event. He added that he hopes to reduce the personal best of the event from 49 seconds to 47 seconds.

“My endurance has increased significantly and I’ve become much stronger,” Betancourt said ahead of his second place performance in the 400m in 51.60 seconds during the tournament. “This year we put out a lot of throwing tugs for our team, which is probably the most throwing tug we’ve had in years.”

Junior Steel Sturgeon placed fourth at Javelin Slow in a 38.56 metre distance, while junior Vincent Smith Sheyawatt placed sixth at Discus throw in a 31.24 metre distance.

The Scorpions also held the Red Rock Small Invitational on Wednesday, March 12th. Junior Alitedrik placed second in the pole vault at 3.51 meters high, while Cordoba came third in the 3.05 meters. Tedrick also finished fourth in the high jump at 1.52 metres, while freshman David Bertrand finished seventh in the 1.42 metres.

Betancourt finished first in the 400 metres on March 12th with a time of 51.52, while Sturgeon came in 10th at 1:02.65. Sturgeon also placed second at Javelin Slow in the 37.80m distance, with Smith Shayawatt third at 35.33m and sophomore Christian Dominguez fifth at 26.52m.

On the discus throw, Smith Shayawatt came in second in the 33.55 metres distance, third in the 28.60 metres and second in the village of Sturgeon and 25.93 metres freshman Miguel.

The Carstens posted a time of 4:46.70 at the 1600-meter event, and placed third in the 800-meter at 2:08.50. Beltran finished fifth on the 110-meter hurdle in 20.56 seconds, while freshman Ariel Bustos Landa came in eighth place in 21.45 seconds. Senior Keldonkain finished fifth in a 200-meter dash with a time of 24.79 seconds. Betancourt finished 9th in the 100m in the 12.20 hour, while Cain finished 13th in the 12.43 hour.

“So, after the first meeting of this season, I was already doing my best since last year, so I was pretty happy, so I’m really getting better this season,” Cain said, adding that his goal is to reduce the 200 metre time to under 24 seconds, then to under 100 metres to under 12 seconds.

“It feels like the volume and diversity of our team is really growing this year. We have a lot of new freshmen. We are really pleased with the energy and the spirit of our team. We’re way stronger than last year,” Cain said.

The next home meeting for the Scorpions will be Sedo Nine Vestial on Saturday, April 5th at 9:30am

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