Panthers, Demons clean up at middle school girls state track

GILBERT - It was a big day for a couple of area schools in the Mike Henderson junior high girls state track meet on Saturday, especially on the seventh-grade side.

Mt. Pleasant and Washington took third and fourth respectively in the seventh-grade meet. The Panthers scored 56 points for third, and the Demons scored 41 for fourth.

The Mt. Pleasant seventh-graders placed in the top five in nine different events, and won three of them.

Abigail Carthey won two individual events for the Panthers, taking first in the 800-meter run and the 1500. The 4x400-meter relay team of Aliya Graber, Carthey, Alexis Scott and Kynlee White also took first.

White had the Panthers’ only second-place finish. She took silver in the 200-meter hurdles and placed fourth in the 100-meter dash and the long jump.

Mt. Pleasant had one third-place finish on the day. Ella Ensminger took bronze in the shot put. The Panthers had fifth-place finishes with Kelsey Coleman in the discus and Scott in the 400-meter dash.

Washington had two wins on the day, both in relay events. The 4x800 team of Addison Miller, Taylor Miksch, Adalyn Long and Iris Dahl took first, as did the distance medley squad of Ryen Pepper, Leighton Salazar, Leighton Messinger and Dahl.

Washington’s sprint medley quartet of Luna Cuevas, Pepper, Salazar and Dahl placed second place. The 4x100 team of Cuevas, Messinger, Pepper and Salazar placed fourth.

Washington had two fourth-place finishes in individual events. Messinger was fourth in the 100-meter dash, and Miksch placed fourth in the discus throw.

Washington had one finish in the top five on the eighth-grade side. Ella Greiner took fifth in the discus throw.