Thursday, April 30, 1998 | 6:39 a.m.
Cimarron-Memorial and Durango's track and field teams tuned up for Saturday's Sunset Division Championships by turning a quad meet into a dual meet Wednesday night at Cimarron.
Though Mojave and Virgin Valley also participated, the meet came down to a battle between Cimarron's sprinters and Durango's long distance runners, with the Spartans scoring close wins in both the boys' and girls' competitions.
Cimarron's boys narrowly defeated Durango 110-109, while the girls outpointed the rival Trailblazers 104 1/2-101 1/2. Mojave and Virgin Valley's boys and girls teams combined collected only 79 and 38 points respectively.
"I'm happy for the kids," said Spartan head coach Harold Vaughn. "We fell short in a few events we probably should've pointed, but overall we did pretty well. We had some kids who really stepped up."
Corey Synagogue was one of them. The senior sprinter won the 100 meters (10.8 seconds), 200 meters (21.6) and contributed to victories in the 4x100 and 4x200-meter relays.
"I just wanted to make sure I got out of the blocks in good shape and ran well around the curve," said Synagogue, whose 21.6 was the third-fastest 200 timed in the southern zone this season. "I pulled up a little at the end, but I was happy with my time."
Providing support for Synagogue in the sprints were Iman Johnson (100 high hurdles, 15.5) and Donny Watford (400 meters, 50.2). Contributing first-place points in field events for the Spartans were William Culpepper (high jump, 6-3), DeShaun Houston (triple jump, 45-10), Taylor Miller (discus, 130-4) and Corey Williams (shot put, 44-11).
Luke Mostoller (800 meters, 2:04; 1600 meters, 4:42), Adam Murie (pole vault, 13-6) and Claudio Salazar (300 intermediate hurdles, 41.1) scored impressive wins for Durango.
While Synagogue led the boys to victory, Shameka Davis helped do the same for the Cimarron girls. The freshman sprinter won the 100 (12.5), 200 (24.9), 400 (59.6) and anchored the victorious 4x100-meter relay team. Her 24.9 in the 200 was the fastest recorded in the zone this year.
Other first-place finishers for Cimarron included Tosha Clove (discus, 100-1; shot put, 37-3) and Emily McCarter (high jump, 5-2; long jump, 16-4).
Scoring first-place points for the Durango girls were Amber Baker (pole vault, 8-0), Carly Helbert (800 meters, 2:34), Kelly Pardee (1600 meters, 5:32; 3200 meters, 12:22) and Jannaia Reed (100 high hurdles, 15.6; 300 low hurdles, 48.1).
Stephanie Jensen earned Virgin Valley's lone first-place finish with a season's best 36 feet, 4 inches in the triple jump.
The Sunset Championships take place Saturday at 9 a.m. at Durango.
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