Chinle High girls win 3A North Region track title, boys second

Qiyanna Tsosie and Makasia Etsitty helped Chinle's girls capture the 3A North Region track championship in Page, while the boys finished runner-up and gave Apache County another clear sign that the Wildcats are building something deeper than a single-meet surge.

The championship was held Wednesday, April 29, at Page High School, with field events and track events both scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. It was a full varsity meet that covered sprints, distance races, hurdles, relays, throws, jumps, pole vault and hammer, which meant Chinle's success had to come from points spread across the program.

Early posted results show that depth in plain numbers. Tsosie ran 6:17.89 in the girls 1600 meters, while Makasia Etsitty finished the same race in 6:02.62. On the boys side, Caleb Yazzie clocked 25.15 in the 200 meters and Jason Johnson ran 57.42 in the 400. Brent Yazzie posted 31 feet, 9.5 inches in the triple jump, Kashan Etsitty went 16 feet, 2 inches in the long jump, Kyonia Denetdeel cleared 4 feet, 2 inches in the girls high jump and Daniel DeLaFuente threw 110 feet, 2 inches in the boys discus.

That spread across disciplines is what makes the title especially meaningful for Chinle. Track and field rewards programs that can score in multiple places, and the Lady Wildcats did that well enough to win the region while the boys stayed close enough to claim runner-up. It was the kind of result that reflects months of practice, coaching and repeat competition rather than one isolated performance.

Chinle's boys season had already included the Chandler Rotary Meet on March 20-21, the Blue Ridge Invitational on April 2 and the 93rd Annual Winslow Track and Field Invitational on April 24 before the regional championship. That run of meets gave the team a steady lead-in to Page and helped sharpen the roster for a demanding regional field.

The Arizona Interscholastic Association's 2025-26 alignment places Chinle track in Division IV for both boys and girls, and the Wildcats' regional showing against North County opponents gives the program real momentum as postseason competition advances. In a spring where the school has already been visible for more than one kind of achievement, the girls' title and boys' runner-up finish made track and field one more place where Chinle showed it can compete at a high level.