Other articles by Michael J. Craven:

To get on track, kart racing is a good start Monsoon season rolls to an exciting climax Rio Rico surprises field with 3,200 relay win Results in prelims upset two of Tucson CDO's Fowler deals 4th no-hitter in row McGrath's resilience helps Trojans claim titleIronwood Ridge sweeps despite looking a day aheadRespect for 'Mr. Cholla' Sunnyside baseball team beats San Luis Sahuaro holds off Cienega in 'most intense match of year'

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Palo Verde jumper Adam Hall knows all about teamwork.

The junior plays basketball and football for the Titans, and said the team aspect of track and field is no different.

"We're all in it together," Hall said. "We practice together, we work hard together, and hopefully we win together."

During Saturday's 4A Gila Region championship meet at Amphitheater, Palo Verde proved Hall correct. The Titans scored 116 points to edge Catalina (113) for the team championship.

Santa Rita finished third with 85 points, followed by Amphi (84), Rio Rico (77), Douglas (65), and Sahuarita (38).

The finals of Hall's best event, the triple jump, took place on Day 1 of the Gila meet Thursday. He jumped 46 feet 1 inch, setting a personal record and a meet record.

Hall also said he will be the No. 1 seed at next week's Class 4A-II state meet in Mesa, where he will try to improve on a frustrating performance last year.

"I had a hard time with the runway," he said. "The pit is longer but the runway is shorter. But I'm used to it now. If I really come out and jump, I believe I can win."

Hall's older cousin, Caleb Hall, will also represent the Titans at state.

Caleb jumped 22-4 1/2 in Saturday's long jump, ahead of his cousin (21-4) and teammate Andric Queen-Booker (21-9).

Queen-Booker swept the boys hurdles events. He won the 110 hurdles in 15.40 seconds, and the 300 in 40.46. Both times are meet records.

In the 110 hurdles, Queen-Booker finished just .07 seconds in front of Santa Rita's Chris Correa. Correa knocked down two of the final three hurdles, slowing his time.

"I think what got to me was him being in front of me," Correa said. "I'm not used to that."

Having raced Correa before, Queen-Booker knew what to expect.

"He's the real deal," Queen-Booker said. "He had me for a second. … I really had to press it."

Catalina's James Eichberger did his best to help the Trojans compete with Palo Verde.

Eichberger — last year's 4A-I state champion in the 400 meters and 800 meters — won the 400 Saturday and was part of Catalina's winning 1600 relay team.

Having already qualified for state in the 800, Eichberger decided to sit out that event at regionals, but said he took his other events at the meet seriously.

"I don't just sit there and think I'm going to cruise through stuff," Eichberger said. "I have great competition in the 400, the 200, everything. Our region is stacked."

Eichberger then offered a word of warning to his competitors at state next week.

"I'm coming off a great season," he said. "I'm probably in the best shape of my life right now."

On the girls side, Catalina scored 133 points to run away with the victory.

Douglas was second with 99 1/2, followed by Rio Rico (96), Amphi (68), Palo Verde (67), Santa Rita (43 1/2), and Sahuarita (40).

Catalina won thanks largely to Ashley King and Melanie McGrath. Including their individual events and relay teams, the duo accounted for 52 of the Trojans' points.

King won the 100 and 200 meters, while McGrath ran on the Trojans winning 3,200 relay team.

King and McGrath also ran together on the winning 1,600 relay quartet.

McGrath finished second to Rio Rico's Hanna Henson in the 800 meters. It was just one of three victories for Henson, who was also a region champion in the 1,600 and 3,200.

It was announced during the meet that Henson is the recipient of the inaugural Valerie McGregor Memorial Scholarship.

The scholarship is dedicated to the memory of McGregor, who was a state champion distance runner for Mountain View. She graduated in 2002 and was killed tragically in a car accident in 2006.

"It came down to her leadership with her peers," Dennis Hansen said of Henson. Hansen is the recently retired Mountain View cross country and track coach, and also the executive director of the scholarship fund.

Henson "accepted a leadership role that was thrust upon her as a mentor and as someone people look up to," Hansen said.

Amphi's Essence Johnson also won three events at the meet. She swept the hurdles and beat out Catalina's Alice Odu for a win in the triple jump.

The sophomore Johnson was neck-and-neck with Palo Verde's Kanasha Smith in the 100 hurdles when Smith fell down between the last two hurdles.

Johnson said she didn't even see Smith go down.

"I was just running as fast as I could, trying to beat the wind," Johnson said. "I knew (Smith) was my competition but I also knew I could beat her."

Smith got up and finished the race in third, two seconds behind Johnson.