The trio of Jayden Patton, Ciana Beals and Derriah Wren led the Mojave High School track and field teams to second-place finishes at the 4A State Championships, May 8-9.

Patton was the lone individual champion for the boys, winning the 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash. The sophomore set a new personal record in the 200 with a time of 21.1 seconds. Patton was also fifth in the 300-meter hurdles and seventh in the 110-meter hurdles.

Patton started hurdling his freshman year and is already one of the best in the state. “It takes a lot of dedication and rhythm,” he said when asked if he thought hurdles was the most difficult of the track and field events. He’s been to the Junior Olympics multiple times already and was an All-American last year for the 100- and 200-meter dashes.

“If I don’t make it in track, I want to try football, and if that doesn’t work out, I want to be a Navy Seal,” Patton revealed. “It just shows a lot about being disciplined, and I want to serve my country.”

If Patton goes the college route, his top schools are Tennessee, USC or UCLA. When asked what he’d like to see done in the community of North Las Vegas, Patton said he’d like to see more money for Rattler football and track and field teams. He thanked the Blazing Ones track club and his coaches for helping him become a state champion.

The Lady Rattlers also got a pair of individual track titles out of Beals, who won the 800 meters and the 400-meter dash with a personal best time of 55.86 seconds. The junior came into the State Championships with the fastest 400 time, so it’s no surprise she won the event.

“I’ve been getting [scholarship] offers since seventh grade,” she beamed, adding later, “I ran for Las Vegas Stealths, Team Hurricane and I’ve also gotten invites from other teams to run relays and try to put together the best relay teams in the state.”

She’ll have one more year to do so.

Beals is interested in college coaching, and if that doesn’t work, she, like Patton, wants to join the military, with the Army being her preference. Regardless, coaching is her career goal. When asked what she’d like to see done in North Las Vegas, she said she’d like to see improvements made to her neighborhood on the West Side. 

The only other individual champion for the Rattlers was Wren, who won the 100-meter hurdles. She was also third in the 200 meters. The senior has a lot of academic interests and is leaning toward electrical engineering, but right now, accounting is her preferred major. 

“Everybody wants to go to the big schools…but can you afford it? And they take out loans, so I’m trying to be smart with it,” she said, adding later that “outside of the sports, I try to make sure I’m a STUDENT-athlete.”

Wren and a friend started a Christian Athletes Club at Mojave High School, “just for some athletes to come and talk about things outside of school and outside of sports. It’s just like a safe space, and we also share our religion with others, too. It’s not like you have to be Christian, but if you want to learn about it, you can come. We welcome everybody,” she said.

Wren said her faith helps her to be positive, to persevere and to look on the bright side of things, “because you’re not always going to do well.” Wren thanked all her coaches and teachers for getting her to this point. 

Wren and leaper Jabari Washington are notable Rattler graduates, leaving big shoes to fill. Washington was second in the long jump and fourth in the triple jump, but Mojave does return Patton and Beals next season, along with second-place pole vaulter Jesenya McGuigan, top-six sprinter Shya Ward-Banks, third-place discus thrower Mario Barillas and hurdler La’Von Myers, who was third in the boys’ 300-meter hurdles.