Athletics

In an exciting and somewhat surprising move Coach Jim Mentz is returning home to Palo Verde Baseball.  Coach Mentz has over 30 years coaching in Arizona, most at Palo Verde, and has been a part of two State title winning teams.  Since his return Coach Mentz has spent countless hour on the field after school working on the field and facilities.  His last state title was in 2014 when he had a strong pitching rotation with Tyler Fallwell, Danny Hunt, Jared Cochran, and Zach Redding and and outstanding defensive team team.  He has visions of rebuilding the team from the underclassmen up and being competitive in a short period of time.  Anyone interested can visit the activities office or see Coach Mentz in the gym or on the field.

Palo Verde "Green Stick" cross country wrapped up their season in Buena in early November and there were a lot of strong performances by individual runners, Jonas Blackketter, Jacob Blackketter, Justin Perry, Alexis Guerrero, Riley McGeathy, and Kyla Miguel.  Jonas qualified for the state meet at Cave Creek Golf Course and ran one of his best meets of the year.  While the course isn't conducive to running a personal record in the 5K, he did finish in front of a lot of runners who he had not previously beaten.  Jonas followed that performance by running a PR at the Nike Cross in Tempe the following week.  All these runners are looking forward to track season which begins on February 7, 2022.