Ironwood Ridge junior track and field athlete Jett Merrill earned 28 first-place titles in various events and meets this spring, including two in the AIA Track and Field State Championship.
He achieved his first two state titles in his career in the long jump (23′ 8″) and the 110-meter hurdles (13.91 seconds) at Mesa Community College on May 16. He had a personal-best time of 13.79 seconds (a school record) in the 110-meter hurdles in the preliminaries.
Merrill’s first-place success this spring extended to the 100-meter dash, 400-meter run, 300-meter hurdles, and as a member of the 4×100-meter relay team.
He placed second in the state in the 100-meter dash in 10.75 seconds (posted a personal-best 10.63, also a school record, the previous week in the AIA Division III championships).
He earned the division title in the 300-meter hurdles in a time of 38.11 seconds.
Merrill was the only male competitor from Southern Arizona to win two state championships.
For his performance, Merrill is the Jet Sports Training Male Athlete of the Month for May.
2026 MALE ATHLETE OF THE MONTH HONORS
January 2026: Sahuaro basketball player Cisco Llamas
February 2026: Sahuarita wrestler Marcus Killgore
March 2026: Canyon del Oro baseball player Regen Mazura
April 2026: Cienega volleyball player Caiden Mott
May 2026: Ironwood Ridge track and field athlete Jett Merrill
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator five years ago and is presently a special education teacher at Gallego Fine Arts Intermediate in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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