Although there were no signs of any athletes letting up at the finish line during the five-way track and field meet hosted by Douglas High at Carson High on Thursday, most of the participants that day were saving at least some of their energy for a bigger meet.
There will be no holding back today, however, as Carson High hosts its annual Carson Track and Field Invitational, with field events beginning at 8:30 a.m. Senator coach Todd Ackerman said he anticipates most of Northern Nevada's top teams - both 4A and 3A - will show up for a meet that could serve as an early preview of the Northern 4A Zone meet, set for May 13 at Reed High.
"Most of the top schools except for Sparks and some of Reed's athletes will be here," Ackerman said. "Everybody else will be here, including Rite of Passage, Dayton, and Herlong (Calif.) which has a top sprinter in the 100 and 200 (Hashim Cooper).
"Hopefully, we'll get some good weather and everyone will get their times."
Ackerman said many individual event zone favorites are entered in the meet, including:
- Aarik Wilson (Fallon) - Wilson is one of the state's best in the horizontal jumps, having recorded a triple jump of 48 feet 11 inches and a long jump of 22-6 on April 8 at the Reed/Sparks Rotary Invitational.
- Eric O'Brien (Wooster) - O'Brien will be favored in both throws. He owns marks of 56-7 in the shot and 171-8 in the discus this season.
- Gabe Hatchett (Douglas) - Hatchett ran wild in the five-way meet on Thursday, taking three events (110 hurdles in 15.43, 100 in 11.47, and 200 in 23.10). He'll be among the favorites in the hurdle races.
- Shanna Sparks (Carson) - Sparks won the 800 on Thursday in 2:21.56 and will be difficult to beat in either the 1,600 or 3,200 today.
Other Carson athletes who should contend for an individual title include Amy Sanchez in the jumps and sprints, Caitlin Prunty in the 400, and Darryl Nourse in the 3,200.
Douglas' Rebecca Pope is one of the favorites in the 1,600.
Ackerman said the relay events should be very competitive, although Wooster has the deepest sprinting corps among the participating schools. Look for the Senator boys 4x200 relay and the girls 4x800 teams to contend for first.
Douglas pole vaulter Chris Chappell, who cleared 16-0 at Fallon earlier this season, is entered in another meet today.