Carson girls cross country wins Reed Invitational

Reno's Collier Lawrence barely won the battle over Carson High's Shanna Sparks. But the Senators barely won the war over Reno.

The Carson High girls cross country team made a statement at the Reed Invitational on Friday, winning by one point over Reno (59-60). In the battle between Northern Nevada's top two runners, Lawrence was able to edge out Sparks, covering the 5K course in 19 minutes, four seconds. Sparks placed second in 19:08.

Sparks and Collier went back and forth throughout the race before Collier was able to outkick Sparks over the last 150 yards. Douglas High's Taryn Mendive placed third (20:45) and the Tigers' Monica Buccambuso took fifth (20:54.00).

Carson also had two key performances from Sheena Bonaldi and Annie Brinson. Bonaldi placed seventh (21:03) and Brinson took 11th (21:32) to put the Senators over the top. Janine Stone and Amanda Benson also had solid efforts for Carson, with Stone placing 18th (22:32) and Benson taking 25th (23:19).

Carson's win was particularly impressive since Reno would have easily beaten the Senators in a meet last week hosted by Douglas had scoring been kept. But Carson was coming off of a 24-hour fund-raising run.

In the boys meet, Galena finished third, fourth, fifth and sixth, but couldn't overcome Reno's depth. Reno (29) won while Galena (39) placed second. Carson (162) took fifth.

Galena's Steve Potty placed third (17:33) while James Parker placed fourth (17:48), Raul Tibaduiza took fifth (18:02) and Chase Correia took sixth (18:06).

But Reno took the top two spots with Jonathon Cardenas (16:53) and Chris Concha (17:22). Andrew Pederson was Carson's top runner, placing 10th (18:27).

Josh Corder has been ill for the past two weeks and wasn't at full strength. He placed 29th (19:29).

Carson's junior varsity girls placed second (40) behind South Tahoe (28). The Senators' Kristin Neddenriep placed fourth, finishing in 17:17 over the 2.4-mile course.

It's likely that Neddenriep will move up to varsity. Patty Capistrant (17:52) placed sixth for the Senators.

In the junior varsity boys race, Sam Saunders was the top runner for Carson, placing 13th (15:19).