With one eye on the Northern 4A Regional Championships in two weeks, the Carson High cross country team posted some favorable results at the Elko Invitational on Saturday.
Carson's varsity girls finished second as a team while the boys finished fifth during competition held on the Ruby View Golf Course. Then again, the results were not a true gauge for the regional meet, which will be held on Oct. 28 at Rancho San Rafael Park in Reno.
"This was more of a tune-up; a lot of kids were saving their best physical and mental efforts for regionals," Carson coach Dennis Brinson said. "Some kids are sick right now and others were missing. It's a long drive out there, so it really wasn't a good indicator of the way regionals will be."
Carson's girls finished second as a team with 88 points, followed by Galena (98) and Douglas (121) in third and fourth respectively. Reno was the team champion with 21 points.
Reno's Marie Lawrence won the race in 18:04, followed by teammate Nicole Lajeunesse in 19:57 and Whitney Lindsey of Douglas in 20:42.
Christy Works ran 21:28 to finish 12th-place out of a close pack - two seconds behind Taylor Biaggi in 11th and two seconds ahead of Galena's Alyssa Abbott in 13th. There was a logjam right behind them, too, as Galena's Melissa Bunt finished 13th (21:31) and Hannah Riedl in 14th (21:37).
Gloria Sosa and Kristin Dockery were 18th and 19th with respective times of 22:02 and 22:07. Jenny Mital also ran 22:55 and Kristin Neddenriep 23:37 for the Senators.
In the varsity boys race, Carson's Chad Shroy ran 17:54 to finish sixth. Caleb Carter finished 27th (19:21); Ethan Graber, who is still recovering from an ankle sprain, was 28th (19:22); Zack Mapes 35th (19:42), Tyler Davies 55th (20:33), Sam Saunders 58th (20:44) and Mark Neddenriep 60th (20:46) for the Senators. Reno's Joe Parker, the defending Northern 4A and state champion, won in 16:57.
Reno cruised to the boys team title with 23 points, while Galena edged Bishop Manogue for second place by a 72-85 margin. Carson was fifth with 135 points.
In the JV competition, Carson's Libby Rheault was fifth in the girls race with a 24:56 clocking and Mike Rupert 10th in the boys race with a time of 21:27.
The Senators run in a three-way conference meet Wednesday at McQueen. The Northern 4A junior varsity championships will be run Friday at Rancho San Rafael Park. Next up will be the regionals, where the top four teams will earn the right to move on to the state championships a week later in Reno.
"We're just trying to peak at the right time and get both the boys and girls teams in the top four at regionals," Brinson said.