Carson track off to a fast start

Alex McAlman, Kayla Sanchez, Andrea Kierstead and Jeremy Gray all had outstanding efforts for the Cason High boys and girls track teams at the Reed Invitational on Friday.

McAlman won the girls shot put with the state's best throw this year of 40 feet, 10 inches. Sanchez also won the 300 hurdles with the state's best time of 46.74 seconds.

Sanchez also qualified first for today's 100 in 12.64 while Kierstead qualified third in 13.2. Kierstead also qualified second for the 200 in 27.12 while Sanchez qualified fourth in 27.46.

For the boys, Gray won the 300 hurdles in 40.13 and finished nearly a second faster than the second fastest runner to qualify first for today's finals in the 200 in 22.57.

"They were great," said Carson coach Todd Ackerman about his top athletes. "They performed up to what they should be performing at."

Also for Carson's girls, the 4x800 relay team of Annie Brinson, Allie Collier, Gloria Sosa and Christy Works took fifth in 10:30.3, the distance medley relay of Julisa Gonzalez (400), Brinson (800), Kristen Dockery (1,200) and Collier (1,600) was fourth in 13:40.4.

Ackerman said his girls team could be in the running to win the meet, which concludes today and believes his team has a shot at the state title if everything goes well.

"We put ourselves in a good spot," he said. "We'll see what happens. It will be interesting. We may not win some of these meets, but when it gets to state we're going to be in it."

For the boys, Caleb Carter (400), Zach Mapes (800), Ethan Graber (1,200) and Chad Shroy (1,600) were fifth in the medley relay in 12:15 and Carter, Graber, Mapes and Shroy were eighth in the 4x800 in 9:06.

For the frosh-soph boys, James Simmons was fifth in 45.56 and Phil O'Neill was eighth in 46.21 in the 300 hurdles.