With a little luck - and some help - the Carson High girls track team may have a shot at winning the NIAA 4A State Championship this weekend.
It could very well be a 1-2 finish for the North this weekend at Reno High, with Galena and the Senators battling for the title. Based on the seedings, Carson could score around 80 points while Galena is on target to score around 100 points.
That means the Senators will likely to have to overachieve in some events while Galena would have to falter in some events for Carson to have any shot at the title.
Sophomore Kayla Sanchez will look to be a state champion in four events. Last year as a freshman, Sanchez won the 100 and 200 meters and the 300 hurdles at the state meet. Sanchez will look to repeat in those events along with adding the 100 hurdles this year.
To win the 100 hurdles, Sanchez will have to beat her teammate Andrea Kierstead. No matter how they finish, Carson will hope that Kierstead and Sanchez can finish 1-2 in the event to improve its chance of winning the team title. The Senators will also likely need Kierstead to finish as high as possible in the 100, 200 and 300 hurdles.
Alex McAlman will shoot to be a double champion in the shot put and discus and Christy Works will look to finish as high as possible in the 400. Carson will also need to finish as high as possible in the 4x200 and 4x400 relays. The Senators have Crista Dixon, Yvette Hollett, Sinead McSweeney and Works in the 4x200 and Hollett, Gloria Sosa, Works and McSweeney in the 4x400.
Even if Carson has a tremendous day, it may not be enough. Lydia and Julia Mailander along with Langley Iverson should pile up the points in the field events for Galena. The Grizzlies also have an outstanding long distance runner in Alyssa Abbott and they are strong in the relays as well.
Two athletes will compete for Carson's boys - Jeremy Gray and Eric Walther. Gray will need an excellent effort to beat Western's Dell Guy, who has run a 21.4, in the 200. Walther is coming off an outstanding Northern 4A meet last week in which he won the discus and finished second in the shot put.
There will be many outstanding athletes in the meet, including long distance runner Mel Lawrence of Reno High for the girls and Galena's Dan Geib for the boys. There's also Reno's Cameron Kroll, who became one of a select few in Nevada to clear 16 feet in the pole vault at last week's zone meet. The meet will begin at 2 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. Saturday.
SWIMMING
Carson High freshmen Abby Niehoff and Kevin Dyer will go for state titles in the 500-yard freestyle on Saturday in the NIAA 4A Swimming Championships in Las Vegas.
Niehoff won the girls 500 free and Dyer won the boys 500 free at last Saturday's Northern 4A Championships at the Carson Aquatic Facility. Niehoff will also compete in the 100 butterfly while Dyer will swim in two relays.
Dyer is the favorite to win the state title after swimming a 4:55 at last Saturday's meet. His personal best is a 4:54 and he would like to go 4:53 at state. Dyer doesn't hold back when stating what he wants to do. "I want to win," he said.
Dyer's effort to win the 500 will be made easier this week by the fact he will not have to swim the 200 free relay after the 500.
"I had the 200 free right after the 500 and that hurt and I'm glad I don't have to do that so I can rest after the 500," he said.
But actually Dyer isn't happy about the fact that he wasn't able to help Carson qualify for state in the 200 free. "There's mixed feelings there," Dyer said.
Dyer, though, will be busy enough as he will also swim in the 200 medley and 400 free relays. He will be joined by Matt Grunert, Garrett Clayton and Chris Earwood in the 200 medley relay and Grunert, Clayton and Paul Chang in the 400 free relay.
If Niehoff comes close to her best time of around 4:57, she should have a strong chance to win on Saturday. Niehoff's winning time last Saturday was 5:09, but she wasn't completely tapered. "She was on partial rest," Carson coach Monica Weaver said.
Weaver also noted that Dyer was not completed tapered as well. "He did 4:55 with partial rest," she said. "I think he'll be able to do a best time."
Niehoff said her goal is to go under 5 minutes at state. "It was OK," said Niehoff about her time last Saturday. "It wasn't really very fast, but hopefully I'll go fast this weekend."
She said her goal will be to go 58 in the 100 fly. Carson will also have Julie Asire, Rebekah Niehoff, Hilary Schlager and Tatum Boehnke in the 400 free relay. "Hopefully they can each go a second faster," said Weaver, commenting on the improvement she would like to see her relay swimmers make from zone to state.
Weaver said if all of her swimmers perform as well as they can, both the boys and girls teams have a chance to finish in the top 10 at state.