Dayton boys defend 3A track and field championship

LAS VEGAS - Talk about how to finish a meet in style.

Michael Martin finished off a dominant performance by the Dayton High boys track and field team with an impressive anchor leg on the 4x400 meter relay, giving the Dust Devils the win in the event.

The win capped off an effort by Dayton in which it won its second straight NIAA 3A State title on Saturday at Del Sol High. The Dust Devils scored 1591Ú2 points to finish well ahead of second-place Spring Creek, which finished with 1021Ú2.

When Martin took the baton, Dayton was in fourth, but by the time Martin hit the finish, he had won the event going away. It figured Martin would do something special since on Friday he won the individual title in the 400 in a school record 50.28 seconds. Martin, Josh Melia, James Yeater and Erik Hopper won the 4x400 in 3:30.18.

Dayton took command on Friday when it set four state records. Martin, Yeater, Bill Storrs and Trace Feemster took more than a second off of their school record by winning the 4x200 relay in a state record of 1:29.86.

Paul Cox also broke his own school record in the discus, winning the event with an impressive throw of 162 feet, 10 inches while Brandon Seymour took second. Despite leaping farther than he did last year when he won the event, Feemster settled for third in the long jump at 20-2. Storrs won the 200 in 22.64 and Hans Meyer took second in the 110 high hurdles.

On Saturday even though he didn't reach his own school record, Martin won the 100 in a meet record while Storrs took second. Storrs also won the pole vault at 13-0 and Bill Savran won the shot put while Seymour was third.

"The kids are just excited all the way around," Dayton coach Mike Paul said. "It's been awesome."

Along with the expected efforts from his top athletes, Paul said he received better than expected efforts from other athletes. They included Meyer and Matt Aaker, who were seeded seventh and eight in the 300 hurdles, but took fourth and fifth. Dan Petty also had a personal best, and Rudy Reyna and Byron Trigueros performed well in the triple jump.

"I had a lot of other kids move up in the standings," Paul said.

For Dayton's girls, Rebecca Monzello won the shot put and took second in the discus at 116-0 behind defending state champion Kayla Lommori of Yerington, who had a throw of 124-5.

SMITH VALLEY WINS 1A

Smith Valley trailed Laughlin 93-90 going into the two schools' last event, the 200. Gleason won in a state record 27.01 while Tiffany Focha took third and Lesley Christensen was fifth. Laughlin's only runner in the event took second, so Smith Valley won the title 110-101 over second-place Laughlin.

Gleason ended her career in style, setting state records in all four events she won. She finished with 15 individual titles and eight state records. She won the pole vault with a meet record of 11-8, which was still shy of her personal best of 12-0.

She also won the 800 in a state record 2:19.88 and broke her own record of 57.92 in the 400, winning in 57.90. For Smith Valley's boys, Tim Nelson won three events as he won the pole vault at 12-0. He also won the 110 and 300 hurdles.