Locals shine in Junior Olympics

Several local runners qualified for the USA Track and Field Junior Olympic National Championships in cross country this past weekend at the Regional Junior Olympic Championships held at Woodward Park in Fresno, Calif.

The top 20 individuals and top three teams in each division advanced to the nationals to be held in Lawrence, Kans. in December.

Twelve Carson City and Reno youth runners competed for the Reno Tahoe Athletics running team. In the Bantam division, Blanca Sosa qualified 16th, covering the 3,000-meter course in 13 minutes, 46 seconds. Bryce Moyle placed 20th in 13:09.

In the Midget division, Alex Drozdoff, a Carson Middle School sixth grader placed seventh in12:07, In the youth division, Erika Sosa placed 25th, covering 4,000 meters in 17:23.

Reno Tahoe Athletics had a team compete in the boys youth division. Reno's Tommy Sullivan placed seventh in 14:39. He will be a freshman at Galena High next year.

Carson Middle School's Harrison Root and Peter Brinson placed 28th and 32nd, respetively, in 16:08 and 16:21.

They were closly followed by Bethlehem Lutheran's Nathanael Williams, who placed 35th in 16:30. Ben Drozdoff set a personal best of 17:44 in taking 44th.

Reno's Andrew Layman rounded out the team's performance by placing 46th in 18:41. The team was edged for third by the Pleasanton Heat 71-83.

In the intermediate division, Brent Moyle a member of the Carson High boys cross country team took ninth, covering the 3.1-mile course in a personal best 18:18. Gloria Sosa, a member of Carson's NIAA 4A State Championship girls cross country team, placed 10th in 20:44 in the Young Women's division.