Wade Meddles of Sierra Lutheran High School turned in the most impressive effort ever by a Nevada runner at the Foot Locker West Regional Championships held on Saturday in Walnut, Calif.
Meddles just missed qualifying for the nationials by two-tenths of a second. The top 10 advanced to nationals and Meddles finished 11th, covering the 3.1-mile course in 15 minutes, 53 seconds.
It was the fastest time ever recorded by a Nevada runner at the event and the highest finish by a Nevada runner at the event since 1981. Making Meddles finish even more impressive is he fell down at the beginning of the race. Meddles was running for the Falcon XC Club, consisting of runners from the Douglas County school, Sierra Lutheran.
The 3.1 mile course consisted of grass, dirt and asphalt and has three challenging hills, one so steep it uses switchbacks to climb to the top. One of the hills is named "Poop Out Hill."
First to compete for Falcon XC were freshmen Nathanael Williams and Jason Deterding along with sophomore Nathan Conover in the freshman/sophomore race. Williams ran a n outstanding race to place sixth among the freshmen and 19th overall in 17:57. Conover was 165th in 20:00 and Deterding was 168th in 20:04 out of 328 runners.
The race drew top runners from California, Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, New Mexico and Nevada.
Preston Lyons ran in the junior race, finishing in 18:58 placing, 126th out of 255 runners. Senior Michael Kubel also had a great race, finishing in 17:33 to take 33rd out of 237 runners. Ryan Jackson also finished in 22:31 in the senior race.
Meddles then ran in the seeded race. "Wade ran a good race just getting edged out at the finish," said Sierra Lutheran and Falcon XC coach Dave Marson. "We had a great season this year and we'll be back next year and with girls, too."