The Carson High girls cross country team safely made it through to next week's Northern 4A Championships by beating both of their opponents in the final regular season meet on Wednesday at Damonte Ranch.
Carson needed to be both Damonte and Fallon to advance to zone and took no chances as it beat Damonte 17-42 and the Greenwave, which actually didn't have enough runners to field a full team. The Senator boys also warmed up for zone by beating Damonte 15-49 and Fallon 15-50.
CHS coach Pete Sinnott said the course was good preparation for the zone event to be held a week from today at Rancho San Rafael Park. Much like Rancho San Rafael Park, Damonte's course had plenty of hills. "It was a pretty hilly, rocky course," said Sinnott about the Damonte course.
While not taking it easy, Carson's boys cruised as they had the top six overall finishers. "It was pretty much a good workout," Sinnott said.
Richard Shroy took first, covering the 3.1-mile course in 17 minutes, 58 seconds. Shroy was followed by Nick Schlager (18:08), Logan Philippi (19:18), Brent Moyle (19:32), David McMasters (19:54), Evan Richards (19:59), Brandon Bournacorsi (20:32) and Josh Van Sickle (20:32).
Carson's girls were led by Yvonne Hollett (21:25), Jenny Mital (21:36), Amanda Gordon (22:08), Erika Sosa (22:36), Laura Sosa (24:34) and Haleigh Ward (25:03).
"A good effort on a pretty hard course," said Sinnott about the girls. "The varsity girls, they all ran pretty well."
The top two teams from next week's zone meet will advance to the NIAA 4A State Championships and the race to advance to state should be wide open. Sinnott said as many as four or five teams could be within 10 points in both the boys and girls meets.
South Tahoe will be the slight favorite in the girls with Galena, Carson, Reno High and Manogue all having a chance to advance to state. For the boys, Reno, Carson, Galena and Manogue all have a chance to make it to state.
Sinnott said along with his top three runners, Hollett, Mital and Gordan, Erika Sosa, Laura Sosa and Haleigh Ward continue to improve giving his girls a chance to make it to statey.
Sinnott also likes his boys chances. "The boys team is really running very strong right now," he said. "They're all pushing each other. They're getting faster."
Carson's junior varsity runners will compete on Friday in a meet with all JV teams and varsity teams that didn't qualify for zone and Sinnott said his JV boys team could finish high in the meet. Those running for Carson will be Van Sickle, Andrew Richards, Noel Lopez, Ricardo Urgarte, Brandon O'Keefe, Victor Favero, Justice Kemp, Joe Ward, James Levins and John Morales. Ashley Salcedo, Katie Ogburn and Haley Toupes will also run for Carson's JV girls.