Carson, Douglas enjoy solid days on the track

MINDEN " Carson High's boys and girls track squads enjoyed a solid day at the Northern 4A Track & Field trails at Douglas High School Saturday afternoon.

Brandon Briggs (100, 200), Robby Barlow (800), Luke Carter (110 high hurdles), James Simmons (300 hurdles), Nick Schlager (800, 1600), Cameron Childers (pole vault) and Josh Peacock (high jump) all made it through to next week's finals on the boys side.

On the girls' side, Krista Baumgartner (400), Katie McFerran (1600) and Alex Fallon (triple jump) all moved on in individual events. Emily Field and Haleigh Ward advanced in relay events only.

Baumgartner turned in a gutty performance, according to Carson coach Robert Maw.

Baumgartner took a hard spill on the third turn of the 400 relay event after overrunning Julieanne King trying to hand off the baton. According to Maw, the crowd hushed until she got up and continued running.

Baumgartner had to run the 400 next, and she turned in the third-fastest time at 60.97, winning her heat in the process.

McFarren had a nice day, recording a personal record in the 800 with a 2:35. She ran a 5:36 in the four-lapper, shaving 20 seconds off her previous best.

"It was a great race for her," Maw said.

Alex Fallon PR'd in the triple jump with a mark of 33-11. Maw pulled her out of the 300 hurdles because she was doing so well in the jumping event.

The Carson girls performed well in the 800 and 1600 relay events. The Senators, with Haleigh Ward, King, Baumgartner and Field running, won the 800 relay in 1:46. Carson ran a 4:06 in the 1600, as Ward dropped her split time by three seconds.

Schlager PR'd in both the 800 (2:01, third in heat) and 1600 (4:40.56). Barlow, who has been ill, ran a 2:02.68 to win his heat.

Briggs qualified in both spints, and he'll be seeded No. 5 and No. 8 respectively.

"He really stepped it up," Maw said.

One disappointment was the girls' 400 relay. Maw had figured that Carson would get all tghree of its relay teams through.

Two setbacks came in the weight events, as Blake McCoy only threw 115, 22 feet under his best mark of the season. Britney Dixon hrew two feet under her best in the shot and eight feet les than her best effort in the discus and finished out of the money.

Meanwhile, Douglas High got what it was looking for, qualifying athletes in nearly every event on the girls side, in order to stay in the hunt for next week's team title.

"It went well," Douglas head coach Jim Abbott said. "We got just about everyone through that we were hoping to get through. The girls' side is looking good and we had some strong performances on the boy's side.

"Even some of the people that didn't make it through set personal records for themselves, so this has been a good day."

The Lady Tigers, as expected, are set up for a big weekend next week as they qualified 10 entires into the jumping events alone.

Senior Liz Nickles was the top overall qualfier in the girls' triple jump with a distance of 34 feet, 11 inches. She qualified in the long jump as well with Natasha Brown and Jessica Gorton.

Kyra Barth was the No. 2 qualifier in the high jump and will be joined in the event next week by teammates Gorton, Shannon Sturgess and Holly Downer.

Amanda Brazeau qualified in the pole vault to round out the jumping events for Douglas.

Barth qualified in the 100 and 300 hurdles and Brazeau snuck in to the No. 8 spot in the 100 hurdles.

Jessica Waggoner (discus, shot put), Katie Dry (100, 200), Cara Dunkelman (800), Tia Lyons (800) and Minneah Holdridge were among the other highlight qualifers for the Tigers during the trials.

On the boys' side, Jordan Cruz qualified in both the 100 and the 200 for Douglas, Johnny Sheerin qualified in the high jump and Nick Maestretti and Dan O'Farrell qualified in the pole vault.

The Tiger 4x200 relay team was the top qualifier in its event with a time of 1:32.96.