RENO - It was Richard Shroy Day at the 4A regional track meet at Damonte Ranch High School Saturday afternoon.
Shroy, the defending state 3,200-meter champion, pulled off a double by winning both the 1,600 and 3,200-meter events against talented fields.
Shroy set a stadium and regional record in the 1,600, posting a time of 4:19.92 thanks to a tremendous kick in the final 200 meters. It slashed approximately eight seconds off his previous best. He ran a 9:51.63 to easily win the 3,200.
Shroy will be joined at Damonte Ranch next week by Carson teammates Cameron Childers (pole vault), Luke Carter (300 hurdles), Katie McFarren (1,600), Brandon Buonacorsi (1,600 relay), David McMasters (1,600 relay), Taylor Bradshaw (1,600 relay) and Nick Schlager (1.600 relay).
Douglas pole vaulter Amanda Brazeau, who won with a state best of 11-feet 6 inches, will be joined by teammates Nick Maestretti (pole vault), Morgan Karnofel (100 meters), Brianne Burnside (discus) and triple jumper Cesarina Ceglia.
Shroy, as is his custom, was content to let Galena's Bryan Jordan lead the way in the 1,600. Shroy jockeyed with Elko's Eric Sandall for position and moved into second place during the third lap. With about 200 meters left, Shroy made his big move on Jordan, who was laboring, and passed him with about 40 meters left in the race.
It was interesting strategy by Shroy, who could have coasted into a qualifying spot and saved energy for the 3,200, but chose to expend the extra energy and win the race.
"I thought about it (coasting in)," Shroy said. "I wanted to see if I could do it."
It didn't hurt that Jordan labored badly on the backstretch and Shroy had a lot more energy saved up, which enabled him to kick it up a notch.
The Senators' dropped their 3,200-meter relay to concentrate on the 1,600 relay, which gave Shroy one less race to run on Saturday.
In the 3,200, Shroy and Geoff Hull of McQueen were within a few meters of each other for the first six laps. As they made the turn to start the seventh, Shroy made his move and opened up 20-meter lead. Hull was unable to answer. Hull finished second, a whopping nine seconds behind Shroy.
"We (Hull and I) had talked about it," Shroy said. "My plan was to go out the last 800 meters hard."
Shroy would like nothing better than to end his high school career with a double victory at state, and if he perfoms like he did Saturday, it's within his grasp.
Brazeau, meanwhile. continued her domination of the pole vault in Northern Nevada. The Tigers' sophomore chalked up PR's when she cleared 11-3 and 11-6, respectively. She said she was excited to make state after missing by one spot last year.
"I think so," Brazeau said when asked if she had an 11-9 vault in her. "The last one at 11-9 I never got up. The second one was close.
"The plan was just to get one (height) higher than last week."
Brazeau wasn't the only vaulter to have success, Childers PR'd at 14-feet and Maestretti tied his best vault with a 14-foot effort. Childers was second because he had fewer misses.
Childers' previous best was 13-9. He cleared 14 on his first attempt. The bar wobbled a bit, but stayed up.
"I'm jazzed," Childers said. "I was almost 15-feet with the bungee (acting as the bar). You go big or you go home. I was fifth last year (at regionals). I had a quad injury earlier this year, and I lost a lot of training time."
"He's really been progressing perfectly all year," vault coach Jim Reid said. "He got through to next week, so we get another week to work (on things)."
Childers switched to a longer, heavier pole after clearing 14 with no success.
"That pole has not been touched all year," Childers said. "We'll use it (this week ) to get ready)."
"The bigger pole gives you more oomph," Reid said. "It's like golf where you want to have the same swing all the time. We want him to approach the vault the same way."
Maestretti, who has a career best of 14-feet, took third behind Childers. He was disappointed at not getting a PR, but certainly happy to be moving on to state.
"I'm really excited," Maestretti said after missing three straight times at 14-3. "I've been sick the last couple of weeks and I'm just now starting to feel better.
"I probably came in too early. I started low (12 feet). I didn't have anything left. I usually start low so I can get to a bigger pole right away so I'm not blowing through vaults and getting extra misses."
Maestretti has improved by more than a foot this year. His entered the season with a best of 12-6.
After failing to qualify in the 110 high hurdles (15.94, 6th) and long jump (19-6, 19-6.5), Carter was under the gun to extend his season, and he did with a strong second-place finish in the 300 hurdles. He had to stutter-step right before the first hurdle, but showed great form the rest of the race.
"I got to that first hurdle quicker than I thought," Carter said. "After that I started to settle in and run hard and reel guys in like my coach told me to do."
McFarren grabbed the last qualifying spot in the 1,600 thanks to a strong finishing lap which enabled her to overtake a couple of runners.
"The second and third are the hardest (laps)," McFarren said. "I started to break away (from my pack) with about 300 meters left. It really looked like I could do it, and I went for it."
Carson had several near misses, as Hannah Dudley (discus), Alex Fallon (triple jump), Maddi Saarem (pole vault) and David McMasters (800) all finished one place out of advancing.
Fallon was hampered by an injury to the ball of her right foot recently, which made every trip down the runway an excruciating experience. Her best effort was 34-feet 3-inches, and that came on her second effort of the day. Only once did she hit her mark. Most of the time she was anywhere from six inches to 2 feet behind the board.
Fallon, who is graduating after only three years at Carson and will be an exchange student in Denmark next year, was visibly shaken.
"It is what it is," she said, obviously.
Saarem actually PR'd twice on the day, while improving by 12 inches. She cleared 9-6 and 10-feet, respectively. She made 10-feet on her final try at the height. She failed to move on because the third-place finisher (Galena's Genna Naquin) cleared 10-feet earlier.
"Just one away," Saarem said. "I did think I could get to 10. I've been working hard in practice. I thought I had the potential. On my last miss, I thought I was going to be over. I had the height."
Saarem still has three more chances to reach the state meet, and after clearing 10 feet in her first year as a vaulter, it's easy to see she has plenty of potential.
Dudley entered the day with the third-best mark in Northern Nevada at 114-feet. Her first throw hit the net, which kind of set the tone for her series. Her fourth-place effort was 102 feet.
McMasters racked up a PR in the 800 (1:58.13). He also ran a nice anchor leg in the 1,600 meter relay which was clocked in 3:28.21 and finished third. Buonacorsi, who ran a leg of the relay, made up two spots in his 400-meter effort which put the Senators in good shape to advance to next weekend.