Photos by Shannon Litz/Nevada Appeal
RENO - Alex Drozdoff and the Carson Senators girls cross country team are headed back to the state meet after defending their regional championship on Thursday.
Drozdoff, a freshman, covered the course in 21 minutes to win the 4A girls race.
"She went out really strong and used good race judgment," said Carson coach Pete Sinnott.
Sinnott said before the meet he told the girls to trust themselves and when they felt good to make a move and Drozdoff did just that about 1.5 miles into the race. He said Drozdoff is the first Senator girl to win the regional meet that he knew of.
Teammate Cindy Juchtzer was fourth in 21:22, Amanda Gordon was seventh in 21:42, Mallory Wilson was 12th in 22:16, Ashley Salcedo was 17th in 22:39, Erika Sosa was 21st in 23:02 and April Shonnard was 37th in 24:01.
Shonnard who routinely had led the Senators didn't have her best meet, Sinnott said. He credited the rest of the Senators for stepping up.
Douglas' best finisher was Sadie Gastelum in 22:16, good enough for 13th. She finished one place out of qualifying for state.
Carson's boys team ran a solid race, but failed by one point of advancing to the state meet in Boulder City.
The Senators put five scoring runners in the top 19 en route to third-place with 77 points. Galena won with 46 points after putting four runners in the top 10. Reno was second with 76 points.
"Every year a team goes or doesn't go by a point," Sinnott said. "We needed to pass one more runner. Everybody ran well. I think all of them ran well. They were all within a minute of each other (45 seconds actually).
"If it wasn't for Brent, we might have been 20 points back. It was the first time he's led us all season."
Brent Moyle will be Carson's only qualifier to next week's state meet. He ran an 18:17 for the 3.1-mile course, good enough for ninth. It was the first time that he led the team all season. He promptly vomited as he made his way through the finish chute.
Galena's Bryan Jordan and Reno's Jordan Cardenas set a fast pace, with Jordan winning by 16 seconds.
Fast starts are nothing new to Moyle. He's gone out fast in the past. In fact, he was ahead at the Stanford Invitational early on.
"Somebody said it was 5:30 (the first mile)," Moyle said when asked about the pace of the race. "It was pretty fast."
Moyle admitted that he didn't handle fast paces early in the season, but since he's in better shape, he's able to run at a faster pace throughout.
Logan Philippi finished 14th (18:34), Nick Greene 17th (18:42), Taylor Bradshaw 18th (18:44), Josh Van Sickle 19th (18:47), Brandon Buonacorsi 20th (18:57) and Evan Richards 21st (19:02).
Douglas' Andrew Cobourn was the top area finisher, clocking an 18:09 good for sixth place and a trip to Boulder City. Douglas' team finished in sixth place. Brandon Pankey was the next Tiger finisher, clocking a 19:34 for 30th place.
2A BOYS
Sierra Lutheran's boys, led by Nathanael Williams' first-place finish, placed third as a team and will move on to the state meet.
Williams clocked a 17:30, a whopping 25 seconds better than Whittell's John Robinson, who was times in 17:55.
"I didn't feel that great, but a win is a win," said Williams, a Carson City resident. "The whole goal is to make state. Next week's race is the one that really matters.
"It wasn't the time I was hoping for. I was hoping to run in the mid-16s. I wanted to go out in about five minutes and it was probably 5:12."
Williams said he has run the state course, and likes it.
"It's open and there is no shade," he said. "The first mile I can go out fast and kill people."
John McRae was 10th in 19:03, Nathan Conover 19th in 20 minutes, Luke Barulich was 23rd in 20:22, Jonny Harms was 29th in 20:43, Donovan Harrison was 31st in 20:44 and Anthony Brewer was 34th in 20:59.
Willy Clay was Virginia City's top placer, finishing 40th in 21:46. The Muckers finished seventh as a team.
2A GIRLS
Becky Grabow of Sierra Lutheran set a good pace, easily winning the girls race in 21:20.
Sierra Lutheran finished second as a team with 66 points. Incline, which placed all five of its runners in the top 10, won with 26 points. Virginia City was third with 31 points and Sage Ridge was fourth with 38. The top three advance to the state meet.
"It was a little slower than I wanted," Grabow said. "I was hoping to run under 21."
Grabow said the course that the NIAA set up this year was a little different than the Rancho San Rafael course she has run in the past. She said that the all-grass course is a little slower than running on dirt.
Erin Henry of Sierra Lutheran was ninth in 23:13, Sierra Stulac was 16th in 25:04, Abby Williams was 22nd in 27 minutes and Brittany Rupert was 26th in 27:31.
Virginia City's Heather Harrower was seventh in 23:09, while Toby Steele was eighth in 23:10. Heather Redman was 21st in 26:43, Micah Blakely was 28th in 27:55 and Masi Steele was 37th in 47:58.
3A GIRLS
Despite running on a sprained ankle, Dayton's Katrina Breithaupt finished sixth overall in 22:43 which was good enough to advance her to next week's state meet.
"For somebody running with a sprained ankle, I thought she did great," said Dayton coach Shawn Anderson. "She hadn't run since Tuesday. She taped it up and ran today."
Shanleigh Brethauer ran 24:52, Rhael Ransom also ran a 24:53, Brenda Cid ran a 24:57, Kaia Galloway 27:28, Caitlin Crosby 27:35 and Isabella Anderson ran a 28:11.
3A BOYS
It wasn't a good day for the Dust Devil boys, who finished seventh in the team standings and didn't send an individual on to state.
Skyler Rose was 22nd overall in 20:27, Brian Hagedorn was 23rd in 20:28, Aaron Elissa was 32nd in 20:49, Ben Woods was 49th in 23;22 and Peter Scott was 53rd in 26:07.
"They ran their hearts out," Anderson said.