PREPS: Carson youngsters shine

Carson High got a glimpse into its girls track future Saturday, and it's a bright one indeed.

Freshmen Josilyn Daggs (100-meter hurdles) and Alex Drozdoff (3200) won individual events, while sophomore sprinter Elena Thurman (100 meters) won an event and sophomore pole vaulter Maddi Saarem equaled her personal best with a 10-foot effort for a second-place finish. Saarem actually had the same height as the winner, but had more misses.

The quartet helped the Carson girls to a second-place finish at the 17-team Carson High Invitational. Damonte Ranch won with 181, while Carson had 97. Douglas was third at 80.5, Dayton was fifth at 55.5 and Sierra Lutheran was eighth at 28.

Daggs, a star on the CHS soccer team, was overjoyed that she broke the 16-second barrier.

"I felt pretty good," Daggs said. "On one hurdle my trail leg skinned the top of the hurdle. Other than that it was a clean race.

"I was feeling the need to get under (16). I wanted to do well for Stephen (Anderson) and Keegan (Aiazzi)."

Daggs is hopeful of shaving even more time as the season goes on. She's hopeful she can get in the high 14's by the end of the year.

Thurman ran 13.15 to qualify for the 100 finals, and then shaved that down to 13.04 to win the event. She was neck and neck with Daggs for much of the race before pulling away. Daggs was timed in 13.16.

"That was my fastest time this year," Thurman said. "I felt pretty good. It was a really good race. We were head to head and I pushed it a little harder at the end."

Daggs also was third in the 200 to Douglas' Shannon Sturgess, who won in 26.61. Daggs ran a 27.80 while Thurman was fourth in 27.74.

Daggs admitted that running the two events fairly close together had some effect on her.

Drozdoff won the 3200 in 12:14.75. Teammate Amanda Gordon was fifth. Mikayla Story was third in the pole vault with a 9-foot mark.

Dayton's Kathie Arias continued to show that she is the best shot put and discus specialist in Northern Nevada.

Arias won both events over Damonte Ranch's Kennedy Hall, one of the top 4A throwers. Arias went 125 feet in the discus and 39-7 in the shot. She beat Hall by an inch in the latter event.

"It feels good actually (to beat Hall)," said Arias, who is headed to Cornell next year. "I was hoping to throw 130 like I did at Reed last week. The shot put didn't go as well as I'd hoped. I beat her by an inch which was nerve-racking. I think I was releasing too early. I kept adjusting so much. I only had two legal throws."

Arias' coach, Mike Paul, said the surface at Carson is kind of slippery which may have caused his thrower some problems.

"All her discus throws were over 120 feet, so she had a good series," Paul said. "A lot of people slipped in that shot put ring."

Arias' teammate Katrina Breithaupt set a school record in the 1,600 with a 5:45.

Douglas's Sturgess also won the high jump at 4-10, while teammate Holly Downer won the long jump at 15-11 3/4 and Bri Burnside was third in the discus at 109 feet. Megan Filbin was second in the 300 hurdles at 50.38.

Becky Grabow of Sierra Lutheran was second in the 1600 (5:25.21) and 3200 (12:29.78).

BOYS

Damonte Ranch won the meet with 106 points. Sierra Lutheran was second with 77, Douglas was third with 71 and Carson was 12th with 28.

Sierra Lutheran's Nick DePaoli won the 100 in 11.60 and was second in the 400 to Whittell's John Robinson (50.95 to 51.58). SL's Nathanael Williams won the 3200 in 10:42.06 and finished fifth in the 1600 (4:45.030). John McRae was third in the 3200 in 11:L07.59. Nathan Conover was fifth in the 400 at 54.42.

The two boys highlights for Carson were Eric Garcia, who PRd in the pole vault at 14-6 to win by two inches. Gunnar Harper was third in the 110 high hurdles with a 17.42.

Dayton's Kage Walker high jumped 6-feet-2 to win that event, while Cameron McGifford was second in the 110 high hurdles at 16.84 and second in the 300 hurdles at 44.56. Jon Serrano was fourth in the shot put at 43-3.

Douglas' Clayton Limacher won the 200 in 23.44 and was second in the 100 at 11.65. Teammate Andrew Cobourn was third in the 800 (2:05.87) and fourth in the 1600 (4:39.40). Logan Peterson was fourth in the 300 hurdles at 47.70 and Colt Silva took third in the pole vault at 14 feet. Justin Dry was third in the discus at 136-3 and Cole Melhus was second in the triple jump at 39-0 3/4.