FERNLEY - Dayton High will send 17 athletes - 13 girls and four boys - to next weekend's NIAA 3A State Track & Field Championships at Del Sol High School in Las Vegas.
"For the most part, we got the kids in we expected to get in," Dayton coach Mike Paul said. "Today (Saturday) the kids stepped it up a little bit. We had several PRs. Some kids ran PRs, but unfortunately didn't qualify."
Kathie Arias leads the Dayton contingent down to Las Vegas. Arias won both the shot put and discus this weekend, throwing a season-best 40-2 in the shot and 128-6 in the discus.
"It wasn't as big a margin as I expected (in the shot), but it was a season best," Paul said.
Madison Foley and Ashley Vickers qualified in two individual events apiece.
Foley was fourth in the high jump at 4-8 and fourth in the triple jump at 31-10 1/2, a personal best. Vickers moved on in the long jump, finishing fourth at 14-9 1/2, and she was sixth in the triple jump at 31-3.
Lettie Lynch moved on in the 200, running a 28.53, while D.J. Ply was third in the pole vault at 8-6. Alyse Fletcher was sixth in the long jump at 14-7 and Katrina Breithaupt set a school record and personal record by running 5:36.01 in the 1600 en route to a fifth-place finish. Breithaupt ran a 2:27.34 in the 800 which is a school and personal best, but she failed to move on.
Dayton qualified in the 400 relay (4th, 53.6), the 800 relay (4th, 1:53.86) and the 3200 relay (3rd, 10:33.83). Maribel Ledezma, Lynch, Devon Cates and Fletcher ran on the 400 squad, while Ledezma, Lynch and Fletcher teamed with Kelsey Torres in the 800 event. Running in the 3200 relay were Breithaupt, Sara Torgerson, Brenda Cid and Mallorie Gribble.
"That was probably the biggest surprise of the meet," Paul said of the 3200 relay effort.
On the boys side, Cody Yeater and Cameron McGifford qualified in two events each.
McGifford moves on in the 110 and 300 hurdles, clocking times of 16.59 and 42.58, respectively. He was sixth in the shorter event despite a PR and third in the longer hurdle event.
Yeater won the high jump with a 6-foot effort and was third in the triple jump with a PR of 42-1.
Manuel Castaneda qualified in the shot put (47-6, 3rd place) and the discus (121-11, 5th place). Tylor Bard was second in the high jump with a mark of 5-10.
GRABOW, DEPAOLI SHINE
AT 1A TRACK
FERNLEY - Becky Grabow was a triple winner at Saturday's 1A meet at Fernley High School.
Grabow won the 1600 in 5:42.03, the 3200 in 12:54.41 and took second in the 800 (2:34.72). She also ran a leg on the second-place 1600 relay team (4:53.35) with Sierra Stulac, Caitlin George and Erin Henry. Stulac placed second in the 200 (30.07) and 400 (1:04.97).
Nick DePaoli also won three events, taking the 100, 200 and 400 races. He ran 11.65, 23.34 and 51.46, respectively.
Nathaneal Williams won the 1600 and 3200 in 4:45.96 and 10:18.16, respectively. Nathan Conover won the 800 in 2:05.85 while Conner Love won the pole vault at 12-6 and the 110 hurdles in 18.6.