Northern Nevada track teams converge on Carson High School for the 6th annual Carson High Invitational today.
Carson, Douglas, Spanish Springs, McQueen, Damonte Ranch, Galena, Reno, Wooster and Bishop Manogue are the Division I entrants, while Incline, Sparks, Whittell and Sierra Lutheran are also in the field.
Action gets under way at 9 a.m. with field events and 9:30 for running events. Admission is $6 for adults and $4 for students.
Robert Maw, Carson head coach, despite missing some key athletes because of prom and school field trips, believes both the boys and girls teams have a shot at the team title.
“I think it will be between us and McQueen in the boys, and between us, Damonte Ranch, Douglas and McQueen in the girls,” Maw said. “The boys should compete well. We’re running our best 3200 and 1600 group for the first time this year.”
Taylor Bradshaw, Zach Heinz, Dexter Cummings and Corey Reid comprise the two relay squads.
“It was a combination of things,” said Maw when asked why this is the debut of the talented quartet. “Corey was training for his decathlon, and California doesn’t have the distance medley or the 3200 relay in their meets.”
Reid has a big showdown with the McQueen duo of Sebastian Feyersinger (48.77) and Connor Ross (49.76). Reid is seeded third at 50.13. Reed is seeded first in the high jump with a best of 6-6.
Nathan Hazard, who has been bothered by injuries and hasn’t competed in a month, will throw the shot and discus today. Hazard has a best of 145-3 and is ranked second in the event behind Douglas’ Marshall McKown. Hazard is seeded fifth in the shot put at 46-2 1/2. Levi Carter is ranked fourth at 137-1.
Freshman Asa Carter has a tremendous shot to win the triple jump. He has jumped 42-10 this season. Dakota Baker is seeded No. 2 in the 110 high hurdles at 15.95 and the 300 hurdles at 41.94. Heinz is the No. 2 seed in the 800 at 2:02.2.
On the girls’ side, Maw is expecting some good performances from Eveline Delgado, Alex Drozdoff and Cindy Juchtzer. They will comprise three-quarters of the distance medley team. Juchtzer is seeded eighth in the 1600 (5:40.18) and third in the 3200 (12:07.01). Drozdoff is seeded second in the 3200 (12:05.01) and ninth in the 1600 (5:41.30).
“They all ran well at our meet in Oregon last weekend,” Maw said.
Carson also should stack up some points with Elena Thurman and Madison Preston. Thurman is seeded No. 1 at 12.94 along with Galena’s Ali Warner. She also seeded first in the triple jump at 36-3. Preston, meanwhile, is seeded first in the high jump at 5-2 along with Galena’s Emily Etter. She is second to Thurman in the triple jump at 35-5 1/4 and is No. 2 in the long jump at 16-2 3/4.
Maddi Saarem, who has been bothered by a back problem all year, is seeded seventh in the pole vault.