Fallon's Angelita Fermaint, left, and Fernley's Hailee Allen battle through a dust storm in the 3,200 race during Saturday's Fernley Invitational.
It looked more like a scene out of Burning Man than a high school track meet.
A cold and breezy morning soon turned into a dust storm associated with the annual counter-culture festival.
High winds forced the 4x400 relay to be cancelled.
“Weather-wise it was a terrible day,” Fallon boys coach Steve Heck said. “There was a severe cross wind in most of the field events, which made things very difficult. We took Nathan (Heck) and Jordan (Schultz) out of the pole vault because it was just too risky. Watching kids run on the back stretch into the wind was like watching a movie in slow motion.”
The weather, though, made it tough for Heck and girls coach Paul Orong to evaluate many of their athletes.
“Overall, we did not get accomplished what we hoped for at the meet because of the weather,” Heck said. “However, we did get to see which kids could really tough it out under adversity.”
Nevertheless, the Fallon boys track team came away with another victory as the Greenwave topped the 16-team meet with 114.5 points. The Lady Wave, meanwhile, finished sixth (42.5) behind Elko (141.5), Spring Creek (114.5), Lowry (52), Fernley (51.5) and Yerington (51).
Sprinter Jake Ernst took first in the 100- (11.29 seconds) and third in the 200-meter (23.58) races. Joining Ernst in the sprints were Nathan Heck in fourth in the 100 (11.37) and Cameron Kissick in fifth in the 200 (24.07).
Heck, meanwhile, also had another solid performance in the hurdles as he won the 300 (42.37) and second in the 110 (15.90).
Tristen Thomson and Nathan Schank continued their solid seasons in the mid- and distances events. Thomson placed third in the 800 (2:11.97) and fourth in the 1,600 (5:08.65), while Schank was second in the 400 (56.78).
In the field, Beau Marshall once again won the triple jump with a leap of 42 feet, 3.5 inches and placed fifth in the high jump (5-10). He also took third in the long jump (19-10.5), while Evan Bitter was second (20-3.5).
Justin Hatfield added a pair of fifth-place finishes in the shot put (45-11.5) and discus (122-3).
For the Lady Wave, Elena Murray took the top honors in the 100 hurdles (15.71), was second in the long jump (15-4.5) and third in the 300 hurdles (54.35).
Angelita Fermaint, meanwhile, had an impressive performance in the 3,200 as she battled through high winds, dust and dirt to take third (15:58.88).
“The race of the day goes to Angelita Fermaint in the 3,200,” Steve Heck said. “My hat is off to all those girls who ran that race, and there were not many. The wind came up so hard during the race that I nearly fell over walking down from the discuss area to the track.”
In the field, Leann Stands and Emily Coleman placed fifth (31-7.5) and seventh (30-3.75), respectively, in the shot put, while Coleman took eighth in the discus (84-5). Cassidy East added a seventh-place finish in the high jump (4-4) and was ninth in the triple jump (29-0).
“Elena Murray had a great run in the 100 hurdles really dominating the field,” Steve Heck added. “Stands and Coleman fought through the weather and got some points in the throws for the team. Cassidy East really has been improving of late and got a personal best in the triple jump despite the weather.