Reid looking for big weekend on home track

Corey Reid has never beaten Northern Nevada rival Sebastian Feyersinger, and he wants that to change.

Reid, who was inched out in the 400-meter regional finals last weekend by his McQueen rival, hopes to get revenge when the two square off at this weekend’s NIAA State Track & Field Championships at the Jim Frank Track Complex.

The 400 is one of three events in which Reid is entered. The CHS junior, who finished fifth in the 400 and fourth in the high jump last year in Las Vegas, is also entered in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles and the high jump.

Reid will line up in lane 6 on Saturday afternoon, and folks should take note of this on. The top five runners — Reid, Feyersinger, Green Valley’s Ian Mack, Arbor View’s Ian Mack and McQueen’s Connor Ross — are separated by just .15 of a second. Quite simply, this race is a toss-up.

The race between Reid, Feyersinger and Ross was classic. Feyersinger got the nod and Reid was able to edge out Ross for second

“We’re pretty much the same,” said Reid when comparing himself to Feyersinger. “He beat me by .004 last week. He’s been winning a lot. It (the race) should be really close. The two Vegas guys (Mack and Dobson) are about a half-second (apart) and Connor is right there.

“I’ve improved so much in the 400. I did better than I thought I would do. I didn’t think I would get into the 47s this year.”

In the 300 hurdles, Reid is the only entrant that hasn’t cracked the 40-second mark this year. He ran a season-best 40.31 last week with only about 15 minutes of rest after a season-best 47.92 in the 400. It took a mistake by a Galena runner to nab the third and final qualifying spot. His events are on different days this weekend, which should help.

“That will help me a lot,” Reid said. “Last week (with no rest) I still ran a PR. I don’t think anybody is really crazy out there (real fast time).

“I’ve been getting better. Everybody has been running this for three-to-four years, and just started this year. I think I ran it once or twice last year. My form is bad. I have to work on making up ground between the hurdles because I lose ground going over the hurdles.”

Canyon Springs’ Demarcus Walker (38.33) and Bishop Gorman’s Kyle Kelley (38.44) were the only runners to eclipse the 39-second mark. Everybody else is grouped pretty close together.

At least on paper, Reid has no chance to win but could medal in the high jump.

For somebody as competitive as Reid is, and he hates to lose in the worst way, he is a realist.

Randall Cunningham of Bishop Gorman is in the field. Cunningham went over 7-feet last weekend and has gone as high as 7-3 1/4.

Cunningham’s only real competition will come from Las Vegas rivals Anyah Nutter of Centennial (6-7) and Dominic Smallwood of Silverado (6-7). The stadium record is 6-4, and that should be smashed by at least three competitors.

“Everybody is going for second place,” Reid said before Tuesday’s practice. “He doesn’t even come into it until it’s 6-6 or 6-8.“

There may only be two guys left in the competition if Cunningham chooses to come in at 6-6.

Reid jumped 6-5 last year, but he’s focused more on the pole vault, 400 and 300 hurdles this year, and he’s improved his marks in all three events.

Reid cleared 6-3 last week en route to a second-place finish at regionals behind Galena’s Quinin Mills.