Thomson’s record-breaking day paves Fallon track teams to top 12 finishes

A 44-year-old record fell on a perfect afternoon of the 44th-annual Elks Invitational Saturday at the Ed Arciniega Athletic Complex.

Senior Tristen Thomson broke the 800-meter run school record, eclipsing Dave Warren’s time of 1 minute 58 seconds back in 1972 when the Greenwave track and field teams competed at the middle school complex. Thomson, running against strong competition in sunny, mild conditions, bested Warren’s mark by 0.35 seconds (1:57.65).

“It’s a huge honor breaking a record that’s about 44 years old,” Thomson said. “It’s really a great privilege to be able to do it in front of the home crowd. I knew going into the race that it would be a great opportunity and it was going to be really fast.”

The Lady Wave placed ninth out of 20 teams while the Greenwave boys took 11th out of 23 teams as Reed and McQueen were 1-2 in both the boys and girls divisions. For the Division I-A, Elko scored a fifth-place finish to lead the boys while Spring Creek was third for the girls.

“The competition was tough and we need to keep working hard to improve,” Fallon boys coach Steve Heck said. “I didn’t expect us to score a lot of points, but we had a lot of (personal records). Comparing how we did within our own region, I think we did very well.”

For the first time this season, Fallon saw where it stacked against the best in its division (I-A) as well as the entire region. Elko, Dayton and Sparks finished ahead of the boys, while Spring Creek, Lowry and Truckee were ahead of the girls. The Greenwave also competed in the freshmen and sophomore (frosh/soph) meet Friday at McQueen where the underclassmen found out where they stood among the region’s best.

This weekend will be no different with the two-day Reed Rotary Invitational that features frosh/soph and varsity divisions.

“We will be putting a lot of the younger kids in the frosh/soph division again this week to let them build some confidence,” Heck said. “It is another high power meet with lots of competition, including a few schools from California. For the varsity kids, it is going to be another tough test. Hopefully, we will have some others break into the top eight, but regardless, it will be a great place for the kids to improve on their previous marks.”

Thomson’s big day in the 800 and TJ Mauga’s performance in the discus and shot put helped put the boys team on the radar. The 4x800 relay placed in the top five and scored a personal best.

“What a great performance for Tristen,” Heck said. “He has really wanted that record. We have had a few kids get close over the last several years, but Tristen finally cracked it. I don’t think you could have had a better setup - great weather, great home atmosphere and awesome competition. Tristen took advantage of it all and ran a race to remember.”

Mauga didn’t disappoint in the throws as he placed second in the discus at 151 feet, 6 inches, and eighth in the shot put at 46-8.25. The 4x800 team of Isaiah Williams, Joseph Terry, Mario Ugalde and Thomson ran the race in 8:41.34.

“Tristen and TJ were our standouts,” Heck said. “They both scored toward the top of their events like expected. The 4x800 team also ran well. I thought we would do well, but I wasn’t expecting a fourth place finish. That team is really starting to come into its own.”

The competition was so tight that even 0.02 seconds separated two Fallon runners by three places.

Oscar Garcia ran a 12.75 in the 100 dash to place 48th while teammate Drake Copley ran it in 12.77 to finish in 51st. Broder Thurston finished 17th in the 400 with a 55.25 and Colton Peterson was 18th in the 200 after running a 24.34. Terry (13th) and Ugalde (16th) placed in the top 20 of the 3200 run with times of 10:43.82 and 10:45.94.

Reid Clyburn placed 20th in the 110 hurdles in 19.48 while Trevor Brown followed with a 20.48 for 27th. Cade Vercelotti was 15th in the 300 hurdles after running a 44.81 and Clyburn was 18th with a 45.24.

The relays held strong for most the day after the 4x400 team finished ninth in 3:42.07, while the 4x200 finished 10th and 4x100 was 13th. Thurston, Clyburn, Peterson and Thomson were on the 4x400 team.

Taylen Cordes finished 20th in the shot put at 40-6 and Vercelotti was 12th in the high jump at 5-6.

“I think it was one of the smoothest running meets we have ever put on,” said Heck, who was grateful for his volunteer support as well as the Fallon Elks Lodge for donating the awards. “The volunteers did a tremendous job. There were a lot of fans and the atmosphere was great.”

In Friday’s frosh/soph meet, Fallon finished seventh out of 12 teams.

Peterson, Thurston and Copley placed in the top 15 of the 100 while Clyburn and Copley were in the top 10 of the 200. Clyburn and Peterson finished eighth and ninth in the 400, JR Demillo finished eighth in the 800 and Justin Cathey was fourth in the 3200 and 10th in the 1600.

Bryan Duenas took third in the long jump followed by Oscar Garcia’s seventh-place finish, and Ryan Bitter was fifth in the triple jump. Nathaniel Klein took sixth in the pole vault and Garcia and Cathey finished seventh and eighth in the high jump.

Lady Wave finishes in top 10

Whitney Skabelund, Brynlee Shults and Leann Stands each placed in the top 10 on Saturday.

“It went the way we expected. We got better,” Fallon girls coach Paul Orong said. “We got to see people we’ve never gotten to see all year. We got to see Elko. We got to see Lowry. We got to see Spring Creek.”

Skabelund took second in the pole vault with a mark of nine feet and scored a 33-10 mark in the triple jump for second, as well. Stands finished sixth in the discus at 100-2 and eighth in the shot put at 32-3. Shults finished sixth in the triple jump at 27-6 and was seventh in both the high and long jumps at 4-8 and 14-8.25.

Along with the team’s performance, Orong was pleased with how smooth the local track meet ran thanks to the many volunteers.

“Without them, we don’t put a good show on. The community’s been great,” Orong said.

Unfortunately for the Lady Wave, Skabelund injured her foot on the runway during the long jump and her status is unknown. Misaki Claire also injured her foot during Thursday’s practice and missed the weekend.

“Those two being a key part of the core of our team, it’s a huge loss,” Orong said.

Shelby Hickox led the team in the running events, taking 18th in the 100 hurdles at 19.69 and 300 hurdles at 56.52, while Elizabeth Ebner has personal bests as she was 25th and 23rd in the 100 and 300 hurdle events. Melanie Nuckolls finished 20th in the 1600 at 6:11.43 and Chloe Overlie was 25th in the 800 in 2:46.71.

Fallon dominated the field events at Friday’s frosh/soph meet to finish fourth out of 12 teams, as Shults took won both the long and triple jumps.

“It took a toll on some of the girls,” Orong said of his underclassmen competing on both Friday and Saturday. “But it helped some of our girls on Friday with Brynlee winning the long and the triple there.”

Emily Evett finished third in the triple jump, followed by Sierra Hickox (fourth) and Allie Lister (seventh). Hickox took fourth in the long jump, followed by Ebner (sixth) and Lister (10th). Lister also took fourth in the pole vault and Hickox was sixth in the high jump.

“I’ve been waiting for her to get to high school,” Orong said of Lister. “Now, getting to have her finally as a freshman, it’s been a lot of fun. She’s going to do some great things. She’s a very competitive young lady.”

In the running events, Overlie finished third in the 3200 and the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams took third.