LAS VEGAS — Dayton High’s J.J. Ply capped a tremendous season with a fourth-place finish at Saturday’s 3A NIAA State Cross Country Championship at Craig Ranch Park.
Ply, the only Dayton runner at the meet, covered the 3.1-mile course in 16-minutes 21-seconds.
Bryce Odegard of Pahrump Valley won the race in 15:56 followed by the Spring Creek duo of William Fallini-Haas and Cole Campbell, who were timed in 16:11 and 16:15, respectively.
Spring Creek and Elko went 1-2 in boys 3A with 38 and 68 points, respectively. SECTA-Las Vegas and Truckee were third and fourth, each with 81 points. Pahrump was fifth with 107 points.
In 4A boys, Douglas (109 points) finished fifth behind Spanish Springs (49), Green Valley (88), McQueen (99) and Arbor View (106).
Douglas’ John Munyan was second to Reed’s Anthony Ocegueda, clocking a 15:36. The Tigers got a 19th place from Bryan Harris (16:30), a 42nd finish by Sean Dunkelman (16:59), a 48th from Danner Hillman (17:05) and a 51st from Andrew Voss (17:07).
The Sierra Lutheran boys, despite a first from Jared Marchegger (16:23) and a fourth from Richard McNeely (16:41), finished third with 75 points behind North Tahoe (46) and Lake Mead Christian (72).
Tyler Waite was 20th in 18:17, Luke Bonafede was 36th in 19:20, Brandon Hall was 37th in 19:22 and Teagan Hansen was 44th in 19:55.
The Sierra Lutheran girls finished second thanks to a 4-5-6 finish from Clare Davison (20:26), Taylor Davison (20:40) and Emily McNeely (20:49). North Tahoe won with 32, followed by the Falcons (37) and The Meadows (86).
Elaina Marchegger was 11th in 21:44 and Grace Bonafede was 20th in 23:44.
VOLLEYBALL
Yerington wins 2A title
RENO — Yerington knocked off Battle Mountain and White Pine to win its fifth 2A title over the weekend.
The Lions beat Battle Mountan 25-9, 25-15 and 25-20 to reach the finals. In the championship match, the Lions beat White Pine 25-17, 25-18 and 25-13.
Ashley Rife had a combined 19 kills, 26 assists, 15 digs and four blocks to lead the way. Rachel Dane had nine kills, 15 digs, 22 assist and nine aces, and Liz Moreda contributed 12 kills and nine digs while Courtney Moore added 21 digs. Lindsay Mattice chipped in nine kills and nine digs.
Both Yerington and White Pine advance to state.
Dayton makes state
FALLON — After sweeping Elko on Friday, the Dust Devils split two matches on Saturday to reach next week’s state playoffs.
Dayton beat Elko 25-21, 25-19 and 26-24, knocked off Fallon 25-19, 15-25, 25-17, 18-25 and 15-12, and then lost to Truckee 25-21, 19-25, 22-25 and 20-25 in the championship match.
“We did a fantastc job this weekend,” DHS coach Monica Halverson said. “My girls put their hearts on the court and played hard. We had a lot of mistakes but we didn’t let it control us. “
Against Elko, Brianda Diaz led the way with nine kills and 11 digs, while Ashley Mason had eight kills and Makenna Olsen added seven and five digs.
Kallie Strong had 28 assists, Hailey Wells finished with 11 kills.
In the win over Fallon, Strong had 28 assists and 14 digs, Olsen added 11 kills, four digs and eight blocks, Wells finished with 31 assists and Diaz had five kills and 17 digs. Mason contributed seven kills and eight digs.
In the loss to Truckee, Diaz had 11 kills and 12 digs, Wells added 20 digs, Strong totaled 29 assists.
Douglas loses in 5
RENO — Led by their inside-outside combo of junior outside hitter Parker Buddy and sophomore middle blocker Kaitlyn Biassou, the Reno Huskies turned back the scrappy Douglas Tigers 3-2 Saturday afternoon during the Northern 4A Region Tournament finals at Galena High.
Buddy and Biassou combined for 40 kills to lead the way for Reno (20-5), which won the opening two sets en route to its first region volleyball title since 2009. Buddy finished with 23 kills (13 in the second and third sets) and Biassou added 17.
The Huskies won 25-21, 25-21, 23-25, 19-25, 15-9.
Even though its own six-match win streak was snapped, Douglas (25-9 overall) will still advance to the NIAA 4A State Tournament this coming Friday and Saturday at Damonte Ranch High.
Isabelle Peterson had 20 kills for the Tigers, who were in the region finals for the second time in three years. Douglas won the 2014 region championship.