Zach Sever, left, and Hunter Rauh on their way to finishing at Stanford on Saturday.
Carson City had a strong day Saturday during the high school portion of the 44th Stanford Invitational cross country meet.
Sierra Lutheran High senior Jared Marchegger placed 21st in the seeded boys race with an outstanding time of 15 minutes, 47 seconds for the 5K event, a personal record time that ranked as the second fastest overall among all Nevada runners during a meet that showcased nearly 4,000 high school and collegiate runners.
The Carson High boys cross country team placed 17th in the Division 1 race with a performance that shows it’s a team to watch leading up to Nevada’s region and state meets in November.
Marchegger’s time was among the top 30 overall in six divisional races over the rolling hill Stanford Golf Course layout. He trailed only Daniel Horner of Spanish Springs, who ran 15:34 to win the Division 1 race.
Carson placed 17th in the 29-team Division 1 boys. The Senators five scoring runners had an average time of 17:12 and all broke 18 minutes.
CHS ranked second among Nevada teams in the Division 1 race, behind Spanish Springs (13th with a 16:54 average) and ahead of Damonte Ranch (20th with a 17:20 average).
Senior Hunter Rauh and junior Zachary Sever paced the Senators as they placed 37th and 38th respectively, both in 16:39. Both times were 5K personal records as Sever lowered his time by 50 seconds and Rauh lowered his time by more than a minute.
This is the first time in five years CHS has had two runners under 17 minutes and Rauh and Sever now rank in the top 20 for division 1A boys statewide.
Ethan Byasee, another senior, was 89th in 17:09, his fastest 5K time by 35 seconds. Also of note, he crossed the finish in a dead heat with the No. 1 Damonte Ranch runner.
Sophomore Walker MacKenzie finished 136th in 17:50 and Adan Garcia 146th in 17:59, both lifetime best times. Mark Ramirez also ran 18:13 in just his second race of the season and Jacob Crossman clocked an 18:48. Anthony, Mark and Jacob are especially important to overall team depth.
In the Division 1 girls race, junior Hannah Kaiser placed 49th with a personal best 20:08 to lead Carson. This moves her into 21st place girls in the state 4A division.
The next six Senators included four freshmen, led by Kaitlin Schulze with a time of 22:48 and Claire Cartier in 24:04. Senior Hailey Ponszach ran 24:40, freshman Ginger Cullom 25:16, junior Erin Cartier 25:55 and Ella Wick 25:59. CHS coach Pete Sinnott said he also expects his girls team to eventually be ready to post a top showing at regionals.
Also on Saturday, Carson fielded a junior varsity boys team that finished second behind Douglas at the Truckee Invitational. Jacob Heller placed third with a time of 19:01 in the the 5K event at Ponderosa Golf Course. Gabe Crossman placed 10th in 19:50, Cody Jackson 15th in 20:17, Kyle Holloway 28th in 21:30 and Asher Koch 35th in 22:00. Enrique Lemus ran 25:15 and Eduardo Hernandez 26:09 for the Senators. Douglas placed four runners in the top 10 to outdistance Carson by a 27-74 score to win the JV boys team title.
Heller (1:47), Crossman (1:07) Jackson (3:30), Holloway (1:09), Koch (4 minutes), Lemus (2:30) and Hernandez (2:17) all improved their times.
Kora Ashton ran 34:24 in the JV girls race.