Walker MacKenzie finished fourth among Carson's runners.
Carson High’s cross country runners continued to show improvement on Saturday at the Nevada Union Invitational in Grass Valley, Calif.
A number of Senators logged their best times on the hill-lined, three-mile course under ideal conditions.
Carson’s boys took seventh as a team with 176 points (after losing a sixth-man tie-breaker to Roseville Oakmont). The Senators ranked third among all Nevada schools, behind only two-time defending Nevada 4A champion Spanish Springs (111 points in third place) and Reed 174 points in fifth).
Zachary Sever led the Senators as the junior placed 13th in 17 minutes, 12 seconds, an improvement on that course of 55 seconds from last year. Senior teammate Hunter Rauh was close behind with his 17th-place effort of 17:21, an improvement of one minute. Ethan Byasse placed 32nd in 17:44, an improvement of 30 seconds.
Walker MacKenzie placed 50th in 18:13 and Adan Garcia placed 72nd in 18:39 to round out the team’s five scoring runners. Garcia improved his personal best for the course by one minute, 35 seconds.
Jacob Crossman also ran 18:55 (an improvement of 3 minutes, 47 seconds) and Jakob Heller ran 19:10 (an improvement of 2 minutes, 37 seconds).
Mark Ramirez, in his first race in a year, ran 18:42. Ramirez adds depth to a strong boys team.
Nevada Union senior Garrett Gough, the defending CIF Sac-Joaquin Section champion, won the race in a course record 15:30.
Hannah Kaiser led Carson’s girls with her 18th-place time of 20:54. Kaiser was the eighth fastest Northern 4A finisher. Ginger Cullom, a strong freshman, ran 25:14. Hailey Ponzoch ran her first race of the year in 25:34, Claire Cartier ran 25:36, Kaiylin Schulze ran 25:39, Erin Cartier ran 26:07 and Ella Wick ran 26:36 for the Senators. Carson finished 13th as a team with 322 points.
In the JV boys race, Gabe Crossman placed 25th in 20:04 and Issac Harrison placed 33rd in 20:50 to lead the Senators to a fifth place finish among 11 teams.
Enrique Lemus and Ethan Baulerle, running in their first race of the season, had strong efforts to bolster the team’s depth heading to the JV Championships.
Sierra Lutheran football falls
Sierra Lutheran couldn’t hang onto a 35-22 lead going into the fourth quarter as it fell 46-41 at Smith Valley.
Smith Valley scored with 11.7 seconds left in the game for the victory. Luke Schinzing had directed a 60-yard scoring drive earlier in the fourth quarter as Sierra Lutheran led throughout the game.
Quinn Cummings scored twice to give the Falcons a 14-6 lead after one quarter. Shawn Emm then scored twice to give Sierra Lutheran a 27-14 lead. Caleb Contreras intercepted a pass near the end of the half to preserve the lead.
Sierra Lutheran volleyball falls
Sierra Lutheran fell to Smith Valley 12-25, 24-26, 30-32.
“The girls played so well and so hard — not hard to lose when your team fought till the end,” Sierra Lutheran coach Sylvia Antonucci said.
CHS Girls tennis falls
Carson (2-5) fell 14-4 at Galena (6-1) on Tuesday. In doubles Becca Trejo and Sydney Lloyd won twice 6-4, 6-3 and Lola Works and Haillee Bauman won 7-6 (7-2) for Carson. Jennifer Artz picked up Carson’s other win in singles.