Prep roundup: Carson High cross country runs in league preview meet, Dayton soccer picks up win

In what amounted to a preview of the league and region championship meets, the Carson High School girls and boys cross country teams posted fifth- and eighth-place finishes, respectively, at the Reed Invitational on Friday in Sparks.

“Pretty much everybody (Northern 4A) was there, so I think this meet was an accurate preview,” said Senators coach Pete Sinnott said with a look forward to the Sierra League meet on Oct. 25 and region meet on Nov. 2 in Reno.

“We have to be in the top three (at regional) to get through to state, but we’re working hard and we’ve had some kids who are starting to come back from little injuries. If we can stay healthy, we could be right there with both of our girls and boys teams.”

Carson finished fifth in the varsity girls team race with 139 points, two better than rival Douglas. Galena outdistanced Damonte Ranch by a 49-62 score to win the team title.

Hannah Kaiser fought through a bout with illness to pace the Senators with her 20th-place time of 22:26 for five kilometers at Shadow Mountain Park.

Freshman Sydney Romeo improved her personal record by nearly two minutes as she ran 22:56 to place 30th, Hailey Ponczoch placed 40th (23:49), Claire Cartier 48th (24:03) and Samantha Schofield 57th (24:18).

“Overall, the girls team gave a good effort,” Sinnott said. “They ran well on a course that is rocky and has a good hill, plus a lot of turns.”

In the varsity boys race, Zach Sever placed third with a 17:15 effort. Defending region and 4A state champion Matt Gordon of Galena emerged from a lead pack of four runners inside the final 400 meters to win the race (17:07), a step ahead of Sierra Lutheran’s Teagan Hansen (17:08).

Walker MacKenzie placed 25th (18:26), Jacob Crossman who has been battling injuries from previous track competitions placed 53rd in a season best (19:11), Jakob Heller took 64th (19:31) and Ethan Baulerle was 65th (19:33) to round out Carson’s team scoring.

Asher Koch also ran 19:52 and Dominic Valdez 19:54.

The Senators finished eighth as a team with 196 points. Reed captured the team title with 45 points.

Mikkael Villard, an exchange student from Norway, placed 27th (20:56) in the JV boys race and Gianna Johnson placed 32nd (27:28) an improvement of five minutes, in the JV girls race.

Both ran personal best times. Connor Rogers, a new freshman, ran a personal best of 27:48 for a 9-minute improvement over his previous 5k.

The Senators will compete again on Saturday (Oct. 12) at the 41st annual Asics Clovis Invitational at Woodward Park in Fresno, California.

Guadarrama, Dayton boys too much for Whittell

Isaac Guadarrama posted a hat trick Friday afternoon as the Dayton boys soccer team defeated Whittell 4-1.

Jonathan Thorton added two saves for the Dust Devils while Caleb Sumsion scored his sixth goal of the season.

Luke Devibar, Noah Gibson and Thorton each had an assist on a Dayton goal.

UP NEXT: Dayton (4-5-1, 4-2-1) will get the week off from on-field play before hosting Fernely (8-0, 7-0) at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Dust Devil volleyball goes 1-1 over weekend series

Dayton High girls volleyball split a weekend series, falling to Elko 3-1 Friday before beating Spring Creek 3-2 Saturday.

Against the Spartans of Spring Creek, Dayton dropped the first set, but responded by taking the next two.

After losing in the fourth set, the Dust Devils picked up the win by a 15-10 margin in the fifth and final set.

UP NEXT: Dayton (8-6, 7-6) will head to Winnemuca to tangle with Lowry (5-12, 3-8) Friday at 6 p.m.

Sierra Lutheran cross country shows strong outing

The SLHS Falcons cross country team had another strong day at Shadow Mountain Park in Sparks on Friday.

Teagan Hansen finished second in a photo finish with Matt Gordon of Galena. Gordon finished the 5K course in 17:07 and Hansen was second in 17:08.

Andreas Gilson was 62nd in 19:25 and Jake Tack was 121st in 22:02. Will Webster led the Falcon JV boys covering the 5K course 21:29 and finishing 46th, while Flynn Scheibe was 104th in 23:59.

In the JV girls, Ava Zimmerman was 10th with a time of 24:50, followed by Kailey Fitzpatrick in 21st in 26:06, Christi Kennedy was 46th in 29:18, and Sierra Carranza took 48th in 29:31.

The Falcons next race is October 19 at the Bella Vista Bronco Invitational in Rocklin, California.