The Reed boys track team literally ran away from the field in Saturday’s DI North regional meet at Carson to claim its first regional title since 1999.
The Raiders scored 181.5 points, well ahead of runner-up McQueen (121) and third-place Damonte Ranch (87). Spanish Springs scored 10 teams points and finished in 11th.
“We had some fun today,” Reed coach Dale Moss said. “We’ve been successful all season long but you never know. Weird things happen sometimes, so it was pretty nerve wracking.”
While building a methodical lead throughout the course of the day, Moss said he realized his team was going to stand atop the podium after the pole vault. The Raiders swept the top four spots, earning 28.5 points.
Senior Bailey Aiello was the region champ, clearing a height of 14-09. Junior Dallas Moss, Dale’s son, took second (14-06) and senior Troy Gingerich took third to grab the event’s final spot at state. With state being held at Carson next weekend, the top three finishers in each individual event qualified for the final meet of the year.
“That was the backbreaker … knowing we were in a good position to win a title,” Moss said.
Reed went 1-2 in the 100 meter. Junior Bobby Widmar was the regional champ in a time of 10.84 seconds. He edged his senior teammate Eric Espiritu by thousandths of a second.
Widmar also claimed the 200m in a time of 22.41 seconds—just two one hundredths of a second faster than McQueen’s Alex Schwedt.
Junior distance runner Alex Ocegueda was the 1600m champ with a time of 4:21.35. He also qualified for state in the 3200m, finishing third in 9:53.61.
The Raiders also went 1-2 in the 110m hurdles. Sophomore Grant Cotter took first in a time of 15.24 seconds, senior David Sanders (15.63) finished second.
“It was kind of a weird, interesting race because there were a lot of hurdles that were hit and knocked over,” Moss said. “Sometimes it comes down to who hits the least of them and that ended up being our sophomore Grant Cotter.”
Jorge Moreno advanced to state in the 300m hurdles, finishing second with a time of 41.99 seconds. His third-place finish in the triple jump (43-06.25) earned him another opportunity at state.
Junior Tayjion Campbell earned a spot at state in the long jump by clearing 21-09.5 in the long jump to finish third.
Arguably the biggest surprise of the day for Reed, was junior Robert Ferrel clearing 6-02 to win the high jump regional title.
“He (Ferrel) had been jumping off and on all season but never concentrated on it too much,” Moss said. “That was a huge, big surprise for us. That was awesome.”
The Raiders’ 4×100 relay (42.86, 3rd) and 4×200 (1:29.27, 3rd) will be competing at state as well.
“You think across the board, everybody contributed. Anything from the distance runners, to the field events, to the sprints. It was an overall team (effort),” Moss said. “This seemed to be one of those years where we had a little bit of everything.”
Spanish Springs did not have an athlete finish in the top three of an event.
The state meet will be held next Friday and Saturday at Carson.
Reed girls fourth, Spanish Springs seventh at regional meet
A team regional title wasn’t in the works for the Reed or Spanish Springs girls.
Reed (90) finished fourth behind champion McQueen (115), runner-up Reno (100.5) and Damonte Ranch (99.5). Spanish Springs finished seventh (57) despite a monster performance from junior sprinter Jessica Ozoude.
Ozoude won regional titles in the 100m (11.84 seconds), 200m (24.81) and 400m (57.04). She is also part of the Cougars’ 4x800m relay team that qualified for state by finishing third in 10:03.62.
Kylee Stevens-Sam was the only other Coug to finish in the top three in an event, taking second in the shot put with a distance of 38-9.5.
For the Raiders, Sam King-Shaw won the 3200m with a time of 11:35.06. Taylor Anderson also won a regional, in the triple jump. She cleared a distance of 35-10, edging out teammate Journey Artis, who cleared 35-05.5 to finish second.
Mikayla Linebarger (pole vault) and Roxann Patterson (100m) both finished third to sneak into the state tournament.
Reed’s 4×100 took first in 49.68 and the 4x400m relay (4:01.71) was the runner up
Sparks boys third, girls ninth at DI-A regional meet
The Sparks boys took third and the girls took ninth at this weekend’s DI-A regional meet at Yerington that wrapped up Saturday.
Nick Van Patten and Genaro Vasquez were the largest reasons the Sparks boys finished in the top three with 101 points. Elko (137) won the meet and Spring Creek (107.25) finished second.
Van Patten won regional titles in the 200m (22.67), 110m hurdles (15.34) and 300m hurdles (40.17).
Vasquez was the runner up in the 400m (50.00) and 800m (2:00.51).
Ataloanu Tuikolongahou took third in the discus to qualify for state with a distance of 143-03.
The Railroaders 4x400m relay finished second (3:31.76) and will run at state next week.
The Sparks girls did not have an athlete qualify for state.
The DI-A state meet will run simultaneously with the DI, DIII and DIV meets next Friday and Saturday at Carson High.
Leave a Reply