Carson Senators Getting Stronger: Cross Country teams put in team effort at Reed Invitational
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 afternoon in Sparks.
“Pretty much everybody (Northern 4A) was there, so I think this meet was an accurate preview,” 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 t 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 5 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 last track competitions placed 53rd in a season best (19:11), Jakob Heller 64th (19:31) and Ethan Baulerle 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 improvment of 5 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 improvment 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, Calif.