SPARKS - Track and field is a sport where hundredths of a second or fractions of an inch make all the difference in the world.
Unfortunately for Galena High School, the small numbers didn't turn out in favorably as Cimarron-Memorial won the 4x400 relay at the end of the day and edged past the Grizzlies to capture the 4A boys team title at the NIAA State Championships Saturday afternoon.
The 10 points Cimarron-Memorial scored in the 4x400 were the difference in outlasting Galena by a 73-69 during a drama-paced two days of competition at Reed High's Dave Nolte Northern Nevada Regional Track Facility.
"So many different things happened, you could write a book," said Galena coach Ed Parise, whose squad was bidding for its second state title in three years. "We lost (points) by one-hundredth of a second in the 4x1 (relay) and the 3,200, we lost by one inch in the triple jump today and by one-half inch in the long jump last night. But that's track and field. Cimarron had a great meet, you've got to hand it to them. We had a couple of things go wrong, but I thought our kids did a phenomenal job."
Stephen Pottey was nothing short of phenomenal as he won the boys 800 in 1:55.79, then returned to the track 50 minutes later and placed fourth in the 3,200 (9:39.92), missing third by .01 after staging a sprint down the home stretch that nearly caught Chaparral's Patrick Swick. The senior also won the 1,600 on Friday night in a stadium record time of 4:17.19.
"Stephen did a great job. After the 800 he ran, I didn't expect him to finish any better than fourth in the 3,200," Parise said of Pottey, who has signed with California-Berkeley. "There's no other distance runner in the state who could have attempted what he did. There's nobody else crazy enough to try it."
Fortunately for Dayton's Bridgette Galles, there was no need to worry about fractions Saturday because the senior gave convincing performance to earn gold medals in both the 3A girls 100-meter hurdles and high jump. Galles won the hurdles in a personal best and school record time of 16.13 seconds and later successfully defended her title in the high jump at 5-4.
Her season best of 5-6 ranks No. 1 among all Nevada preps and was good enough to earn an invitation to the Great Southwest Classic on June 5 in Albuquerque, N.M.
"That's my next challenge. I want to jump 5-7 in Albuquerque," Galles said. "I was hoping to get it today, but I had some trouble with the wind. The way it was blowing into you, it was a weird angle that would push and turn you."
Galles clinched the victory when she floated over the bar on her first attempt at 5-2, while runner-up Kelli Nelson of Pahrump Valley missed her three attempts. Galles made 5-4 on her second jump, and despite missing all three jumps at 5-5, she nearly had the bar cleared on her last two attempts.
"Especially after I jumped 5-6 last week, I wanted to equal that or do better, but I'm content," Galles said. "This was definitely a good way to end my high school career."
Galles took third in the 300 low hurdles Friday with a school record 48.31 clocking and she ran leadoff for Dayton's second-place 4x400 relay team. She was joined on the team by Shaelynn Morris, Sabrina Cantrell and Melissa Kanges.
Carson's Shay Tom was another senior who ended her prep career on an upbeat note Saturday with a personal record throw of 133-8 for second-place in the 4A girls discus. Reed's Jennifer Onyeagbako won with a 154-6.
"I got a p.r. so I was excited," said Tom, who won the 4A shot put on Friday. "My mom and dad and everybody were here cheering for me, so I had a lot of fun. And to come here with two throwers from Carson, I thought that was impressive."
Sophomore Alex McAlman placed sixth for the Senators at 107-8.
"Alex got to the big dance, and even though she didn't throw her best, she's a sophomore and she will have the No. 1 throw in the state coming back next year," said Carson throws coach Chuck Tremain. "Carson's always had a good tradition of male and female throwers, so she'll be ready next year. So will Stephen (Waicul, fifth in the boys discus on Friday)."
Another highlight for the Senators came in the boys 100 when junior Josh Heilman ran a personal best 11.23 to place sixth.
"He ran a p.r. and that's all you can ask for," Carson coach Todd Ackerman said of Heilman. "It wasn't that long ago he was still running in the 12's, so this is a big jump he's made."
Carson experienced misfortune in the boys 300 intermediate hurdles when Matt Moore finished eighth after taking a spill at the top of the homestretch. The junior was running right with the leaders - Eldorado's Shain Manuele won the race in 38.38 - until he hit the hurdle and fell to the track. Moore did get up to finish the race and score one point.
"The way Matt finishes, I thought he was going to make things interesting, but we never got that opportunity to see what was going to happen," Ackerman said.
Jeremy Gray, Tsuyoshi Curtis, Tilor Smith and Moore finished seventh in the 4x400 relay in 3:28.20, five seconds slower than their regional-winning time from the week before.
Cimarron-Memorial clinched its team title by winning the 4x400 in 3:20.85. Jared Ware, disqualified in the 100 earlier in the day, charged into the lead on his third leg and Chad Monrreal, fourth in the 800, held off a challenge from Bonanza to bring home the gold.
Cimarron-Memorial also took fourth in the 4x100 relay by a .01 margin ahead of Galena - which represented a four-point swing in the team standings. Adding to the list of tough breaks Galena experienced, Roman Burns and Justin Houk placed second and third in the triple jump after Mike Washington of Desert Pines went 46-1 on his final jump. Washington beat Burns by one inch.
Dayton also finished strong with a second-place run of 3:31.98 in the boys 4x400 relay. The team consisted of Joey Mountjoy (50.60, personal record), Chris Estrada (54.41), Stephen Novello (53.47) and Billy Mountjoy (53.41). Thomas Peregrin held on at the end as Bishop Manogue won in 3:31.47 to clinch the 3A boys team championship.
Also for the Dust Devils, senior Lane Mortensen placed second in the 3,200 with a time of 10:17.16 that improved his personal record by eight seconds.
