Girls' track team captures second place

Although the weather conditions were far from perfect, the Douglas track & field team performed above expectations at the Fallon Elks Invitational this past Saturday.

Under mostly cloudy skies and a ferocious wind that continued for most of the competition, Douglas brought home a second place trophy in the girls' division and finished in sixth place in the boys' division out of 37 schools assembled.

On the ladies side, the Tigers brought home a trophy for the first time in recent memory by scoring 92 points, second to Elko's 105 points.

Leading the way for the Lady Tigers was Alicia Sturgess with a first place in the 1600 meters with a PR of 5:52.7 and a fourth place in the 800 meters (2:38.7).

Also contributing to the effort was Skylar Young with a second place in the 400 meters (64.73), Nicole Mehrer with a fourth-place finish in the 400 meters (65.82), Taylor Biaggi with fourth-place finishes in the 1,600 meters (6:03.5) and the 3,200 meters (13:16.6) and the 4x200 relay team of Young, Sarah Rowe, Tina Dantin and Sarah Hartley and the 4x400 relay team of Young, Rowe, Dantin and Mehrer each finishing in first place.

The girls triple jump event proved to be, once again, a very strong event for the Tigers as all three competitors scored points. Mehrer led the team with a second-place finish (32-8) while Hartley finished third (31-9) and Jessica Gorton placed fifth (31-1).

The biggest surprise of the day came from Hartley, as the sophomore placed second in the 100 meters (13.48) losing only to defending Nevada state champion, Kayla Sanchez from Carson.

"Sarah came out of nowhere," Douglas coach Rick Brown said. "We knew she was fast in practice but she hadn't run the 100 yet in competition and for her to accomplish this is just fantastic."

Leading the way for the boys was sprinter Tyler Tinstman who finished fifth in the boys 100 (11.88) and second in the 200 (25.11). Tinstman teamed up with Tristan Bates, Jeff Ortega and Shawn Hall to take fifth in the 4x100 relay (46.90) and with Hall, Michael Banks and Will Sheerin to take fourth in the 4x200 relay (1:41.9).

Also contributing to the Tiger's success on the day was Banks in the 300 intermediate hurdles as the junior finished in third place (45.95), Spencer Lewis with a third place in the 800 meters (2:09.6) and Kyle Heidt with a fifth-place finish in the triple jump (38-6).

"The wind was incredible," Brown said. "At one point, it was blowing so hard that it picked up the high jump pits and blew them onto the track. Needless to say, meet officials postponed the remainder of that event and eventually canceled it as a safety precaution.

"The times were somewhat skewed due to the wind but we just told the kids that if you can run in this you can run in just about anything."

Next up for the Tigers is the Nevada Track Fest 2006 at Bishop Manogue Saturday.