The warmer weather proved to be quite favorable for the Douglas High School track & field team as several season, stadium and school records were broken on Wednesday at a four-team conference meet at Damonte Ranch.
"We as coaches were somewhat skeptical as to how we would fare after a two-week spring break in which over half the team was gone, but in most cases the lay-off may have helped," Douglas coach Rick Brown said.
Leading the way for the Lady Tigers was Sarah Hartley. The sophomore sprinter/jumper set stadium records in both the 100 meters (12.2) and triple jump (35-1) as well as finishing first in the 200 with a season best mark of 26.0 just missing the stadium record of 25.9.
"Sarah is an incredible athlete," Brown said. "There's not much that she can't do on the track. She has a very legitimate shot at qualifying for state in all three of her individual events as well as the 4x400 relay."
Also having outstanding performances for the girls team were Skylar Young with a first-place finish in the 400 meters in a PR of 60.0 seconds and two second-place finishes in the 100 and 200 with PR's of 12.5 and 26.5 seconds.
"This was Skylar's first time running those two shorter sprint races this year," Brown said. "She had been doing a lot of distance training and the
strength she gained from that is really paying off."
Perhaps the top performance of the meet, or at least the most exciting, came in the last event of the day as the 4x400 relay team of Tina Dantin, Alicia Sturgess, Hartley and Young nipped McQueen at the finish to win in 4:18.
"We got off to a sub-par start in the race and kind of dug ourselves a big hole, but Alicia and Sarah narrowed the gap and Skylar made up about a 20 meter deficit to outlean the McQueen girl at the tape," Brown said. "It was quite a sight."
Sturgess continued her success as she contributed wins in the 1600 (5:46) and High Jump (5-2). Jessica Gorton contributed to the winning ways with a first-place finish in the Long Jump (16-2) and second-place finishes in the triple jump (33-11) and 100 High Hurdles (18.3) and Whitney Lindsey made her season debut, after being sidelined by a stress fracture, and picked up a victory in the 3,200 with a time of 12:58.
On the boys side of the meet, Will Sheerin continued to break his own school record in the triple jump, leaping 42-2, a mark that was good enough for a 3rd place finish on the day. Sheerin also finished second in the 400 meters with a time of 54.2 and teamed up with Jeff Ortega, Tristan Bates and Tyler Tinstman to run a season best time in the 4x100 relay of 44.6, good enough for second place.
"This was the first time these four had run the relay together," Brown said. "We worked on handoffs at the meet and it turned out to be a good combination."
Also having success for the Tigers was Ryan Bertucci, who cleared a season best of 6-2 in the high jump. Michael Banks who ran a PR in the 300 hurdles (43.2).
Saturday's warm weather brought out some sizzling performances at the 12 team Manogue Invitational this past weekend.
Once again, the Lady Tigers continued with their season long success as they finished in third place in the team standings.
Leading the way again for the girls was Hartley, who had three first-place finishes on the day. Hartley won the 100 (13.03), the 200 (26.96) and the triple jump where she set the meet record at 34-1.
Also contributing to the Tiger's success were Young who won the 400 (60.42), had a 4th place finish in the 200 (27.40) and a 5th in the 100 (13.31), Sturgess who won the high jump in a meet and personal record of 5-4, and fourth place finishes in the 800 (2:33.90) and 1600 (5:40.10) and Gorton, who won the long jump (15-6) and finished second in the triple jump (33-4).
The girls 4x400 relay team of Sarah Rowe, Sturgess, Hartley and Young combined to run 4:13.86 to finish in second place. On the boys side, Ryan Bertucci experienced his best day as he finished first in the high jump with a meet record jump of 6-4. Kyle Heidt won the long jump at 20-0, Tinstman finished third in the 200 (23.06) and fourth in the 100 (11.61), Sheerin finished third in the triple jump ( 39-10) and Spencer Lewis finished fourth in the 800 (2:03.40) to lead the boys to a fifth-place finish in the team standings.
"We continue to improve on all fronts," Brown said. "With the exception of a couple of dropped baton exchanges on relays, we are right where we hoped to be for this time of the year.
"With League coming up this week and next, we should have several more success stories to speak of."
Next up for the Tigers is the league trials on Saturday May 6 at Reno. The top eight qualifiers in each event will qualify for the Regionals on May 13, also at Reno.
