For the second year in a row, the Douglas High cross country team was the only fall sport at the school to send athletes to state.
Once they got there, they were nothing short of superb.
Douglas' Whitney Lindsey took fifth place in 20 minutes and 28 seconds on the 5K course at Veterans Memorial Park in Boulder City and Taylor Biaggi finished eighth in 20:52.
Lindsey, a junior, and Biaggi, a sophomore, were both named to the All-State cross country team for the second consecutive year.
"Both Whitney and Taylor really demonstrated that they deserve to be considered among the elite runners in the state," Douglas coach Keith Cole said.
Lindsey was solidly in the top five for the entire race and worked hard to keep close to the fourth- and third-place runners.
"We knew going in that our primary competition was Tahoe and Reno," Cole said. "Her goal was to keep as close to them as she could and she did with ease."
Lindsey improved by four places from last year's ninth-place finish. Reno's Marie Lawrence won the race and the Huskies took the team championship.
Biaggi got off to a quick start, which placed her in good position for the rest of the race.
"That was the key to her race," Cole said. "She had a great start, one of the best I have ever seen from her.
"Other girls tried to pass her, but she held them off for the most part."
Biaggi jumped from 37th last year to eighth this year.
In the 2A boys' race, Sierra Lutheran's Taylor Love matched his regional second-place finish, just barely missing the state title.
Love completed the 5K course in 17:40.22 to Sage Ridge state champion Nathan Chellman's 17:39.78.
Michael Kubel took eighth in the regional meet last week but took on several older and more experienced athletes at state and came in seventh with a time of 18:48.21.
Both runners were named to the All-State cross country team as well.
At regionals, the Falcons finished fifth as a team.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
