Bolstered by an exceptional afternoon from its relay squads, the Douglas boys' track and field team turned in its top finish in years at the prestigious Reed Rotary Invitational over the weekend.
The Tigers took seventh out of 25 teams at the meet, which drew more than 1,700 athletes.
Douglas' Tyler Tinstman had the top individual finish for the boys on the day, taking third in the 100 with a time 11.56 seconds behind Hug's Riley Rowe (11.48) and McQueen's Styker Ngongseke (11.49).
"It was a very close race," Douglas coach Rick Brown said. "A kid from Fallon came in fourth at 11.57, so Tyler came in third because he leaned at the finish.
"Tyler's improvement from last year has been exceptional. He didn't even make the finals last year at this meet, he qualified in the final spot at this year's meet and ended up taking third."
Tinstman also played an integral role on the boys' 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400 relay teams.
He teamed with Will Sheerin, Michael Banks and Curtis Hartzell in the 4x100, an event in which the Tigers' took third.
Hug took first (44.4), Reno took second (44.6) and Douglas came in third at 44.8.
"One of our regular guys had to leave town due to a family emergency," Brown said. "We ended up having to plug Hartzell in and he really ran a great leg.
"Hartzell is really a thrower, but we knew he was fast, he ran an 11.5 in the 100 a couple weeks ago, so we stuck him in there and everything worked out."
Tinstman, Sheerin, Banks and Jake O'Farrell teamed in the 4x200 to take fourth in 1:34.2 and Tinstman, Sheerin, Derrick Jenkins and Spencer Lewis teamed in the 4x400 to take third with a time of 3:32 behind Reno (3:27) and Reed (3:30).
Tinstman turned in a 51-second leg in that relay.
Elsewhere on the boys' side, Kyle Heidt finished sixth in the long jump with a leap of 20 feet, 3 inches and Lewis finished fifth in the 800 with a time of 2:05.
"It was a wacky meet," Brown said. "The wind was blowing and it was cold. But I was very happy with what we turned around and did. We really got a picture of where we are compared to the rest of the region heading into these last few weeks of the season. It really gives the kids something to work toward."
On the girls' side, Alicia Sturgess took second in the high jump with a leap of 4-11 despite having to jump into the wind. She also took sixth in the 1,600 with a time of 5:46.7.
Nicole Mehrer took third in the triple jump, measuring out at 34-8.75 and Jessica Gorton took fourth in the long jump with a leap of 15-8.
The girls' team wasn't able to field its heralded 4x400 team after Mehrer and Skylar Young had to pull out with illnesses.
"Skylar tried to run the open 400 but was unable to breathe and Nicole had the flu," Brown said. "We had to call the 4x400 off.
"It'll be an interesting next couple of weeks. We're three weeks away from the league championships and the kids are really coming along to where those that we expected to rise to the top and really show something are doing just that."
The team next heads to Chico, Calif., this weekend.
-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.
