Track & Field: Tiger girls take 2nd at Rotary Invite

Last week, the Douglas girls' track & field team solidified their position as one of the elite teams in the Northern 4A with a first-place finish at the Fallon Invitational.

The Tigers went a step further over the weekend, establishing themselves as a legitimate contender for the regional title with a second -place finish at the prestigious Reed Rotary Invitational in Sparks.

Douglas put up 66 points as a team in the 27-team field, trailing only traditional powerhouse Reno (104) with every Northern 4A team on hand.

"They are all working really hard," Douglas girls' coach Kim Tretton said. "They won the Fallon Invite and now to take second at Reed, they're starting to understand the team concept.

"Everybody contributes. They are figuring out that every athlete we have out there is important to the overall picture, regardless of place. It's not just about our medal contenders, all of the girls are contributing in their own ways."

On the boys' side, Derrick Jenkins blistered through the open 800 with a school-record time of 1:57.6 to lead the Tigers boys to an 11th-place finish.

"Derrick has really been putting in some time in the offseason," Douglas boys' coach Jim Abbott said. "He got strong during the summer and winter months and came in ready to build on that. He's really become a strong athlete."

Jenkins' time marked a six-second drop off his previous best.

"We're seeing this with a lot of the distance runners," Abbott said. "They are putting the time in during the offseason and we are getting a lot of strength and depth in the distance events where in years past we only had one or two runners."

The Lady Tigers hauled in a good portion of their points in the jumping events as Jessica Gorton won the long jump with a 17-3.5, and Nicole Mehrer, Sarah Hartley and Gorton swept fourth through sixth in the triple jump with leaps of 35-2, 34-8 and 34-6 respectively.

"Jessica just got edged out on earning a trip to state by about an inch last year," Tretton said. "She went to a camp over the summer and came out ready to improve every day this season. She wants to win. It's not just the jumps. She has improved in every event she competes in."

Tretton said while Natasha Brown didn't make the finals in the triple jump this weekend, she'll play into the picture when regionals roll around.

Freshman Kyra Barth took fourth in the high jump with a leap of 5-0.

"Kyra really turned some heads this weekend," Tretton said. "She was kind of the talk of the event. She was right there."

Junior Jessica Waggoner took third in the shot put with a 36-0.5 and fourth in the discus with a personal best of 109-01. She was second among Northern 4A athletes in the shot and third in the disc.

The relays were also big for the Tigers as the team of Hartley, Bridget Maestretti, Susie White and Mehrer took fourth in the 4x400 (second among Northern 4A schools) at 4:15.16 and the 4x800 team of Amanda Boyd, Taylor Biaggi, Jaclyn Neddnereip and Krista Castro took eighth at 11:06.8.

Gorton took fourth in the 300 hurdles with a 48.69 and seventh in the 100 hurdles at 22.13.

Boyd took fifth in the 3,200 with a 12:50.6 and Hartley took sixth in the 400 at 60.62 and sixth in the 100 at 13.19.

"Amanda is working so hard, she is the hardest worker I have seen and it's good to see her performing so well," Tretton said. "These girls can be regional champions if they keep working at it.

"Reno will be tough to beat and Carson will be right there, but it's definitely within reach."

For the boys' the 4x800 relay team of Jenkins, Seth White, Brad Boyd and James Leonard picked up a big win with a time of 8:25.8.

"They all ran under 2:10 and they had a great race," Abbott said.

The 4x400 team of Boyd, Jenkins, Leonard and Curtis Hartzell took sixth with a 3:33.27 and Luke Wartgow took ninth in the discus with a throw of 131-04.5

Boyd and White just finished out of the scoring in the 1,600, taking ninth and 10th respectively with times of 4:51 and 4:52.

With the performances over the weekend, Douglas upped its total of qualifying athletes to nearly 40 for this week's Chico Invitational.

"Last year we took 20," Abbott said. "We're taking almost 40 this year. We're getting there. We've still got a lot of growth as a program, but we'll get there.

"We're seeing a lot of personal bests and a lot of overall improvement. They're looking really good as a team. Just great attititudes and great work ethic across the board."