There was little question heading into the year that the Douglas High 4x800 boys' relay team was going to be pretty solid.
With three runners back from a team that broke the school record the year prior, how could it not be?
They certainly wasted little time living up to the expectations.
Throughout the season, returnees Brad Boyd, Seth White and Derrick Jenkins teamed with converted sprinter James Leonard to win their heats with times sometimes 20 to 30 seconds better than their closest competition.
With the best the rest of the region had to offer Saturday at Damonte Ranch, the squad pushed themselves to new limits.
Douglas posted an 8:05.9 to not only win the Northern 4A Regional title but break the school and Damonte stadium records in the process.
"It felt pretty good," said the senior Jenkins, who raised his baton high in the air after taking the lead in the last 50 meters of the race.
It was the first regional title for any of the four and the first regional title for the Douglas boys since Will Thomas won the regional long jump in 2002.
Now the team will set its attention toward trying to bring home a state title.
While they still won the regional title by about 1.5 seconds (Damonte Ranch took second at 8:07.4 and Galena took third at 8:07.7), the Tigers received news Monday that Galena looks to be much improved heading into this weekend's state championships.
The Grizzlies will be adding star runner Joe Abbott to their 4x800 roster for the state championships. Abbott is coming off a career weekend during which he won the regional title in the 400, 800 and 1,600.
"Their time will obviously come down considerably with him running," Douglas coach Jim Abbott (no relation) said. "But we see areas where our time can come down too, so it should be a really great race."
For one, leadoff runner Boyd felt he didn't have his best race Saturday.
"It was tough for me," Boyd said. "I just didn't feel very good and I was pretty tight. That got us behind early on."
Boyd had the Tigers in fourth heading into Leonard's leg.
Leonard, who also runs the 4x200 and 4x400 for Douglas, said the 800 had been a bit of an adjustment for him this season.
"It's different," Leonard said. "I'm used to just taking off and going as hard as I can right away. In the 800, I have to constantly remind myself to take it easy a little and then turn it on for the second lap."
It must of worked as Leonard broke off a career-best 2:03 split on Saturday, moving
Douglas to second heading into White's leg.
White also turned in a career-best with a 1:59, keeping Douglas in a solid second heading into Jenkins' anchor leg.
"All year, it's just kind of been that idea that as long as we can get it to Derek and be somewhat close, we'll be OK," White said. "We knew we'd be at least in the top
three heading into this year, but Galena was always king of looming over there."
Jenkins made up the difference, making his move around the last 100 meters to take the lead and the regional title.
"We're aiming for first at state," White said. "We're the top seed and we have to work on our speed from here."
Abbott said the coaching staff will spend the week helping the team to relax.
"We want the to be able to run comfortably this week," Abbott said. "You just have to be in the right mindset when it gets to these state meets. It's a tough balance up getting pumped up enough and still staying relaxed."
It will be the final high school race for both Jenkins and White, but Boyd and Leonard are just juniors.
"I could see them dropping up to six more seconds off their time this week along," Douglas middle distance coach Jey Frey said. "There are a couple areas we can clean up."
On the whole, the 4x800 was Douglas' only title Saturday, but the Tigers managed to qualify six athletes on the girls' side.
The girls' team took third overall with 70 points behind Reno (117) and Carson (82). The Senators benefitted from 40 points from star athlete Kayla Sanchez's four individual titles.
"It was kind of our team against a couple of kids for Carson," Douglas girls' coach Kim Tretton said. "It's hard to overcome Kayla Sanchez winning four events."
Even with that, a couple of Tiger athletes have a decent shot at winning a state title this week.
Chief among those will be junior triple jumper Nicole Mehrer, who took second at regionals with a lead of 35-5.5, just an inch off the regional title won by Damonte Ranch's Gabby Baublyte.
Junior first-year thrower Jessica Waggoner also stands a good chance in both the discus and the shot put after taking second in the disc with a throw of 117-05 and third in the shot at 37-0.5.
"If everything falls in the right spot for Jessica, she could be looking at a state title in either event," Tretton said. "She has the ability to do it."
Sarah Hartley had a strong run in the 400 at regionals, taking second with a 58.63 behind Carson's Christy Works, who broke the stadium record with a 58.40.
"Sarah ran a phenomenal 400," Tretton said. "It was ridiculous."
Freshman Kyra Barth tied for third in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet and enters the state with the No. 3 seed.
The 4x400 team of Hartley, Mehrer, Susie White and Bridget Maestretti also earned a spot at state, taking third behind Carson and Hug at 4:08.47.
"They ran pretty well, but Sarah was finishing a long day with a lot of events and she won't have that this weekend," Tretton said. "They get to run in a bit cooler conditions on Friday night and they'll have fresh legs, so we should be looking at a better time."
Outside of those athletes, Douglas had a number of near misses for state.
Senior Curtis Hartzell took fourth in the 400, running a 50.83 and Jordan Cruz was less than 0.2 second off of qualifying in the 200.
The boys' 4x100 team of Jake O'Farrell, Barron Santiago, Sean Derbyshire and Cruz and took fourth at 44.28.
The girls' 4x200 team of Kyra Barth, Liz Nickles, Cami Arend and Natasha Brown was a surprise fourth-place finisher at 1:50.96.
"They were the last seed coming into regionals and they just kicked butt," Tretton said. "They ran so well, it was a beautiful thing.
"Every girl will be back next year, so that should be an awesome one to look for next year."
Jessica Gorton took fourth in the long jump at 16-10.5, just missing a state berth by a quarter of an inch, fifth in the 100 hurdles at 17.08 and fifth in the triple jump at 34-8.
Jenkins finished fifth in a tight 800 race, running it in 2:00.56.
"Derrik could have won that race," Abbott said. "He just got boxed in on the inside and by the time he was able to get out it was too late in the race."
Brown took sixth in the triple jump at 34-6 and senior Luke Wartgow added another 10 feet to his personal best in the discus, taking sixth at 141-05.
Another notable was Amanda Boyd, who took ninth in the 3,200 with a time of 12:58.59 despite being kicked and spiked during the race.
