Cross Country: Local runners qualify for state

Douglas High senior Taylor Biaggi became the school's first runner to qualify for the NIAA State Championships four times since Taryn Joyce-Mendive accomplished the feat between 1999 and 2002.

Biaggi's seventh-place finish at the Northern 4A Regional Championships at Rancho San Rafael Park in Reno Thursday was just one of many local highlights on the day.

Sierra Lutheran junior Wade Meddles posted the third fastest time overall on the day with a 16:25, winning the Northern 2A boys' individual title and leading the Falcon boys to the Northern 2A regional team title.

Meddles' time trailed only Galena's Bryan Tibaduiza (16:03) and Elko's Eric Sandall (16:24).

"It was a little bit slower than I wanted," Meddles said. "It was obviously what it was meant to be. I'll just accept it."

Still, Meddles won the 2A race by nearly a minute and a half.

Sierra Lutheran had four of the top eight finishers in the 2A boys race. Michael Kubel was third (17:53), Nathanael Williams was fifth (18:13) and Levi Grabow was eighth (18:24) for the Douglas County school.

Also for the Falcons, Preston Lyons was 15th (18:44), Andrew Deterding was 20th (19:12) and Bob DePaoli was 30th (20:12).

In the 4A girls' race, Biaggi ran the course in 20:26 to qualify and senior Amanda Boyd just missed a state berth by 17 seconds.

"Taylor had an aggressive start to the race," Douglas coach Jay Frey said. "She ran strong in a fast field of girls, holding the seventh spot the whole race.

"This is the strongest and most gutsy race I have seen Amanda run. All the extra work she put in during the offseason really paid off for her and she ended her season on a really great note."

Douglas also got a PR from freshman Sadie Gastelum, who took 34th with a time of 22:04.

"She has some great talent and a bright future in cross country," Frey said.

Sierra Lutheran freshman Becky Grabow earned a state berth in the 2A race, taking ninth with a time of 23:07.

In the boys' 4A race, Douglas freshman Andrew Cobourn led the Tigers with a time of 18:18, good enough for 28th.

Scott Lococo finished 42nd with an 18:58, Corey Trujillo finished in 19:07, James Leonard turned in a 19:18 and Jeremy Tigh (20:18), Tanner DeGiovanni (20:49) and Kory Koskins (20:51) rounded out the list for Douglas.

"Andrew ran really well to cap off a great freshman season and is already setting his sights on goals for next year," Frey said. "Scotty had a strong finish to a much-improved season this year. Corey Trujillo ran an incredible second half of the race, passing close to 16 runners on his way to an impressive finish.

"James ran an aggressive race and turned in a great time also and Jeremy also stepped up and set a 30-second PR for himself to cap off a great rookie season."