Cross Country: Meddles sets record, Douglas runners prepare for state

It was a solid weekend all around for Carson Valley cross country runners.

The Douglas Tigers qualified three runners for the state 4A championships, while Sierra Lutheran defended its Northern 2A Regional title, boosted by a record-setting performance from senior standout Wade Meddles.

Meddles ran the 5K course at Carlin's Chinese Gardens in a course-record 16 minutes, 26 seconds to claim his second Northern 2A individual title.

Teammates Nathanael Williams (third, 18:05), Levi Grabow (fifth, 18:39) and Preston Lyons (12th, 19:15) weren't far behind as the Falcons ran away with the team title, coming in well ahead of second-place Incline, Sage Ridge and North Tahoe.

Douglas' Scotty Lococo and Andrew Cobourn qualified on the boys' side while Sadie Gastelum qualified on the girls' side at last week's 4A Regional Championships at Rancho San Rafael Park in Reno. All three are first-time qualifiers.

"All six of our runners ran incredible races," Douglas coach Jay Frey said. "Sadie ran a phenomenal race (20:56, 17th overall), the best I've seen out of her, setting a PR by nearly 40 seconds.

"She shot out right from the start and just held on to a smoking pace the whole race. She had a sweet finish, passing one girl in the last 100 meters to reserve her spot for next week."

Douglas' Bre Chabot (23:41, 67th overall) and Kylie Flannagan (23:43, 10th overall) ran solid races as well.

On the boys' side, Lococo set a PR as well, taking 10th with a time of 17:10.

"Scotty was an absolute machine on the course, setting his own PR by 21 seconds," Frey said. "As a senior, he was out to prove something to himself and he popped out the best race of his career today.

"When I saw him on the course, I knew by the look on his face he was focused more than I'd ever seen him and it was going to be a landmark day for him. Very impressive."

Cobourn took 15th overall, finishing in 17:39.

"He's been running well all season and continued with it today," Frey said. "To qualify for state on the boys' side as a sophomore is pretty impressive. He's getting some more big-race experience that is going to help him tremendously down the road."

Jeremy Tigh took 60th overall, finishing in 19:59.

"He's a great kid that has given everything he has every race this season. He impressed me once again with his heart and determination.

"Overall, every one of these kids stepped up today with a huge leap in mental focus, determination and sacrifice, to either extend their season one more week, or to put an exclamation point on their last race. (Coach) Marc Walling and I are very happy with the results of today's meet. It's a great group of kids to work with and it's amazing to see their growth."

On the 2A girls' side, Sierra Lutheran had Becky Grabow qualify for state, taking second with a time of 21:14, which was under the previous state record, but behind Incline's Briana Drago.

Phoebe Mark also qualified, completing the course in 24:09 to take 17th.

Brittany Rupert (29:09), Abby Williams (29:15) and Karina Young (29:28) also had solid races for the Falcons.

For the boys, the Falcons had all six of their runners place in the top 30 as Andrew Deterding (22nd, 20:03), John McRae (23rd, 20:05) and Nathan Conover (28th, 20:17) rounded out a solid day for the team.

The state championships for all classes are Saturday at Rancho San Rafael in Reno.

The 2A girls run at 10 a.m., the 4A girls go at 11:25 a.m., the 2A boys start at 12:30 p.m. and the 4A boys go at 1:45 p.m.