State Track Carson relay squad nabs second in the 3200 relay

LAS VEGAS — Led by the boys 3200-meter relay squad, Carson High’s track team brought home three more medals on Saturday at the NIAA State Track & Field Championships at Silverado High School.

The quartet of Micheal Samii, Dexter Cummings, Zach Heinz and Taylor Bradshaw ran a season-best 8:05.84 to finish second to Centennial. Sophomore Maddie Preston made it 2-for-2 in the medal haul by placing third in the triple jump at 36-5. Sophomore Corey Reid medaled in the high jump, finishing fourth at 6-4.

Reid finished out of the money in the 400, running a 49.44 which was good enough for fifth place. Athena Favero was eighth in the 300 hurdles at 48.29 and Teresa Boehmer was ninth in the shot put at 30-9 1/2.

Coach Robert Maw was ecstatic about the performance of the relay team, especially Samii, who PR’d by two seconds with a 2:03 split.

“He went out and challenged for the lead,” Maw said. “He dropped to fourth or fifth by the end of his leg, but he put his heart into it and ran a good race. Dexter got us into the second spot (2:02) with a nice run.”

Heinz ran a 2-flat leg before turning it over to Bradshaw, who ran his third straight sub 2-minute 800. Carson coaches clocked Bradshaw at 1:58, and that was enough to get past Galena and McQueen and into the runner-up spot.

“Zach ran a good leg, and Taylor really came on. It was a great way for Taylor to end his senior season. It was a fabulous race; a great race. The kids did an outstanding job. It was a good move to not run Corey in the relay. He only had 20-25 minutes between his events anyway, and I don’t know if he’d did what he did in the high jump or the 400.”

Reid needed every bit of energy in the high jump. He cleared 6-4 and then missed three times at 6-5. He was nosed out for third on fewer misses. The eventual winner was the favorite, Bishop Gorman’s Randall Cunningham, who set a national record with a leap of 7-3 1/4.

Maw said that all eyes in the stadium were on Cunningham, who had a few jumps over 7-feet on the day. The nice thing is that local track fans will get to see Cunningham next year when the state meet is in Carson.

Preston uncorked her medal-winning jump on her second-to-last jump of the day. She had other jumps of 35-5 1/2, 35-8, 35-6, 36-5 and 35-11.

“The one scratch she had was a real good one; she missed by a toenail,” Maw said. “Maddie did a great job. To medal in two events as a sophomore is great.”

Reid ran a strong 400 (49.44), and finished one spot away from a medal. All three Northern Nevada 400 entrants ran slower than they did last week at Damonte Ranch.

Favero also failed to lower her time from last week.

“She stuttered a lot (at the hurdle),” Maw said. “It wasn’t her day.”

Boehmer failed to improve on her No. 9 seed, and her effort was 18 inches below what she threw at Damonte.

5 MORE MEDALS FOR DAYTON

Dayton athletes claimed five more medals on the second day of competition in Division IA.

Aaron Elissa (1600) was third in a school and personal best time of 4:35.29. Benji Ply was third in the high jump at 6-2, Joshua Koch was third in the discus at 134-8, Kaylee Turner was third in the shot put (34-3 1/4) and Katrina Breithaupt was fourth in the 3200 at 12:05.29.

“That was Katrina’s best race of the year,” Dayton coach Mike Paul said. “She was sick earlier in the year, and she was not able to train.

“Aaron was leading his race until he was passed on the backstretch.”

Rybecca Fletcher was eighth in the triple jump and Lauren Bailey was eighth in the pole vault at 7-feet.