Douglas' Kaleb Morris and Carson's Ian Van Rensselaer battle on the first lap of the senior class race at Lampe Park in Gardnerville Friday. Van Rensselaer would leave Morris to finish 3rd.
Ian Van Rensselaer started his comeback for the Carson High cross country team on the right foot Friday at the season-opening Douglas All Class Races in Gardnerville.
Van Rensselaer, who fractured his tibia at the end of the spring track season and sustained a broken leg two years ago skiing, ran well in the senior boys race, placing third in 13:49.
“This was a nice meet for us; I saw some real potential from some of our younger kids who didn’t run over the summer,” Carson coach Pete Sinnott said. “We still have a long way to go. We’ve got to keep working hard … every meet we’re going to have to get stronger.”
The meet attracted most of the top Northern Division I and I-A teams for a unique format in which all runners compete individually within their own classes. Runners all competed on the same 4,000-meter (2.4 miles) course over the flat terrain at Lampe Park.
The comeback effort by Van Rensselaer was a positive sign since the Senators are counting on the senior after he placed 11th at regionals and 14th at state last year.
“He sat out four months after he was injured in track; he’s only been training less than three weeks, but he ran great today,” Sinnott said.
Sinnott was encouraged by other performances from the Carson squad, including senior Eveline Delgado (who ran much of the senior race after her shoe lace came untied), senior Ethan Lopes and Josefina Ortiz-Osty.
Delgado placed fifth at last year’s region meet.
Sinnott also noted the Senators had good performances in the freshman boys race, including 11th-place by Brandon Copeland (15:55) and 25th by Hunter Rauh (16:39).
Dayton runners strong
Three Dayton runners finished in the top 20 in the freshmen class race. Kobey Workman was seventh out of 74 runners in 15:29, Madsen Evans was 17th in 16:20, edging teammate Jason Logan, who was 18th in 16:21.
Dayton’s lone freshman girl also cracked the top 20, finishing 20th in 20:07. In the sophomore boys race, Austin Duarte ws 37th in 17:03 and Matt Fowler was 55th in 17:51.
Jared Logan finished in 16:55 in the junior boys race. Two senior boys who had been under the weather for the past few weeks for the Dust Devils still turned in solid efforts. Brady Heusser, a state qualifier last year, finished in 15:06 and newcomer Hunter Hatch finished in 15:56.
With this being the first race of the season, I was encouraged by what I saw from my runners today,” Dayton coach Shawn Anderson said.
“Their times will only get faster as the season progresses.”
VOLLEYBALL
Carson goes 3-0
Carson had a strong first day at the high-powered Las Vegas Invitational, going 3-0. Carson beat Rancho 25-18, 25-17, Desert Oasis 25-8, 25-18 and Faith Lutheran 25-18, 25-22. Carson will play at least four matches in the tournament today.
Dayton goes 3-0
Dayton won its pool in the Yerington Tournament, sweeping Elko, Whittell and Mountain View Christian all in two straight games to go 3-0. Dayton has advanced to play in the gold division of the tournament and begins play at 8 a.m. today.
SOCCER
Dayton boys win opener
Dayton’s varsity boys won its opener at the Douglas JV Tournament, beating Hug 3-2. Jorddy Diaz, Victor Gomez and Jacob Duran all scored for Dayton. The goal by Diaz came after he made a solid run and beat the defense. Gomez scored a nice goal on a header off of a crossing pass from Jamie Avila.
Duran finished the scoring with a beautiful shot on a penalty kick.
