Unpredictable and unbelievable.
Those two words sum up the latest chapter in high school athletics in the Lahontan Valley as the spring season concluded last month for both the Greenwave and Bighorns programs. All teams had a successful season but things took an interesting turn once the calendar flipped to May.
For the Greenwave, the baseball team led the 3A North with one week to go while the softball team was just swept by Fernley in the season series and then dropped two straight to Lowry to fall into third place.
The baseball team, though, dropped the season series to Dayton to fall out of first and become the second seed in the regional tournament before losing two in a row to end the season. The softball team, however, stunned the region. Coming in as the third seed, Fallon kept cranking home run after home run on its way to regional and state titles. It was nothing easy, either, as the Lady Wave had to go through Lowry and Fernley, both of which had Fallon’s number during the regular season.
On the track, Fallon saw the emergence of the school’s best sprint relay team assembled.
After coming together three years ago, the team of four had a state championship on its mind last month but 0.002 seconds was the difference between first and second in the 4x100 race. It was an incredible race to watch and the 4x200 on the next day was just as exciting.
Fallon did crown a state champ when senior Drake Copley won the 200-meter dash and senior Brynlee Shults took second on the triple jump. Shults watched from her position for the 4x100 relay as Dayton’s Ashley Mason broke the school record to win the event on her final jump.
In the pool, Fallon established several strong relays that qualified for the state meet while senior Christian Nemeth also qualified in a pair of events to end his career. The boys golf team had a strong showing with a pair of seniors (Kelvin Cann and Chance Wood) finishing well at the state meet. Cann tied for third but finished fifth in the standings at state while Wood was 28th.
Oasis Academy’s girls lacrosse team was the highlight of the spring as the Bighorns finished second in the league and even beat two elite programs in Galena and Truckee. Although Oasis lost to Truckee in the playoffs (the Wolverines eventually won state), it returns nearly all of its team next spring. This is just the start of something special.
Oasis also fielded a JV boys lacrosse team and softball in the school’s first year playing against NIAA schools.
While graduation has come and gone, this spring capped off another exciting year for both the Greenwave and Bighorns.
Thomas Ranson can be contacted at lvnsports@yahoo.com.
