Wave track and field places 3rd in Elks Invite

The Greenwave track and field team flexed its muscles in the boys division as Fallon finished third in the Elks Invitational on Saturday at the Edward Arciniega Athletic Complex.

Fallon, backed by four first-place finishes, scored 50 points to tie with Damonte Ranch as Reed ran away with the meet with a 149-point performance. McQueen won the girls division with 95 points while Fallon finished 14th with 10 points. Fallon also led all 3A schools in the boys division.

“It was an excellent meet. They learned how to compete and what competition is,” Fallon boys coach Keith Sluyter said. “Watching these kids go in, even brand-new ones, getting over those nerves and pounding through that competition, they light up afterward. That’s very gratifying. They learn how to embrace that challenge and train for it.”

Senior Drake Copley won both the 100- and 200-meter dashes and was the first leg on both the 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams, which also took first. Copley posted times of 11.28 and 23.62, both personal bests, to win the 100 and 200 sprinting events.

“It’s his time. It’s coming up. He surprised himself,” Sluyter said.

The team of Copley, senior Broder Thurston, and juniors Reid Clyburn and Colton Peterson picked up where they left off in last year’s record-breaking performances. They won the 4x100 event in 44.32 seconds and the 4x200 in 1:34.01.

“We’ve been building this team for three years now. They had a great relay,” Sluyter said. “I like to see them continue on and do better. I don’t think they’ve peaked.”

Fallon is only 0.41 seconds off the 4x100 school record and 2.73 seconds off the 4x200. Sluyter said it’s a matter of fine-tuning the little things.

“Just tighten it up more, better handoffs and smoother transition in handing that stick over,” he said. “What they’re doing at this point is refining what they’ve been perfecting.”

Clyburn was the only other medalist after the junior hurdler took fourth in the 300 hurdles with a season-best 43.28. Peterson placed sixth in the 200 after posting the second-best time in the prelims. The senior sprinter finished the finals in 24.15 after a 23.52 in the first race. He also had the sixth-best time in the 100 (11.19) but finished 13th in the finals in 11.86.

“He’s not too far where he ended last year. He’s being consistent. He’s continuing to improve, get stronger and faster,” Sluyter said of Clyburn.

Junior Trevor East highlighted the field events with a seventh-place performance in the triple jump after a leap of 40 feet, 1.5 inches. He also took 12th in the long jump. Senior Nathaniel Klein finished 10th in the pole vault with a personal best of 10-6 and Justin Cathey also had a personal best in the high jump at 5-8.

For the girls, sophomore Kyndal Collins led Fallon with a fifth-place showing the 100 with a 13.42 in the finals. Junior Allie Lister scored a season-best in the pole vault at 8-6 to finish sixth and junior Glenda Lee finished 10th at 7-6, a personal best. Senior Brynlee Shults led Fallon in the jumps with a 32-7.5 to finish seventh in the triple jump. Sophomore Tiffany Sorensen finished ninth in the discus with a personal-best 93-7.

Fallon competes in the two-day Reed-Sparks Rotary Invitational this weekend when many of the same teams at the Elks meet will face off.

“We’re looking at our relay teams bringing some points as well as building this team,” Sluyter said. “We’ve done well in the jumps in the past.”