Carson High's Abby Pradere (13) sets the ball for Carissa Willey (24) during their match against Spanish Springs.
Based on its performance at a Sierra League meet it hosted on Thursday at the Washoe Lake State Recreation Area, the Carson High boys cross country team should be right in the thick of the race for the Sierra League title.
The Sierra League title race could be a four-team affair based on Thursday with three teams finishing two points within each other. Galena had 54 points, Damonte Ranch 55 and Carson 56. Douglas was fourth with 59 points.
Three Carson runners — Hunter Rauh, Zach Sever and Ethan Byasse — cracked the top 10. Galena packed four runners in the top 15 and Damonte had five runners in the top 17.
The ultimate goal for Carson is to be one of the three Northern teams to qualify for state.
“Our league is very competitive,” CHS coach Pete Sinnott said. “We know now that we’re right there with the best teams. One point, you can’t get any closer than that.
“Each week we are looking stronger and have still yet to run Mark Ramirez who was an outstanding frosh and soph runner. (He’s) had a couple of lingering injuries, but is ready to put his foot to the starting line.”
Rauh paced the Senators with his 19:39 effort to take third over a challenging 5K layout that included a 50-meter stretch that took runners into the shallow water of Washoe Lake. Sever placed fifth in 19:56. Byasse placed ninth in 20:49 as Carson was the only team to place three runners in the top 10.
Carson also received a boost from its No. 4 and 5 runners. Walker MacKenzie, a sophomore in his first cross country season and “improving with each week,” according to Sinnott, placed 17th in 21:23. Adan Garcia, a senior in his first varsity race since 2016, placed 22nd in 21:40 to round out the team scoring. Jakob Heller also clocked a 22:49, Jacob Crossman 22:57 and Andrew Ingram 24:21 for the Senators.
Junior Hannah Kaiser led Carson in the girls race with her fifth-place time of 24:08.
“This is Hannah’s first cross country season since middle school and she is gaining more confidence in her running each week, she is seeing that she can compete with the top runners,” Sinnott said.
Freshmen Ginger Cullom and Ella Wick ran respective times of 29:26 and 29:42. Katy Schultz, another freshman recovering from a broken toe, ran 29:45, Erin Cartier checked in at 30:38.
The Senators finished fifth as a team with 125 points. Damonte Ranch edged Douglas 40-45 for the team victory.
In the junior varsity boys race, sophomore Cody Jackson placed sixth in a time of 23:01 to lead Carson, while Gabe Crossman placed 15th in 24:35 and Kyle Holloway 16th in 24:41. Freshman Claire Cartier placed sixth in the JV girls race in 30:26.
“It was a memorable meet,” Sinnott said. “It was a true cross country course because you had single track trail, sand, beach some asphalt and a little water. It wasn’t a course you run for a fast time, but it was a good conditioning course for later in the year.”
The Senators run again on Sept. 15 at the 56th annual Nevada Union Invitational in Grass Valley, Calif., then will take a week off before they compete again on Sept. 29 at the prestigious Stanford Invitational.
CHS girls golf take second
Carson played second to Manogue at Lakeridge on Tuesday.
Manogue finished at 357 following by Carson (372) and Galena (397). Wooster’s Lily Landt was low score medalist with a 73.
For Carson, Karen Beglin shot a 78 and Jill Beglin fired an 83.
CHS coach Wade Greenlee remained optimistic about his team.
“We certainly didn’t play as well as we can,” he said. Jill and Karen shot 83 and 78, which were top five scores. I know they weren’t happy with their scores, but if a couple of the other girls play just a few holes smarter, we’re right there in first place again. Manogue played well and it was a wake-up call for us. We’re on track to get to regions and our score was still 14 shots lower than last year’s region score so that’s a positive.”
Freshman Sarah Wiggins shot a 103. “I was also very happy with freshman Sarah Wiggins, whose 103 was an indication that she can be one of our players who can be a sub-100 golfer,” Greenlee said.
Kassidy Cooley shot a 107, Sophia Taggart a 112, and Gabby Montes came in at 117.
“Both Sophia and Kassidy had three holes where inexperience cost them about ten each,” Greenlee said. “We talked about it and I anticipate better scores at our next match.
“Sometimes you just have to accept a bad shot and try not to make it up on the next one. That usually results in even more trouble. We’ll work more on course management and ball striking over the next week and be ready for Toiyobe.”
Carson is currently still in first place in Sierra League play, one point ahead of Manogue 17-16. Team points are awarded on a 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 format.
Karen leads the individual Cup Points with 105 points and Jill and Landt are tied for second at 104.
Carson’s next match is Tuesday, Sept. 18 at Toiyobe.
CHS volleyball falls
The Carson High volleyball team suffered a 3-1 setback Thursday night against Spanish Springs.
The Senators came out strong winning the first game 25-18 before falling 25-16, 25-20 and 25-19.
Carson took the first game behind strong serving from Abby Pradere. She was serving when Carson took an 11-9 lead and made it 15-9. She also served during the last three points.
In game 2, Carson was down 24-9 before scoring seven straight points to close the game. In game 3, the Cougars took a 15-12 deficit and turned it into a 20-17 lead en route to the victory. In the fourth game, Spanish Springs jumped out to a 17-8 lead. The young Senators tried to rally but came up short falling to 9-2 on the year.
“We struggled with our ball control,” coach Robert Maw said. He was happy with the improving play of freshmen Grace Turner, Oliva Smith and Shannen Von Duering. Turner, Maw said “stepped up big,” after an early injury to Camryn Quilling.
Pradere had two aces, three kills, 29 assists and 10 digs. Camille Kordonowy had five assists and 32 digs. Shea DeJoseph had 12 kills and nine digs. Carson as a team had 16 errors.
The Senators came off a nice win at Reed on Tuesday where they rallied from two games down. The Senators won the last three games 25-17, 25-18 and 15-11.
“I am happy with the start to the year,” Maw said adding the Senators needed to work on their ball control and blocking as the season moves forward. Carson travels to Hug on Thursday before road matches at Reno (Sept. 18) and Wooster (Sept. 19). The Senators return home against Galena on Sept. 20.
-Adam Trumble
CHS girls tennis falls
Jennifer Artz won two-of-three matches in singles for Carson (1-3) in its 14-4 loss to Manogue at CHS on Thursday. One win for Artz came in a in a tiebreaker 7-6 (7-2).
In doubles for Carson, Sydney Lloyd and Shea Dunn won 7-6 (7-4) and Hailey Bauman and Lola Woods won 6-3.
