Runners set for zone

There will likely be a lot of scoreboard watching after today's Northern 4A Boys and Girls Cross Country Championships.

And it's likely that the top boys and girls teams will have an excrutiatingly long wait after today's races at Rancho San Rafael Park before they know how they end up. Both the Northern 4A boys and girls events should be wide open affairs and Carson's boys and girls figure to be right in the mix.

"It won't be a big win by anybody I don't think," Carson coach Pete Sinnott said. "It will definitely be pretty close in the boys and the girls races."

Last year Carson's girls won the NIAA 4A State title after finishing third at the zone meet. The Senator girls won't have that luxury this year. Only the top two teams today will advance to state.

"You don't want to be waiting until next week to run your best race," said Sinnott on what he told his runners.

South Tahoe can be considered a slight favorite to win the girls race as the Vikings' Kelsey Smith and Shelby McIntyre will be favored to go 1-2 in the event. Carson, Reno High and Galena will all be the favorites to be the other school that finishes in the top two.

Sinnott said his team, Reno High or Galena could possibly challenge the Vikings. "Reno, us and Galena are right there," Sinnott said.

And Sinnott also said his top three girls " Yvonne Hollett, Jenny Mital and Amanda Gordon " could possibly challenge Smith and McIntyre. "I think our girls will be right on them," Sinnott said.

Sinnott said his top three runners could all finish in the top eight. Other top runners to watch include Galena's Monica Knight and Julie Petersen and Reno's Demere Kirsh.

Making things even more complicated is runners like Douglas High's Taylor Biaggi. Douglas didn't qualify as a team, so Biaggi, who also figures to finish in the top eight, can't displace any runners in the team standings. So that just makes sorting out the team standings that much more complicated.

And if Carson finishes in the top two, it won't just be because of its top three runners. Just as important will be Carson's other two expected scoring runners, Erica Sosa and Haleigh Ward, and the Senators' two other runners, Laura Sosa and Chelsea Gordon.

Those four runners will need to finish as high as possible in the standings to displace as many runners as possible from the other top teams. And if there's a tie, the tiebreaker would come down to how either Laura Sosa and Chelsea Gordon " or both " finish.

"They're important to us for running well and hopefully displacing other girls," Sinnott said.

Reno, Carson and Galena figure to battle for the top two spots in the boys. "Reno's just a nose ahead of us and Galena."

Galena is the defending state champion while Carson was the state runner-up last year. The state's top two finishers also return in defending state champion Bryan Tibaduiza of Galena and Carson's Richard Shroy.

Logan Phillippi, Nick Schlager and Brent Moyle also figure to finish high. But again, Carson's finish will come down to how its other three runners, Evan Richards, Brandon Bournacorsi and David McMasters, finish. Sinnott said the overall depth of his boys and girls teams may make the difference.

The Northern 2A and 3A boys and girls races will also be held today and among the other top runners to watch will be Sierra Lutheran's Wade Meddles in the 2A boys race.

Conditions are expected to be cooler and more windy today. Changes to the 3.1-mile course at Rancho San Rafael Park have also been made to make it more spectator friendly.

The action will begin with the 2A boys race at 2 p.m. The 4A boys race will be held at 3:10 p.m. and the 4A girls race will be held at 5:05.