Cross Country state meet: Carson third; Sierra Lutheran teams second

BOULDER CITY - The Carson High girls cross country team came up short in its quest to defend its state title on Saturday. Carson finished third in a very close race.

Palo Verde (58 points) won the meet led by Katie Gorczyca who won the meet. Damonte Ranch (68 points) was just behind, followed by the Senators (75).

Carson was led by Alex Drozdoff who finished third (20:19); April Shonnard was seventh (20:31); Mallory Wilson was 19th (21:26); Amanda Gordon was 25th (21:46); Cindy Juchtzer was 46th (22:31): Erika Sosa was 52nd (22:47); and Ashley Salcedo was 65th (23:43).

"The girls ran really well," Carson coach Pete Sinnott said.

Juchtzer was nursing an injury running two minutes slower than she did last week.

Sinnott said this is the best overall year for the girls since he has been coaching at Carson. Carson won quite a few meets, including the Reed and regional meets. The Senators also were second at the prestigious Clovis Invite.

In the 3A race, Dayton's Katrina Breithaupt was 10th in 22:18. Mariah Anthony won the meet in 20:39.

In the 2A race, Sierra Lutheran's Becky Grabow won the meet in 20:34. She led Sierra Lutheran to a second place finish. Incline ran away with the meet (27-82). Following Grabow was Erin Henry in ninth (22:45); Sierra Stulac was 22nd (24:19); Abby Williams was 33rd (26:40); and Brittany Rubert was 36th (27:52).

Virginia City was third in the meet finishing one point behind Sierra Lutheran. Leading the Muckers was: Tobie Steele in eighth (22:34); Heather Harrower was 12th (23:15); Masi Steele was 24th (25:41); Heather Redman was 27th (25:41); and Micah Blakely was 32nd (26:17).

BOYS

In the 2A meet, Sierra Lutheran's Nathanael Williams was edged out by John Robinson from Whittell for the individual state title. Williams finished second (16:45) just eight seconds behind Robinson.

The two finished nearly a minute ahead of the third place runner.

As a team, Sierra Lutheran finished second behind North Tahoe (32-57)

Other finishers for Sierra Lutheran were: John MaCrae (17:53), Anthony Brewer (18:50); Nathan Conover (18:51); Donavan Harrison (18:54); Luke Barulcih (19:03); and Johnny Harms (20:30).

In the 4A race, Carson's Brent Moyle finished 19th in 17:44. Nick Hartle from Centennial won the race in 16:28. Douglas' Andrew Cobourn was 27th in 18:01.

"Brent ran really well," Sinnott said, noting that Moyle has a history of running well in big meets. Moyle was a part of one state championship team and two teams that were runners-up.