Heck of a day

In a rare mid-week meet, the Fallon boys track team once again showed its strength.

The Greenwave took first in a six-way meet with 173 points Wednesday at the Edward Arciniega Complex despite many of their best athletes taking the day off.

The Lady Wave, meanwhile, finished third out of five teams with 115 behind Fernley (128) and Yerington (123.5).

Both Fallon clubs rested many of its athletes as the Wave return to the track today at the High Desert Invitational at Reed and on Saturday at the Big George Invitational at Douglas.

“The meet we hosted yesterday is a casual event that allows coaches to get kids in what ever events they want,” Fallon boys coach Steve Heck said. “Most weeks we, and the other teams attending, go to invitationals so we have limited entries. The idea of hosting the meet is for coaches to get those kids who don’t get much of a chance to compete to get some extra experience.”

Nathan Heck continued his standout season in the pole vault with a leap of 14 feet, 7 inches to win the event. He nearly broke the school record of 15 feet, but did manage to break his pole on one attempt for the record.

With his vault, Heck now sits in second place overall in the Division I-A and has the fourth best height in the state. Jordan Schultz took third with a height of 12 feet.

“Nathan had a great day in the vault,” Steve Heck said. “We were going to sit him out, but at the end of the meet we let him jump in at 13-6. His 14-7 mark moved him to the No. 2 spot on the all-time list for Fallon. He had the school record cleared by several inches Wednesday but just nipped the bar on the way down. It is exciting to see his steady progression this season.”

In addition to the pole vault, Heck also nipped Dayton’s Benji Ply in the 110-meter hurdles. Heck came out strong out of the blocks, but hit a pair of hurdles toward the finish line and came away with the win by 0.01 seconds.

The event was hand-timed as the camera broke down before the start of the meet.

In the sprints, Trent Tarner won the 100 (11.01) and 200 (22.72), while Nathan Schank (52.06) and Tristen Thomson (53.29) cruised to a 1-2 finish in the 400.

Thomson also placed second in the high jump (5-10), while Beau Marshall took third (5-6).

In the ring, Dakota Schelling placed fourth in the in the shot put (41-7.5), while Carson Rigney tied for sixth (37-10).

The Bitter brothers had a strong showing in the jumps, as Aaron Bitter won the triple jump (37-8.5) and Evan Bitter took second in the long jump (17-11.5).

“The Bitter brothers are both progressing in the jumps,” Steve Heck said. “Evan and Aaron are both starting to hit their stride and I think they will be making some more improvements over the next few weeks.”

For the Lady Wave, Patricia Leggett again put her skills on display. She won the 200 (26.07), high jump (4-8) and long jump (16-3).

Fallon also had three throwers place in the top seven in the shot put and discus. Leann Stands was third in the shot put (32-11) followed by Emily Coleman in fifth (32-7) and Savannah Lamb in seventh (28-2).

In the discus, Stands took fourth (104-2), Coleman was fifth (101-8) and Lamb placed seventh (99-7).

Sprinter LeAnn Mounce finished fourth in the 100 (13.84), while Mikayla Harris (29.34) and Sydney Paul placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 200. Diana Martinez added a third-place finish in the 1,600 (6:21.30).