Mauga flies to win

With each meet, comes with a little more distance.

On Saturday, Fallon’s T.J. Mauga unleashed his best throw yet as the hulking sophomore won the shot put at the McQueen Invitational.

Mauga let go a personal-best distance of 152 feet, 2 inches to get the win and put him squarely in the chase for a state title.

Mauga’s throw ranks him third in the Division I-A, 7 feet behind Dayton’s Zach Hawley and 11-5 behind Boulder City’s Samuel Gomez. Mauga, though, has steadily climbed the ladder in each of the Greenwave’s first three meets.

He will get another chance to improve on Saturday as the Wave hosts the 43rd annual Fallon-Elks Invitational at 9 a.m. at the Edward Arciniega Complex.

While the discus is Mauga’s best event, he also ranks 10th in the shot put, with a season-best throw of 44-3 two weeks ago. At McQueen, he landed at 42-11 to place 12th.

Nathan Heck, Tristen Thomson, Charles Fulks, Jordan Schultz and Jake Ernst also had solid performances at McQueen.

Heck, once again, was in contention for the top spot in pole vault, finishing second with a height of 14-6. He also placed ninth in the 100-meter race coming in at 11.69 seconds.

Fulks, meanwhile, raced to a seventh-place mark in the 200 (24.34), while Schultz captured eighth in the in the 300 hurdles (44.07).

Schultz’s rapid rise in the hurdles gives Fallon yet another threat in the event along with Heck. Schultz ranks fourth in the 300 hurdles with a season-best time of 42.94 after the Fernley meet two weeks ago.

In the distance events, Thomson is chasing the school record in the 800 and has steadily lowered his time. He ran a 2:04.95 at McQueen, which places him fifth in the DI-A and four seconds off the top spot.

In addition, Thomson also has been solid in the 1,600 as he ranks 10th.

Ernst, meanwhile, continues to lead the jumping contingent as he placed fifth in the triple jump with a leap of 39-7 at McQueen. That jump puts him tied for sixth in the DI-A early in the season.

As for the Lady Wave, sophomore Whitney Skabelund continued her rise in the jumps with a solid outing at McQueen.

The New Mexico transfer landed in fourth in the triple jump at 32-4.5 and ninth in the long jump at 14-6. She ranks fifth in the state in the triple jump.

Freshmen Brynlee Shults continues to shine in her rookie campaign as she placed fifth in the triple jump (31-8) and was seventh in the high jump (4-8), while Sierra Hickox was ninth in the triple jump (30-1).

Shults sits in seventh in the state in the triple jump, tied for eighth, along with teammate Cassidy East, in the high jump (4-8).