Sever, Kaiser lead Carson High cross country in season opener

GARDNERVILLE — It was a good start for the Carson High School cross country program’s 2019 season.

Zach Sever ran to second-place in the senior boys race and the Senators were runner-up in the sophomore girls team race to provide highlights Friday during the season-opening Douglas Class Races held at Lampe Park.

The meet, which features a format in which all runners compete within their own age classes (freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors), attracted teams from more than 20 Northern Nevada schools. Carson coach Pete Sinnott described the races on a 90-degree-plus afternoon as a good gauge of where the runners stand right now.

“For the first race, I thought the kids ran well,” Sinnott said. “They all competed well and they all ran to where they’re trained for right now.”

Sever was edged out in a duel for first place in the senior boys race by Bryce Welton of Galena. Welton used his finishing kick — he was a state meet qualifier for 800 meters on the track back in May — to win with a time of 13:17 over the double loop 2.55-mile course. Sever was a step behind in 13:18, the second fastest overall time of the day and an improvement of 50 seconds from last year’s meet. Also the second fastest by a Carson runner since Richard Schroy, state champion, ran a 13:05 in 2009.

“I thought Zach ran very well,” Sinnott said. “I thought he looked a little stronger at the end. Welton is a 2-minute half mile guy and he just had a little too much speed today on that last stretch.”

Big individual achievements were Asher Koch (15:42) a sophomore who improved by 2:40 over last year and moved up to a varsity spot.

Hannah Kaiser placed fourth as an individual in the senior girls race with a 16:44 time, an improvement of 17 seconds from last year. Jakob Heller also placed 19th in the senior boys race (15:46) and Gabe Crossman was 24th (16:15).

In the sophomore girls race, Carson finished second as a team behind Galena by a 21-34 score. Kaitlin Schulze placed eighth (18:26), Julia Kaiser 11th (18:31), Claire Cartier 17th (19:07), Ginger Cullom 33rd (23:51), Kora Ashton 37th(26:06) and Ava Ponczoch 40th (27:58). Cartier improved her time from last year by nearly two-and-a-half minutes.

Jacob Crossman placed 24th in the junior race (15:08), Walker MacKenzie 32nd (15:29), Andrew Ingram 44th (15:55), Kyle Holloway 56th (16:54), William Ore 64th (17:22), Mikkael Villardl 66th (17:33), Leonard Bucholz 75th (17:54) and Edwin Vasquez 82nd (20:19). Crossman improved his time from last year by 27 seconds.

Carson finished fifth as a team in the frosh girls race with 79 points. Sydney Romeo paced the Senators with her eighth-place effort of 18:58, while Samantha Schofield placed 12th (19:37), Ava Brem 22nd (21:10), Isabel Cartier 31st (22:20) and Lydia Thornley 33rd (23:02).

Carson also finished fifth in the sophomore boys race with 119 points. Asher Koch placed 15th (15:42), Ethan Baulerle 25th (16:13), Dominic Valdez 46th (17:14), Eduardo Hernandez 62nd (18:41) and Alex Barr 65th (18:54).

Hailey Ponczoch placed 28th in the senior girls race with a time of 21:14 that was 26 seconds faster than last year and Gianna Johnson finished 28th in the junior girls race (22:37).

Samuel Davis was 24th in the freshman boys race (17:36), Alan Gomez-Jauregui 34th (18:29), Joshua Doddgeridge 40th (19:11), Braeden Hudder 51st (20:44) and Nathaniel Crossman 56th (23:08).