DyeStatNV

Lake Mead Invitational Preview

One of the largest Southern Nevada meets of the year (985 total entries) will be this Saturday at Veterans Memorial Park in Boulder City as Boulder City High School hosts the Lake Mead Invitational.  The meet will be run on the new Vet Park 5k course that was used for the 2015 Southern Regional Championships. Thirteen Middle Schools and 39 High Schools will be in attendance.

It will be interesting to see varsity team line-ups due to the Bud O’Dea Classic (Frosh-Soph) Championships will be held 2 days later.  Many teams may opt to run just junior and seniors at Lake Mead, saving their 9-10^th graders for the O’Dea Meet.

In the Varsity races, all schools will run together, but the results will be scored in Large School and Small School Divisions.  Here’s our High School Preview:

Varsity Large School Girls

Centennial is far and away the class of the field. Take away their 9-10 graders and they still average 19:28 for their top 5 (5k).  Alexis Gourrier is coming off a State Leading 17:56 5k at Stanford and should run away from the field.  The Lady Bulldogs should easily place 5 in the top 15 and win by a ton.  Arbor View will be running a strong team and should come away with 2^nd.  Individuals to watch will include Centennial’s Delani Dietrich, Defending State Champ, Karina Haymore; Sierra Vista’s Baileigh Sundin and Sarriah Brown; Green Valley’s Amy Amezcua who is coming off a 2^nd place at the Spartan Pre-Region Meet; Liberty’s Skyler Free; Desert Oasis’ Madelyn Doerr and Faith Lutheran’s Kendall Larson.

Varsity Small School Girls

This should be an interesting matchup between 1-2AThe Meadows school and 3A SECTA.  The Meadows is ranked #1 in Southern Nevada 1-2A and SECTA is ranked #1 in Southern Nevada 3A. SECTA has their top 5 ranked in the top 13 on the entry list

Runners to watch include Defending 1-2A Regional Champion Ellen Hirsberg from The Meadows.  Right behind her on the entry list are 3 from SECTA, Diamond Morris, Eden Tasfay and Jacqueline Canas-Rodriguez. Keep an eye on 2 freshman in the top 10, Somerset-Losee’s Maranda McGuigan and Pahrump Valley’s Diamond Sonerholm.

Varsity Boys Large School

Another battle brewing between #1 ranked Green Valley and #2 ranked Arbor View.  Last weekend the Gators scored a 2 point win over the Aggies at Spartan.  Both teams should place 4 in the top 15, so it may come down to who has the better 5-6-7.  Will we see another “and down the stretch they come” finish with Omar Rubio(GV) and Ian Jackson(AV)?  Rubio scored a 1 second victory over Jackson at Spartan.  Hot on their heels will be Durango’s Frankie Bisacky who is very capable taking the victory.  In all, 12 boys entered have run under 17:00.  Vet Park is not Woodbridge, nor Stanford, nor even Craig Ranch.  Running the long hills and soft sand will be a test.

Runners to watch include GV’s Milton Amezcua, Lenny Rubi and Dartanyon Jones; AV’s Noah Ayala, Tim Meyers and Andrew Parker; Centennial’s Connor Mengar and Ethan Heintz; Clark’s Brendan Parker and Liam Jones; Valley’s Josh Nyberg; and Basic’s Steven Birch

Varsity Small School Boys

Running with the Large School boys will push Pahrump’s Bryce Odegard and White Pine’s Sam Stewart to fast times.  Both have experience on the course and each leads their respective Southern division heading into Region. (Pahrump 3A-White Pine 1-2A).  Pahrump looks to place 5 in the top 15 and come away with the team win.  SECTA and Cheyenne are ranked 2-3 in the latest DyeStatNV Southern Poll and look to hold those spots at Lake Mead.

Runners to watch include: Boulder City’s Tyler Campbell, Lake Mead Christian’s Shay Rutledge, The Meadow’s Tucker Hansen, Cheyenne’s Rylan Banegas, Mojave’s James Fincher and SECTA’s Bruce Troncoso and Ryan Myers.

Races start at 7:30am with the Middle School events.  Varsity Boys at 8:00am and Varsity Girls at 8:40am.  Varsity B Boys at 9:20am and Varsity B Girls at 10:00am