Pahrump Valley senior runner Bryce Odegard finished in third place (17 minutes, 38 seconds) in his last cross country run of his career with the Trojans to help lead the boys cross-country team to a fourth-place finish at the Nevada State Class 3A cross-country finals.
The meet took place at Shadow Mountain Park in Sparks on Saturday and the boys competed against seven teams and so did the girls. There were 59 runners in the boys race and 56 for the girls on the 5,000-meter course.
William Fallini-Haas of Spring Creek was first (16:39) and Montana Montgomery of Tahoe-Truckee was second (17:21).
The first-place team was Spring Creek (43), second was Elko (48) and third was Southeast Career Technical Academy (103).
For the Trojans, after Odegard, senior Cole Goodman finished 25th (19:00), senior Layron Sonerholm finished 34th (19:14), sophomore Michael Sonerholm finished 36th (19:18), sophomore Grant Odegard finished 40th (19:27), junior Jacob Cipollini finished 42nd (19:38) and sophomore Brandon Ruud finished 44th (19:42).
Trojans coach Matt Kolodzieczyk felt the boys ran well.
“We ran well and three other teams ran better,” he said. “Weather and altitude are always a concern when running up north. We can train in the mountains for a day, but the Northern teams live in it everyday. It was disappointing but I am still proud of what the team accomplished this year. We repeated as league champions and won our first regional championship.”
The girls team finished in sixth place (153) and was led by sophomore runner Diamond Sonerholm (21:59) who finished in 17th place.
The next Pahrump girl was senior Grace Plumb, who finished 37th place (23:45), junior Katherine Goodman finished in 41st (41:00), sophomore Terrena Martin finished in 46th (25:02), senior Cynthia Martin finished in 48th (25:46), sophomore Nsringa Breathwaite finished 50th (26:25) and freshman Shailynn Winter finished in 55th (28:33).
Kolodzieczyk was also proud of the girls and the way they finished the year.
“The girls also did well,” he said. “It was their first experience at state as a team. So we were happy to be there. Now they know what the competition is like at state and we can prepare better next year. I can tell them what it is like, but a race like that is something that they have to experience for themselves.
“We had a great season nonetheless, and I am genuinely pleased with their performance this year.”
Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com