The Trojans boys track team came close to winning the Class 3A Nevada Track and Field Championships at Foothill High School on May 19-20.
The boys finished in third out of 19 schools, with 59 points. Sunrise Mountain won state (70) and Mojave was in second (64).
“It was close,” Trojans assistant track coach Craig Rieger said. “It’s hard to beat a team that scores 40 points and takes first in four events, the 800, 1,600, 3,200 and the 4×800 relay. We were close in those events because of Bryce (Odegard). He took second in two of those events, the 800 and the 1,600. But no one was even near to Musio Jimenez (who took first place in those events).”
The boys lost the state title only by 11 points. It was close due to the efforts of Bryce Odegard, who had medal performances in three events.
Rieger said it would only take a first place in another event to give the Trojans 10 points. That could have come from the jumpers or the throwers. The jumpers gave the Trojans 22 points to take the regionals.
“Jeremy (Albertson) got second, but I think at state, we didn’t throw our best,” Rieger said.
Pahrump Valley track had nine boys at the state meet: Junior Bryce Odegard, senior Dylan Montgomery, junior Layron Sonerholm, junior Morgan White, junior Jeremy Albertson, freshman Michael Sonerholm, junior Jacob Sawin, sophomore Ethan Whittle and senior Nik Clark.
The following boys took home medals: Odegard took second in the 800-meter run (1 minute, 58.49 seconds), second in the 1,600 (4:36.90) and fourth in the 3,200 (10:00.47). Montgomery took fourth in the 110 hurdles (15.23 seconds) and Albertson took second in the discus (146-feet, 6-inches).
Odegard had his hands full with senior Jimenez of Sunrise Mountain High School, who was Odegard’s competition in all three of Odegard’s events.
Odegard had a personal best in the 3,200 event, which he felt was his best performance of the meet.
“Even though I got a fourth-place medal in this event, I really felt this was my best event of the meet because I got a personal best,” Odegard said.
During the 3,200, Jimenez gained a small lead, and it just kept growing. Odegard started in third place and fell back to fourth, where he finished. Jimenez had about a 100-meter lead by the end of the race and broke a 27-year-old state record, finishing with a 9:35.32 time.
In the 800, Jimenez came in with a 1:57.56 and Odegard a 2:03.20. Jimenez was the definite favorite in that race and showed it coming out with a strong early lead that he never relinquished. He had a four-or-five-length lead going into the last turn and that’s when Jimenez saved some effort and turned it on, which was too much for Odegard. Odegard did finish with a season record in that event.
In the 1,600, Odegard had the second best time of 4:38.06 going into the meet and Jimenez had the best time of 4:22.83. Right from the start, Jimenez got off to a huge lead. Odegard was in second after the first lap and then fell back to fourth after the second lap. Jimenez increased his lead on the third lap to a 200-meter lead.
“Going in, I wanted to compete,” Odegard said. “I fell back a ways and I decided it was impossible to catch up with him and it became a race for second place.”
Odegard took over second place after the third lap and was able to hold that position in the fourth lap.
Odegard had nothing but praise for Jimenez who won with a 4:23.21.
“He made great improvements in the offseason,” Odegard said. “I worked as hard as I could in the offseason, and he just had more talent.”
Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com