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ZEPHYR COVE, Nev. — The Whittell girls’ track and field team nearly pulled off an upset for the title, but ultimately fell just 3.5 points short of Sierra Lutheran (120 – 116.5) at the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association 1A Regional Championships.
Whittell opened the meet with a fourth place in the 4×800-meter relay. The team of Myelayla Martinez, Chloe Troska, Faith Alvarez and Tierra MacKay brought the baton around in 13 minutes, 27.23 seconds and qualified for the state meet May 19-20 at Liberty High School in Henderson.
Three other relays also qualified for the state championship. In the 4×100, Grace Campbell, Ella Schweitzer, Ella Moretti, and Avignon “Avi” Rippet ran brilliantly in a decisive win over Sierra Lutheran (54.35 to 57.06).
Not to be outdone, the 4×200 relay of Martinez, Campbell, MacKay and Moretti also won gold over Sierra Lutheran (1:59.62 to 2:02.45). The 4×400 relay team of Mackay, Alvarez, Schweitzer and Campbell capped off the meet with a state meet qualifying second place in 5:00.34
Individually for the Warriors, Rippet was the high scorer with 32.5 points, winning three individual golds in addition to anchoring the 4×100 relay. Rippet jumped a personal best 16 feet, 5 inches to win the long jump and followed up with a victory in the 100-meter in a school record time of 12.88. Rippet also was took gold in the 200 in 26.91.
Whittell scored big points in the long jump with Caroling Schilling 4-0 (seventh), Ella Moretti 4-04 (fourth) and Ella Schweitzer 4-11 (second).
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The distance races proved fruitful for the Warriors, with Whittell scoring 33 points in the 800, 1,600, and 3,200. Martinez qualified for state in the 800 with a fourth place finish in 2:46.79, and MacKay nabbed sixth in 2:53.41.
The mile had four WHS scorers, Martinez (third), 6:54.92, Mackay (fourth) 6:55.99, Troska (sixth) 8:02.91 and Alvarez seventh 8:05.25. Martinez and Mackay qualified to state. In the 3,200 all three Warrior entries scored, Alvarez 17:56.94 (fifth), Troska (sixth) 18:08.35, and Schilling (seventh) in 19:30.29. Alvarez earned a wildcard to state.
Leading the way for the Whittell Boys was freshman Logan Robertson. Robertson, who was first team All-State in cross country this fall, swept all three distance races. On Friday, Robertson cruised to victory in the 1600 with a time of 4:59. Robertson opened the meet Saturday with a win in the 3200. Robertson held back the first mile drafting off the leaders, then made a move with three laps remaining to win handily in 11:07.96. His third victory on the track was in the 800, with a PR of 2:11.65. Between track races, Robinson also placed fourth in the high jump on Saturday and qualified to the State Meet in all four events. His total of 34.5 points earned Whittell an eighth place finish overall as a team.
The Warriors have a total of 14 individual entries and four relays headed south to the state meet as the girls team looks for a top three finish and the boys a top 10 finish.