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Meet officials spike Warriors’ hearts

Matt O'Neill

HENDERSON, Nev. – Many baseball fans remember the George Brett pine tar incident.

Whittell High track and field fans will see this year’s Nevada 2A state meet in the same way.

On Friday, Warrior long jumpers Luke Forvilly, Chauncey Lane and Mike Ingenluyff were disqualified on a technicality.



All three jumpers wore excessively long spikes in their shoes. While the spikes themselves were indeed legal, the shoes the athletes were wearing had been worn down, making the spikes appear longer and illegal.

“It came down to a coaching mistake,” Warrior coach Brian Rippet said. “But every decision the committee made was against the athlete.”



Forvilly doesn’t see it as a coaching mistake. One official gave them an opportunity to change their spikes, but before they could make the switch, a second official told them they couldn’t.

“I have never been to a track meet where there have been more rude officials than this one,” Forvilly said. “I used to love track, but after coming here, I can take it or leave it.”

Forvilly took the lead with a 21-foot, 2-inch jump on his second try. After his second jump and his teammates’ first, the Warrior spikes were ruled illegal and they were disqualified.

“The long jump was the only event that I was confident in,” Forvilly said. “Honestly, I hadn’t tried that hard yet because of the tailwind.

“I was looking forward to setting the school record.”

If the scores would have counted, the Warriors would have finished second, ahead of The Meadows, but the 11 points lost was the difference. Whittell finished third overall.

However, Whittell’s other events tried to make up for the missing points.

Forvilly raced to a surprising first in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 15.99 seconds.

“If I hadn’t won that, I would’ve have been (ticked) for the rest of the meet,”

the senior said.

Forvilly also was second in the 100 in a very fast final heat, which saw the state mark fall. He was also third in the 200 with a mark of 22.98.

Whittell’s other state title was provided by the boys 4×800. The quartet of Jarret Guajardo, Brian Beebe, Ben Johnson and Case Lee raced to a finishing time of 8:59.

“The 4×800 was the best,” Johnson said. “We had a really good season. We were even one of the best 3A schools, behind only Rite of Passage.”

Lee wasn’t finished with the 4×800 relay, the sophomore finished second in the high jump (6-0), fourth in the 400 (55.59) and sixth as a member of the 4×400 relay with a time of 3:47.

“We had a competition in the high jump,” Lee said. “I had a heck of a meet overall.

“I would have liked to beat the school record in the 4×400. That was my last race at Whittell and I would have liked to break the school record.”

Lee’s family is returning to Las Vegas for the 2001-2002 school year.

Ben Johnson, Matt “Mr. Relay” Johnson and Guajardo were the other members of the relay.

Matt Johnson also was a member of the 4×100 relay with Joel Warnick, Mike Ingenluyff, and Lane. They finished sixth.

One of the surprises of the meet was Joe Ilk’s fourth-place finish in the shot put. His first toss of 41-2 was good enough for fourth.

“I told him to pop a big one with his first throw to scare them and he did,” Rippet said.

Kyle Bellotti finished sixth in the pole vault, clearing 9 feet.

Lane was also sixth in the triple jump (37-2) and Warnick was third in the high jump (6-0).

Ben Johnson was the other 400 runner and finished in seventh with a time of 57.95.

The girls also had some great times on both days en route to a seventh-place overall finish.

The 4×800 relay was the most outstanding of all the events.

The team of Janette Bak, Aly Van Deusen, Jackie Laurian and Hayley Shaw raced to a breath-taking time of 11:28, good enough for fifth place.

“They were 40 seconds better than their previous best,” Rippet said.

Shaw had personal records in every event she ran.

Her time in the 1,600 was 6:14, good enough for sixth, while she was fifth in the 3,200 with a time of 13:41.76, 34 seconds faster than her old standard.

“I was really excited about my PR in the 2 mile,” the freshman said. “It was kind of nerve-racking to be out there, but it’s encouraging to know I’ll be back.”

Laurian was right behind Shaw in he 3,200 with a time of 14:01.19, finishing sixth.

“I was just drafting the girl in front of me, until I saw an opening and made my move and sprinted to the end,” Laurian said.

Bak and Lane were sixth and seventh in the 400, respectively, while Stacy Graham finished eighth in the 100 with a 15.93 into a strong head wind.

Shelly Zaskoda was eighth in the 300 hurdles and was a member of the 4×100 relay. She was joined by Graham, Nicole Jurzinski and Courtney Greenwood in their eighth-place finish (59.94).

The other relay was the 4×400, which finished sixth in 14:01.19. The quartet of Bak, Van Deusen, Abby Lane and Denisse Gonzalez set a new personal best by 1:06.


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