YOUR AD HERE »

STHS zone contingent small but potent

Matt O'Neill

A trio of school records a week ago could mean great things for the South Tahoe track and field team this weekend at the Northern Nevada 4A zone track meet at Reno High School.

Senior sprinter Jake Hurwitz set new standards for both the 100-meter dash and 200 meters and Cindy Davis jumped right past the old school mark in the triple jump.

Both athletes lead a small, but talented group to the zone meet Saturday.



Davis’ leap of 32 feet, 8 1/2 inches bettered the old record by an inch and a half, while Hurwitz’s 10.55 in the 100 was .25 better than the 10.8 , which stood since 1991; and his time of 22.21 in the 200 broke the old record of 22.4.

A strong group of girls will make the trip to Reno with Davis. Joining the freshman will be sophomores Jackie Marshall, Karen Dalmacio; juniors Lindsey Hitt, Amy Carter and Danielle Kelleher; along with freshman Amber Ramos.



Marshall has been a scoring machine this season for the Vikings and qualified for the zone meet in two events – the long jump and 4×400 relay – and just missed out on another, finishing fifth in the 200.

As the anchor leg of the relay team, Marshall single-handedly thrust her team back into the zone meet after the handoff was dropped heading into the final leg in the division meet Saturday afternoon.

Marshall picked up the baton and sprinted to a fourth-place finish.

“This is the same team that went on to break the school record last year,” Marshall said. “It’s going to be tough to break it again, but we should do well this weekend.”

Marshall said her bigger concern is the long jump, where she would like to see her hangtime improve.

“It’s just of matter of staying in the air longer,” she said. “I’ve been doing more bounding and pop-ups to get that air time.”

Joining Marshall on the record-setting team are Kelleher, Hitt and Dalmacio. While Hitt is only running in the relay, Kelleher and Dalmacio will also compete in individual events as well.

Dalmacio will race in the 200 and Kelleher will join Carter in the 100 high hurdles.

Davis will try to set another school record in the triple jump and Ramos has the best chance of winning state in the two mile.

“It’s amazing how well Amber has been doing,” Viking coach Rick Brown said. “She’s only run in two meets and probably has the best chance to win state.”

For the boys, Hurwitz is the iron man, competing in three events: the 100, 200 and the 4×200 relay. Wayne Lucero is the only other Viking competing in an individual event.

Although Hurwitz eclipsed two school marks, he is looking to improve on his block starts heading into the zone meet.

“I feel pretty confident about my times, but my starts are still pretty slow,” the senior said. “But Reno is a pretty quick track so I’m excited to run there.”

Hurwitz and the relay team would have been running in the 4×100 as well, if not for a dropped baton. All week during practice, the 4×200 team of Sean Kezer, Jerry Seeley, Galen Breisacher and Hurwitz have been improving their exchanges.

“There’s still room for improvement on their handoffs,” Brown said. “The 4×200 exchange is a little different because it’s not done at full speed.

“There’s less of a chance of the baton being dropped.”

Lucero is currently sitting in third place on paper, but Brown knows that events aren’t won on paper.

“He has a tendency to foul a couple of times each meet,” the coach said. “As he gets warmed up, his steps start to change, but he’s only missed by a few inches each time.

“The warm weather we’ve been having should keep that to a minimum.”


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around the Lake Tahoe Basin and beyond make the Tahoe Tribune's work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Your donation will help us continue to cover COVID-19 and our other vital local news.