Small track teams show great promise, qualify for regionals

The girls and boys Boulder City High School track programs got off to a great start this past weekend at the Meadows Invitational Large-School meet, where Division I and Division I-A programs squared off against each other.

Despite low participation numbers this season for both programs, the Eagles qualified multiple athletes for regionals over the weekend, a testament to the hard work that has been put into the preseason.

“Participation is down this year,” said head coach Joshua Fisher. “We’re not used to having these numbers, but for the kids that we do have, they’re nothing but hard workers. Everyone out here has put forth a great effort throughout the preseason and it showed during our first race. To already have a handful of kids qualify for regionals on the first day is a great feeling.”

Leading the boys was last year’s defending Division I-A discus state champion, senior Sam Gomez, who not only set a new personal best in the discus competition, but broke his previous personal best in the shot put event by over 3 feet. Gomez placed first in both events, beating out Desert Oasis’s Nick Benham in both events.

“Sam is just a wonderful athlete,” Fisher said. “He’s out there every day throwing at least a 100 times. For a freshman or sophomore to break their personal best by a few feet isn’t really a big deal, but when you’re a senior and you’ve been the top dog for a while now, it means a whole lot. Sam’s determined every day to get better. He’s most certainly writing his own ticket right now to wherever he wants to go to college.”

A scholar student as well, Gomez is no stranger to recruiting, currently being pursued by a handful of Ivy League schools, headlined by Cornell where he was recently accepted academically.

“Obviously education plays the biggest factor in to where I want to go,” Gomez said. “I’m just hoping my athletic talents can take me there next year.”

Also qualifying for regionals was sophomore Alex Krausman, who placed eighth in the 800-meter with a time of 2:13.55, while sophomore Buddy Boggs qualified in the 3200-meter after taking 17th place at the event with a time of 12:05.69.

Krausman was first among Division I-A runners in his event, while Boggs was sixth.

Junior Sebastian Balmer qualified in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 47.19, good enough for 13th place overall, while he fell just short of qualifying in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 19.93, in which he placed 10th overall.

For the girls, sophomore Sierra Selinger placed fifth in the 1600-meter with a time of 5:45.14, while she placed fourth in the 3200-meters with a time of 12:41.07, placing as the highest Division I-A competitor in both her regional qualifying efforts.n the hurdles, senior Lauren Mullins placed 10th, third among league runners with a time of 18.88 in the 100-meter hurdles, while placing 15th in the 300-meter hurdles. She qualified in both events.

In the discus, sophomore Nicole Valle finished as the highest ranked Division I-A thrower with a seventh-place finish, qualifying for regionals as well, while junior Jordyn Trobiani placed ninth in the high jump and eighth in the triple jump to qualify in both events.

Senior Paige Buettner qualified in the long jump after a ninth-place finish, while junior Ida Thomsen just made the regional cut with an 11th-place finish in the high jump. Senior pole vaulter Bayden Huxford also just made the regional cut.