Lowry High School's Hayden Jeppsen participated in the NIAA Division I-A State Championships this past Saturday at Sunset Park in Las Vegas.
Jeppsen, a senior, finished 36th with a time of 18 minutes, 30 seconds on the 3.1-mile course. Jeppsen, in his first year of cross country, was the lone Buckaroo in the championships.
"Hayden had a great race," said LHS coach Kathy Norcutt. "He set a personal goal of running an 18:30. That is the fastest time of anyone on the team and a personal best for him. He was very focused and into racing on Saturday and I'm glad to say that he hit his time exactly. It was exciting to see one of our athletes make it to state and to have such a positive end to the season. He ran exactly what I thought he would run. I told him at the Bob Firman race that I thought he could hit 18:30."
Spring Creek won its first boys state championship in cross country with 50 points, with Clark finishing second at 70. Elko, the two-time defending state champion, was third with 83 points. Faith Lutheran (86) and South Tahoe (106) were fourth and fifth, respectively.
Faith Lutheran's Chase Wood won the individual championship with a time of 16:37. Elko's Kyler Simpkins was second at 16:43. Truckee's Noah Oberitter was third in a time of 16:47 and Pahrump Valley's Bryce Odegard (16:56) and Desert Pines' Abdirahman (16:57) were fourth and fifth, respectively.
McQueen collected its first state tile in Division I with 27 points and southern schools Green Valley, Palo Verde and Centennial were second, third and fourth.
North Tahoe won a state record 18th state title with 31 points in Division III/IV. Silver Stage was second at 59 and Incline was third with 83 points.
On the girls side, Truckee won the state championship in Division I-A for a second consecutive year with 21 points. Spring Creek was second with 34 points and Elko was third at 85. Boulder City (116) and Faith Lutheran (120) rounded out the top five.
Truckee seniors Skyler Flora (18:44) and Gabrielle Rinne (19:18) swept the first two individual spots. Spring Creek's Julia Mahlke was third at 19;41 and South Tahoe's Ally Sullivan (20:05) and Truckee's Carrie Bradley (20:06) were fourth and fifth, respectively.
Centennial won the Division I state championship with 45 points, while Palo Verde was second with 62 points. Douglas (83) was third and Galena (89) and Reno (102) rounded out the top five.
North Tahoe won the Division III/IV state title with 46 points, its eighth overall and first since 2006. The Meadows was second at 48 and Incline placed third with 55 points.
"We saw a huge amount of improvement this season and I attribute it to our athletes working out in the summer and our harder workouts in practice," Norcutt said. "Our goal is to continue to build our program and hopefully get more athletes/teams to state. We also are focusing on personal improvement in all of our races."[[In-content Ad]]
