CARSON CITY — After finishing third in the Northern 3A Regional Championships, there were not that many people giving the Lowry High School girls track and field team a chance to win the state title.
Entering the NIAA State Championships this past weekend in Carson City, the Lady Bucks had a quiet confidence that they could possibly pull off an upset.
The confidence turned into reality Saturday afternoon for the Lowry girls.
After a third-place finish by Becca Kuskie in the 3,200 meters, the 4x400 relay of Adia Bengochea, Hailey Fernandez, Hailey Hinkle and Shelby Garrison cruised to the win with a season-best time of 4 minutes, 3.64 seconds.
Lowry finished with 72 points, Truckee, the two-time defending state champion, was second at 63, Sunrise Mountain (58), Spring Creek (55) and Moapa Valley (48) rounded out the top five.
“We knew we would be competitive and have a good shot,” said LHS coach Grant Beatty. “We didn’t want to overthink and took it one day at a time in practice. We didn’t want to put any added pressure on them. The girls preformed well.”
Garrison and Hinkle also provided one of the best finishes of the weekend in the 400 meters on Friday night. The two teammates were among the best in the event all year and did not disappoint in the finale.
The two were neck-and-neck throughout the race and Garrison narrowly knocked off Hinkle in a photo finish. Garrison finished with a time of 60.684 seconds, while Hinkle stooped the clock at 60.689. After the race, both were asking each other if they had won.
It wasn’t all bad for Hinkle, as the senior ran a personal-best of 45.35 in the 300-meter hurdles to win the state championship over Truckee’s Olivia Koster. Koster had a time of 45.59.
Garrison, also a senior, added a fifth-place finish in the high jump, as she cleared the bar at 4 feet, 10 inches in windy conditions on Friday night. Spring Creek’s Kylee Dimick won the event at 5-2. Del Sol’ s Charleyanse Howard and Elko’s Sariah Pulley each cleared 5-1 but Howard was second on fewer missed jumps.
Rachel Garrison finished second in the discus on Friday afternoon. The junior had a throw of 124-6. However, Sunrise Mountain’s Kapua Pulotu set a new state record with a toss of 138 feet.
Garrison added a fifth-place finish in the shot put with a throw of 34-6.75. Pulotu also won the event with a toss of 40-8. Mojave’s Destini Bolden (36-11.50), Jasmine Kaufman (36-4) and Marshee Aikens-Butler (35-11.5) were third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
“We had a strong group of seniors this year,” Beatty said. “They were a big part of this and going to be missed.”
Kuskie was third in the 3,200 meters on Saturday afternoon with a time of 11 minutes, 49.91 seconds. The junior passed Desert Pines’ Jasmin Felix with about two laps to go. South Tahoe’s Carissa Buchholz won the race at 11:24.25 and Spring Creek’s Rylie Lusk (11:28.89) was third. All four of those girls also ran in the cross country state championships this past fall.
After a rough start in the 1,600 meters on Friday night, Kuskie rebounded to finish fourth at 5:22.87. Buchholz won the race with a time of 5:14.25 and Lusk was second at 5:17.90. Felix was third and beat Kuskie by just .43 seconds.
Heather Hall set a personal beat in the shot put with a throw of 33 feet and she is just a junior. The 4x200 relay of Shelby Garrison, Fernandez, Julianna Gonzalez and Bengochea were fourth in a time of 1:49.59.
“Every one of the girls contributed in some way and we needed that,” Beatty said. “You could start to see it come together last year. I could not have done with my assistant coaches. From top to bottom they are great, I look at them all as head coaches. To win the first ever state championship is pretty special.”
