On Tuesday, the McDermitt High School track and field squad went to the Ranchers Invitational in Crane, Ore., and emerged with some nice hardware.
Ben Draunidalo ran the 100 meters in 12.12 seconds for the win, In addition, he came out on top in the 200 meters (24.38) as well.
Draunidalo teamed up with Jagger Hinkey, Robert Pope, and Alex Navarro for a second place finish (48.94) in the 4x100 meter relay.
“Ben did well again,” said MHS track and field coach Richard Egan. “He keeps stepping it up and he had some good competition, so he had to work a little bit. It was a good measuring stick for him going into regionals and he held up.”
Hinkey got his gold medal in the shot put with a toss of 40 feet, 1 inch. He finished just off the stage with fourth-place finishes in the javelin (127-1) and triple jump (36-9.25).
“Jagger did the javelin for the first time," Egan said. "He was very excited about that. That fourth-place finish was his highlight of the meet, even though he finished first in the shot put and second with the 4x100 team.”
Pope had personal records in the 200 meters (27.71) and triple jump (32-10.5), and Navarro got a silver in the 800 meters.
Enrique Villalobos took fifth in the shot put with a personal best toss of 30-1 and sixth (81-9.5) in the discus.
“Robert did quite well with two PR’s. I think he even kind of surprised himself,” Egan said. “The kids know where we are sitting going into regionals, and we still have one more meet. These kids have worked hard all season and our spirits are pretty high right now.”
The Bulldogs make the short trip to Winnemucca today (Saturday) for the Lowry Invitational, which begins at 9 a.m.
The postseason starts next week, as McDermitt travels to Churchill County High School in Fallon for the Northern 1A/2A/3A Regional Championships.
The top four finishers in each event advance to the state championships.
The NIAA State Championships will be held May 17-18 at Desert Oasis High School in Las Vegas.
