Few will forget the windy day in March 2020 when the NIAA suspended school sports.
The softball, baseball and track teams each competed in final skirmishes over the fateful weekend.
Right on track
The track team traveled to the Yerington Relays to battle teams from over a dozen schools. Dave McLean, Lance Condie and Ben Halverson co-coached.
The athletes also battled against themselves, striving to set personal records (PRs). The wind blew dust in their eyes and upset the path of the shot put and discus.
But that didn’t phase Dalton McNeff, now a senior.
“The Yerington meet was a ton of fun for me despite the early start and cold weather,” he says. “I felt confident and excited. A week later, I saw a tweet from the NIAA that sports would be postponed for a few weeks. It was kind of deflating. I felt terrible for our seniors but optimistic about the return of sports soon. It took longer than I thought it would, which is tough.”
McNeff competed in the high jump, long jump and two relay races.
“I hit the top five in the high jump and we did well in our relays,” he said.
Presley Burrows brought home first-place medals in the 400-meter dash and triple jump. She tied for runner-up in the high jump with a leap of five feet and placed third in the 200-meter dash.
In 2019, as a freshman at the state tournament, Burrows brought home the gold in the 400-meter dash. She’ll have to wait until her senior year to try for a repeat. There will be no state championships in 2021.
JC Astle, a senior, leaped over hurdles, finishing second in the 300s and fifth in the 110s. In a couple of months, he graduated in a virtual ceremony along with Alyssa Montes and Jennifer Chandler.
Softball soars
and scores
Jordan McKinney launched her second year as head coach. Drew Wanner and Tony Nelson assisted.
At their season-opener against Lowry, the coaches saw promise in the Lady Mustangs. Coach McKinney described the scrimmage as a “tough test.”
“But our girls bounced back beautifully. They showed so much potential for the season,” she said. On Mar. 6 and 7, the Mustangs hosted a preseason tournament and went 4-0 over the two days.
The following weekend, Pershing hosted Ely’s White Pine Ladycats.
The tables turned against the girls in red and black.
“On Friday, the girls played tough defense and didn’t have many errors, but we couldn’t find our bats all weekend,” said McKinney. It showed on the scoreboard. Saturday, the wind picked up.
“It would blow a ball that we hit to center into right field,” she said. “The wind was that strong. It made the balls super-hard to catch.” It also blew some terrible news onto the field, the suspension of spring sports after just two weeks.
Daralyn Moura, Makenna Houston and Cassidy Burke played the last softball game of their high school years.
Baseball battles until buzzer
On the baseball field, the wind whipped up to 20 m.p.h., chasing the spectators under blankets. The White Pine Bobcats slammed the Pershing, but according to Coaches Will Barter, Jared Jensen and Jesse Canchola, the scoreboard told only part of the story.
“The Mustangs showed flashes of what the future could hold,” said assistant coach Canchola, noting that in the second game of the tripleheader, the boys were down 18-1 but fought back to 20-10 by the buzzer.
“Our fielding was better on Friday. Saturday, our batting and pitching improved, but our fielding was worse.
Consistency in all three phases of the game is key.” The comeback kids will have to wait until April 2021 for the chance to redeem themselves.
Sam Gonzalez, Sebastien Donaldson and Saul Valtierra graduated in June.
What’s next?
In 2021, Dalton McNeff plans to play basketball and run track. He’s thinking about football depending on how his classes go.
For now, he and the other ball players are participating in open gym workouts.
The football team runs a secondary lift to cover for the lack of a weight room over the summer. All the sports teams are eagerly preparing for 2021.
