Pincock leads Senators in regional semifinal competition

RENO -- Carson High School's George Pincock has tried to pace himself and peak at the right time during his senior track and field season. The plan seems to have worked because Pincock won each of the seven races he ran during the prelims of the Northern 4A Championships this weekend, including a pair of record performances during the semifinals on Saturday at Reno High School.

Pincock broke Carson's school record in the 100 meters for the second time in as many days when he ran 10.92 seconds, then came back later in the day to set a Stadium 2000 record in the 200 with a 22.02 clocking. In between, Pincock ran 50.49 in the 400 and anchored a 4x400 relay team that finished first in a season-best time of 3:31.94.

The regional finals will be held next Saturday at Reno High, from which the top five in each event will qualify for the NIAA/U.S. Bank State Championships on May 15-17 in Las Vegas.

"We had a good two days," Carson coach Todd Ackerman said. "I'm pleased with the way the kids competed. We're taking a lot of people back for the finals next week, hopefully we can build on this and get some of them to state."

Pincock qualified with the fastest times in both the 100 and 200, while his 400 time ranked No. 2. His 100 time broke the school record of 10.99 he set in the trials on Friday afternoon. Later, Pincock entered 200 with a goal to approach the school record of 21.79 he set last year.

"Coach wanted me to just cruise and shut it down after about 150, 160. But I got there and I felt good so I just maintained and kept going," said Pincock, who eclipsed the stadium record of 22.12 set by Gabe Hatchett of Douglas in 2001. "I don't know if I would call it a kick. I've got a little reserve tank, that's how I like to think of it."

His goal at the beginning of the season was to have fuel in the tank for the regional and state meets.

"I think I'm starting to peak right now, and that's the way I wanted it," Pincock said. "Last year, I started out faster, but I kind of leveled off at the end of the season. Now, my times are getting progressively faster and I'm excited to see how much faster I can go."

Pincock also combined with John Stewart, Tyler Smith and Matt Moore to win their 4x400 heat. Moore, who barely missed qualifying in the 110-meter high hurdles earlier, ran a strong third leg to put Carson in the lead and then Pincock held on the rest of the way in a duel against Alan Thomas of Hug. Earlier in the day, Thomas qualified No. 1 in the 400 in a stadium record time of 49.73).

Among Carson's other highlights, Shaylyn Tom posted the No. 2 mark in the girls discus with a personal record distance of 126 feet, 6 inches. Her throw beat the previous stadium record and trailed only the 133-10 by Reed's Jennifer Onyeabako.

"This last one, my mom told me to just have fun, so I did," said Tom, who improved her personal record by four feet on her final attempt. "It felt really good. I thought, 'Oh good, my release was great.' And it just kept going."

Tom also qualified for the shot put finals on Friday with a lifetime best throw of 35-11-1/2.

It was a good day in the sprints for the Senators, who had each of their six relay teams advance to the finals.

Jack Brooks, Sam Pincock, Josh Heilman and Frank Bleuss posted the fifth best time in the boys 4x100 with a season-best 44.37. The girls 4x100 team of Kathryn Rogers, Sandra McAlman, Katie Kotter and Cassia Bowman qualified fifth in a season best 52.52. The 4x200 team of Sinead McSweeney, Amanda Benson, Bowman and Kotter ran 1:49.94 to qualify sixth.

Terah Laack qualified third in the girls 400 (1:02.25), followed by McSweeney in fourth (1:02.74) and Benson sixth (1:02.20). Rogers advanced in both the 100-meter hurdles (16.98) and 300 lows (49.80).

Shanna Sparks qualified third in the 3,200 (11:46) and fourth in the 1,600 (5:23.85).

Carson had four other athletes advance in the field events: Ashley Terry and Nicole Scott cleared 4-8 in the girls high jump; Eric Hasty 11-6 in the boys pole vault and Rob Ghiglieri threw 45-9 in the boys shot put.

Four Douglas athletes qualified for the finals in their events: Evan Bill in the boys 200 (23.29), Taryn Joyce-Mendive in the girls 800 (2:28.42) and Monica Buccambuso in the 300 low hurdles (49.45) and Jeremy Scherer in the boys 400 (51.74).

Galena's boys took steps toward defending their regional team championships with some strong performances. Barrett Young set a stadium record in the 110 high hurdles with a 14.92 clocking and later recovered from a fall on his last hurdle and got back up to qualify fourth. Young placed second in both events at last year's state meet.

Stephen Pottey cruised to first-place in his heat of the 1,600 (4:32.35) to advance. Pottey set a school record of 4:16.04 in the 1,600 earlier this year at the Arcadia Invitational in Southern California.