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The county's fastest - Sandall, Rampton win Spring Creek cross country meet

By RYAN HOPE - Free Press Sports Writer
Thursday, October 2, 2008 11:47 AM PDT

Elko's Eric Sandall, left, and Spring Creek's Kristen Rampton won the respective boys and girls races at Wednesday's Spring Creek Cross Country Invitational. (Ryan Hope/Elko Daily Free Press)

SPRING CREEK - Not often do all the high schools in Elko County convene for a sporting event. The schools, which range from 4A Elko to a handful of 1A schools, usually don't compete together because of the discrepancy in competition.

But Wednesday, they did.

Every cross country program in Elko County was represented at Spring Creek High for the Spartans' 2008 home meet. The turnout - 83 boys and 56 girls - may have been the largest in the history of the event and the level of competition was top notch.

Elko won both the boys and girls team competitions and the Tribe's Eric Sandall was the boys individual champion. Spring Creek's Kristen Rampton won the girls race on the roughly three-mile hilly course behind the high school.

“We like hills and that's one of the benefits of being where we're at,” said Elko coach Cody Krenka. “We always complain about sports facilities when it comes to athletics. But in northeast Nevada, we definitely have the best sports facilities for cross country.”

Elko's depth proved to be the difference in the team contests. The Tribe's girls finished with a score of 31, well ahead of second-place Spring Creek (60) and third-place Lowry (60). The Lady Spartans were awarded second based on a sixth-runner tiebreaker.

The Elko boys scored a 36, ahead of Lowry (58), Spring Creek (107) and Dayton (117). Carlin (128), Independence (148), West Wendover (228) and Wells (271) also garnered team scores in the boys race.

“Cross country is a lot like playing poker,” Krenka said. “You have to have five good cards, and today we did.”

Sandall, a top 4A runner in the state, had little trouble along the way to his victory in 18 minutes, 25 seconds. The junior said he felt pressure the first half of the race but pulled away in the latter stages.

The toughest climb of the course - a run up to the letters “SC” on the hill overlooking Spring Creek High - provided Sandall an opportunity to gauge his followers. Just before the hill peaks the course takes a U-turn and allows competitors to run downhill alongside others running up.

“It was a pretty hard course,” Sandall said. “The downhills are really steep. It was pretty fun. My feet were pretty sore. Your feet would hit really hard (on the downhills) and with my light shoes, my feet were really sore.”

The second-place runner was Elko's Alex Martinez (19:03) and Spring Creek's Ben Stephens finished third in 19:19. Carlin's Matt Ahearn turned in an impressive 19:35 to lead the contingent of runners from 1A schools.

Rampton also finished with a comfortable cushion as she crossed the finish line in 23:53. Lowry's Erin Tattersall was second (24:35) and her teammate Jenae Neu was third (25:13). Elko's top runner - Jessica Smith - was fourth in 25:23.

“I was quite nervous actually,” Rampton said. “There was a lot of people I know here. I think it's the most difficult course so far. It was important to me. It hasn't really sunk in, but it's neat to win.”

After Wednesday's unofficial county championship, the schools go their different ways and pursue their respective goals. Several will compete Friday in Carlin, but for one day they were all together.

“I was astounded (with the turnout),” said Spring Creek coach Paul Allen. “It was a big day. It was three times what we had last year. It was good.

“I think it's getting clear that we've got a good shot to make state championships with both teams. It's not going to be easy. The Dayton boys are pretty good. It will be fun. We should qualify both.”

Results

Boys team scores - 1. Elko 36; 2. Lowry 58; 3. Spring Creek 107; 4. Dayton 117; 5. Carlin 128; 6. Independence 148; 7. Yerington 179; 8. West Wendover 228; 9. Wells 271.

Girls team scores - 1. Elko 31; 2. Spring Creek 60; 3. Lowry 60; 4. Dayton 90.

Boys - 1. Eric Sandall (Elko) 18:25; 2. Alex Martinez (Elko) 19:03; 3. Ben Stephens (SC) 19:19; 5. Matt Ahearn (Carlin) 19:35; 7. Roberto Avila (Elko) 20:04; 10. Mike Alexander (Carlin) 20:22; 11. Jake Frandsen (Elko) 20:42; 12. Daniel Godinez (Independence) 20:56; 15. Chase Larsen (Elko) 21:10; 16. Stephen Hughey (Elko) 21:27; 17. Matt Lancaster (SC) 21:37; 19. Chris Dickson (Independence) 21:44; 20. Ibarra (Independence) 22:00; 22. Ricardo Sandoval (W. Wendover) 22:12; 24. Trent Whitney (SC) 22:19; 28. Isaac Wilson (Elko) 22:53; 31. David Stephens (SC) 23:05; 32. Andy Fisk (SC) 23:10; 33. Nathan Billin (SC) 23:23; 34. Trevor Hughes (Carlin) 23:31; 35. Mitch Shanks (SC) 23:33; 36. Cameron Kinney (Carlin) 23:48; 37. Derrek Dominguez (Elko) 23:54; 41. Ben Pearson (Elko) 24:20; 42. Lazaro Luna (W. Wendover) 24:37; 43. David Evertsen (Elko) 24:39; 44. Joshua Coca (24:41); 45. Bradin Cupples (SC) 24:41; 46. Arnie Cortez (Elko) 24:43; 47. John Plocher (SC) 24:53; 49. Julian Venzor (Independence) 25:01; 52. Tom Griswold (Carlin) 25:19; 53. Chris Rakestraw (Carlin) 25:21; 56. Rhett Hupka (Elko) 25:44; 57. Jeff Winegar (Carlin) 25:50; 58. Josh Virgin (Elko) 25:55; 61. Ryan Gelber (Elko) 26:05; 62. David Ramirez (W. Wendover) 26:05; 63. Jake Devore (Wells) 26:18; 64. Enrique Romero (Wells) 26:24; 65. Zach Mann (Independence) 26:26; 66. Nick Schubert (SC) 26:46; 67. Cody McCarey (Elko) 26:54; 68. Daniel Corona (W. Wendover) 27:25; 71. Efren Cortez (Elko) 28:16; 72. Kelly McCalister (Independence) 28:35; 75. Sean Wallock (Elko) 29:34; 76. Colton Smith (W. Wendover) 31:17; 77. Cory Schrecengost (SC) 32:48; 78. Erik Escobedo (W. Wendover) 33:28; 79. Cody Beck (Elko) 33:31; 80. Travis Gilliland (Carlin) 34:10; 81. Tyler King (Wells) 34:12; 82. Devin Gardner (Wells) 35:54; 83. Trace Winegar (Carlin) 36:21.

Girls - 1. Kristen Rampton (SC) 23:53; 4. Jessica Smith (Elko) 25:23; 5. Breanna Hall (Elko) 25:29; 6. Kirsten Perry (Elko) 25:42; 7. Amy Steflik (Elko) 25:43; 8. Aly Reynolds (Wells) 25:43; 10. Haley Tryon (Elko) 26:22; 11. Justine Archuleta (Elko) 26:24; 12. LeAnna Dann (Owyhee) 26:35; 13. Amy Johnson (Elko) 26:35; 14. Elise Thatcher (Owyhee) 26:41; 15. Hope Esplain (Elko) 26: 59; 17. Alyssa Stetler (Elko) 27:14; 18. Savanna Tryon (Elko) 27:43; 19. Alyssa Woo (SC) 28:14; 20. Noelle Laffoon (SC) 28:20; 21. Ciara Whimple (SC) 28:25; 23. Lorena Gonzalez (Elko) 28:34; 24. Amber Nielson (Elko) 28:46; 25. Janique Woods (Owyhee) 28:55; 26. Brittney Gneiting (SC) 28:56; 27. Becca Zohar (Elko) 28:58; 29. Katrina Woo (SC) 29:34; 30. Nicole Schubert (SC) 27:37; 31. Sarah Elwood (Elko) 30:36; 32. Amber Rodriguez (W. Wendover) 30:07; 33. Lorena Navarro (Elko) 30:12; 34. Jema Galio (SC) 30:44; 35. Heather Esplain (Elko) 30:57; 36. Miriam Shumway (Elko) 31:08; 39. Audrey Brown 31:31; 40. Haley Henry (Owyhee) 31:33; 43. Hayley Arps (SC) 31:43; 44. Shelby Knudsen (SC) 31:58; 45. Mary Suing (SC) 31:59; 47. Paige Ellefsen (Elko) 32:38; 50. Matti Birrer (Wells) 34:25; 52. Whitney McIntyre (Wells) 36:06; 53. K.C. Bessert (SC) 36:46; 54. Kara Jensen (Wells) 37:47; 55. Ayla Anderson (Carlin) 41:05.

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