The Nevada track and field team continued on day two of the Nevada Invitational, which concluded Friday with multiple Wolf Pack athletes reaching personal bests. The meet included schools from all over the West Coast, as well as independent athletes.
Three Nevada players got in on the action with the qualifiers of the women’s long jump event. Meekness Dogonyaro led all Pack jumpers with a personal best of 5.62m, good enough for 14th overall out of 53 competitors. Natasha Chetty followed her up with a jump 5.38m landing her in 23rd overall, and Isabella Minoletti, who set a personal best of 5.2m, finished 31st.
In the women’s high jump, Hazel Gaspaire and Stina Larsson both reached 1.63m, which landed them in a 12-way tie for 9th place overall. However, Gaspaire cleared 1.63m on her first attempt while Larsson took two tries to make the height, placing Gaspaire ahead in the official standings. Still, the 1.63m marked a personal best for Larsson.
Women’s pole vault saw Nevada’s Natalie Hobbs and Kyra Thornhill tie for 17th overall, topping out at a height of 3.15m. The winning height was 4.05m set by Jonelle Scott of Long Beach State.
The Wolf Pack’s Natalie Roberts competed in the mile run event, finishing in seventh place with a time of 5:18:53. Following the women, two Nevada cross-country athletes competed in the men’s mile, those being Sergia Mazon and Pierce Simpkins. Although Nevada does not currently have a men’s track and field program, both Mazon and Simpkins were able to compete independently for the Pack. Simpkins won the event with a time of 4:29:34, while Mazon finished third with a time of 4:34:54.
Three Pack athletes competed in the women’s 400-meter race, with Natasha Chetty winning her heat in 59:64. Jasmine Harris finished second in her heat with a time of 59:01, just 0.16 seconds behind winner Tresley Love of The Academy Of Art. Leylah Diaz ran her heat in a time of 1:00:12.
Kylee Denver and Mary DeMartini finished 3rd and 5th overall in the 800-meter run with times of 2:17:16 and 2:20:09 respectively. Two more Pack athletes, Claire Nelson and Marina Renna, competed in the 3000-meter race which featured 21 total athletes. Nelson came in 6th place with a time of 10:24:97, while Renna finished 10th with a time of 10:39:77.
Jackson Hammons from the Nevada cross country team raced in the men’s 3000-meter run, finishing 8th in 9:24:69.
The women’s 200-meter sprint featured the most Nevada athletes with five competing in total. Two Pack sprinters recorded personal bests, Leylah Diaz with a time of 26.37 and Savana Chalmers with a time of 26.44. Nevada’s Jasmine Harris was just behind her with a time of 26.58, while McKenzie Milton finished in 27.25 with Caitlynn Holt following her in a time of 27.51.
In the last event of the day, Nevada’s 4000-meter distance medley relay team, featuring Denver, Holt, DeMartini and Roberts, took to the track to compete against Stanislaus State and Colorado Mesa. The Pack finished with a time of 12:43:79, falling short of first place Stanislaus State (12:02:36) by over 40 seconds and Colorado Mesa (12:43:53) by a mere two-tenths of a second.
With the Nevada Invitational under their belt, the Wolf Pack Track and Field team will have two weeks to prepare for the Wolf Pack Classic on Feb. 7 and 8.
Andrew Maples can be reached via email dominicgutierrez@unr.edu or via X @d_m_g_16
