By Kirk Kern
This season, the Somerset Academy Skye Pointe boys and girls track teams will be running with the big dogs.
After winning the 4A state championship the last two seasons, the Screamin’ Eagles have moved up to Division 5 for the upcoming season. This is the highest level of competition in the state.
“5A is no joke,” said coach Paul Sheppard. “The biggest disadvantage we have moving up to 5A is the population of the other 5A schools. We barely have more than 1,000 kids in our 9-12 whereas some of the other schools have twice or even triple that many.”
What Skye Pointe does have, however is the state’s top returning boy and girl runners in Carter Prater and Aislin McMahon.
Prater, a senior, broke the Nevada 5k record with a time of 14:58 last year, but lost by a millisecond to Kenan Dagge. McMahon, a junior, wasn’t able to score points for Skye Pointe last year, but finished first in every race she competed in, while teammate Lacey Tippetts won the 4A state title last season.
On the boys side, the Eagles lost a lot of seniors from last year’s team, but Sheppard believes he has a team that will compete for the state crown. Besides Prater, Skye Pointe returns junior Ryan Petty and sophomore Shane Ramirez, along with Bishop Gorman transfer Sawyer Hutton. Hutton won’t be eligible until the Nike Cross Regionals.
Sheppard also is looking forward to junior Mason Haag joining the team.
“I spent months and months convincing him to come out for track and try the distance events,” Sheppard said. “He eventually agreed and has been incredible ever since This will be his first season of cross country and I know he will flourish.”
Sheppard expects Shadow Ridge, Centennial, Bishop Gorman and Faith Lutheran will be tough competition in the south this year, while Gelena in the north will be the favorite for the state title.
“They are the Number One ranked team going into the season,” he said. “The 5A state meet this year will be held in Reno, they have a pretty big advantage. The state meet course is at roughly 5,000 feet of elevation, which makes a huge difference when it comes time to race.
On the girls side, the Eagles have the depth to make them the top-ranked team entering the season.
Besides McMahon and Tippetts, Skye Pointe also returns senior Makenzie Teel, along with junior Katy Hodges, junior Olivia Wheeler and junior Mackenzie McClain.
“Our biggest competition is ourselves,” said Sheppard, adding that Shadow Ridge, Faith Lutheran and Coronado will have strong teams. “We have a pretty big target on our backs after we won most of our meets last year. These meets were against 5A schools, so no we’re looking to race the 5A teams up at state and prove we can handle the bigger schools.”
One of the newcomers to the team is sophomore Aubrey Lay. Sheppard said she’s a very hard worker and she’s fighting for a top 7 spot this year.
“I spent months trying to get her to run cross country,” Sheppard said.
The team’s first meet is Aug. 23 at the Red Rock Running Co. Invitational at the James Regional Sports Park. The state championship meet is Nov. 8.