Spanish Springs senior Cody Clifford earned third place in the 400-meter dash, but that didn't make up for his eighth-place in the 100m, a DQ in the 200m and the Cougars' sixth-place finish in the 4x100m relay of which he was a part.
Reed didn't do much better, recording 21 points as a team versus 20 points by Spanish Springs. The Rail City schools were 13th and 14th out of 42 teams in the standings respectively. It was the first time in several years neither Reed nor Spanish Springs crowned a state champion.
But there was a silver lining for the coaches. Many of their athletes will be back again next year.
"There's a couple places we could have done a little bit better, but where we ended up was exactly where we thought we'd be at," Reed coach Dale Moss said. "They've gained the experience and it will build leadership for us next year and the years to come."
Saturday was fairly anti-climatic for the Raiders compared to Friday's strong performances.
On Day 2, Reed's 4x200m relay was its best placer, taking fourth. Hurdler Zach Comphel scored a fifth place in the 110m hurdles.
Spanish Springs junior Justus Mora took seventh in the 200m dash.
Neither school had more than one female state qualifier, but Cougars sophomore Laura Voss turned in a nice performance Saturday, garnering a the bronze in the 200m hurdles and fourth-place finish in the 200m. She scored all 14 Cougars points, which landed them in 20th place in the girls standings.
Friday was not a good night for the Rail City track stars who were hoping to perform well in certain events.
Three of the eight runners in the boys 100m dash were from Sparks schools, and Spanish Springs' Mora was the fastest of the trio, clocking in a time of 10.96 seconds - good enough for fifth place. Reed's John VonSchimmelman was seventh and Cougars senior Clifford was eighth. But they were all way behind Valley's Garic Wharton, who broke the state record with a time of 10.39 seconds for the gold.
The highest placing by a local trackster was by Aaron Iffrig of Reed in the 800m. Iffrig did not run as fast as his coaches would have liked, but his time of 1:59.18 put him in third in the event.
In the 300m hurdles, Spanish Springs junior Sullivan Stevens took fifth. He was also part of the 4x100m relay team along with Clifford, Mora and Jalen Dixon that placed sixth. Reed's relay (Andrew Wolken, Jesse Robards, Comphel and VonSchimmelmann) in the same race was eighth.
The Raiders foursome of Tyler Pine, Comphel, Dylan Raatz and Aaron Greenblat performed better in the 4x400m relay, taking sixth.
On the girls side, Spanish Springs sophomore Laura Voss was the top performer in the track events on the first day of competition. She crossed the finish line in 25.54 seconds, which gave her fourth place in the 200m dash.
One Raider has her coaches very eager about her future. Freshman Nyasha LeSure tied Damonte Ranch's Alyssa Wichman for the top mark in the high jump, but she had to settle for second place because she had more misses when she cleared 5 feet 3 inches.
"I think we got her hooked a little based on her success early," Moss said of LeSure. "She had a great opportunity to show what she could do. Some college coaches have mentioned her name already and can't wait to talk to her when she's eligible to be talked to."
•In the 3A, Sparks' Prince Hall earned the top seed time in the 100m but under performed in the state finals and finished the race in seventh (11.75 seconds).
However, in a shocker, Hall provided the anchor leg of the winning 4x100m relay squad less than a week after the trio placed third at regionals. Jose Mercado, Jake Keen and Andre City rounded out the winning team that totaled a time of 45.44 seconds, .08 of a second ahead of Faith Lutheran.
Sparks relays weren't done though. Bryan Orellana, Vittawat Sriphong-Ngarm, Keen and Hall teamed up to win the 4x200m relay.
Sriphong-Ngarm also claimed fourth in the 110m hurdles.
The Maroon and Gold's boys 4x400m relay finished in eighth.
Orellana came up just short in his quest for an individual state crown, placing second in the triple jump Friday. He and teammate Jake Keen were third and fourth in the long jump the following day.
Gaby Diaz did not come up short though. Diaz pulled a double by winning the girls 1600m Friday by nearly nine seconds and the 800m on Saturday by .03 of a second.
Stephanie Bishop (100m,) Lisa Aguilar (200m), Danielle Carr (400m) were last in their events. Bishop did finish sixth in the long jump.
The Sparks girls best relay outing was in the 4x400m relay and was sixth.
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