Spanish Springs senior Sullivan Stevens entered the 4A Nevada State Track and Field Championships undefeated in the hurdles events this year against Nevada competition. And that’s how he left them.

Stevens became the ninth-year school’s first double state winner by taking the 110m high hurdles Saturday at Damonte Ranch with a time of 14.66 seconds, edging Liberty’s Anthony Norris by a tenth of a second. Stevens’ second win of the state meet also helped the Cougars land on the podium in third place, among team points, with 47 points.

“Getting third at state is very huge. It was a huge leap from last year,” SSHS coach Pat McGuire said alluding to last year’s 14th-place finish. “These kids have worked hard and deserve to get this far. I mean Sullivan, the way he ran those two races, he had a lot of heart and a belief in himself when others were telling him he’s too small.”

Spanish Springs’ next best finish of the day came in the 4x200m relay. The Cougars seemed destined to finish in the middle of the pack until Austin Rauh made a good exchange with anchorman Justus Mora.

Mora looked like he might catch up to the leaders, but just ran out of gas, finishing in third (1:29.02). Reed was one of two teams disqualified for being out of the zone.

With the disqualification, the Raiders’ only points on the boys side came from senior Jesse Robards, who jumped 21-02.25 to take fourth in the long jump, earning five points.

“He did great. Jesse’s been one of those guys that you’ve looked at since his sophomore year. You look at his work ethic and coachability,” Reed coach Dale Moss said. “He’s one of those kids who could also be a coach on the field based on the fact he pays attention to the details that need to be done. Because of those details, it paid off for him in the long jump this year.

“He was one of those kids who probably only jumped like 17 feet as a sophomore and you go well we’ll see what happens.’”

Spanish Springs racked up some more points with Rauh’s fifth-place finish in the 400m (51.66), and Mora and Aaron Cross took sixth and seventh respectively in the 200m with times of 22.83 and 22.87 seconds.

The Reed girls only had one state qualifier a year ago, but more than tripled their point total with strong performances in the relays.

The Raiders ended state in 10th place with 26 points after claiming fourth in both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays Saturday.

Nese Jackson, Adriana Newell, Haley White and Kelsey Gomer teamed up in the early morning, combining for a time of 49.72 seconds in the 4x100m relay.

Spanish Springs ran to a sixth-place time of 50.05 seconds thanks to Jessica Fralick, Laura Voss, Rachel Martin and Ari James. James was fifth in the 100m (12.85) and Voss was seventh in the 300m hurdles (49.80).

The Spanish Springs girls accumulated 16 points, good enough for 17th place.

Reed’s 4x400m relay was part of the final race, which broke a tie atop the standings and saw McQueen take both the girls and boys team titles. The Lancer girls had the worst qualifying time in the event, but willed themselves to the win.

The team of Amanda Sharkey, Gomer, White and Newell still clocked a solid time (4:01.64).

“It’s a big turnaround. These girls weren’t anywhere close to being on these relays last year and now we have these seniors who came out and made a huge difference, not only on the track but in leadership roles,” Moss said. “We haven’t had that leadership in the girls in a long time. I hope we’re getting to a turnaround point.”

In the 3A meet, it was a day of close finishes for the Sparks Railroaders.

Still looking for her first individual state title after being edged out by Spring Creek’s Bethany Pennington a day earlier in the 200m, Sparks junior Lisa Aguilar once again suffered a heart-breaking defeat.

In a photo finish, Pennington outstretched Aguilar at the finish line of the 100-meter dash, winning by one-hundredth of a second, the closest measurable difference.

Gaby Diaz was looking to defend her 800m state title in order to take home two golds in back-to-back years. She was neck-and-neck with Fernley freshman Mariah Anthony through the first 400 meters. Railroader fans kept waiting for Diaz to pull away but it just didn’t happen as she crossed the finish just five-hundredths of a second behind Anthony.

Aguilar was still able to taste victory for the second time of the weekend. Like the boys, the girls swept the 4x100m and 4x200m relays. Sandy Sagusteme, Emma Clune, Stephanie Bishop and Aguilar took first in the 4x100m relay Saturday in 51.19 seconds.

“We had a lot of new kids come out to help with the team, the girls side especially this year,” Sparks coach Adam Barrett said. “After a false start at state (last year) in the 4x2 and a dropped baton in the 4x1, to come back and win both those relays this year is truly special.”

The Sparks boys defended their 4x200m relay state title on Day 2, but it wasn’t looking good for the Maroon and Gold until Vittawat Sriphong-Ngarm ran a great third leg and handed off cleanly to anchor Esteban Bravo, who flew past Moapa Valley and cruised to victory in 1:32.98.

Bravo, a sophomore in his first year running track for Sparks, wanted to help the others repeat as champs. But at the same time, he said he’s looking forward to next year when Henry Banks, Jake Keen, Sriphong-Ngarm and he will all be back.

Bryan Orellana was taken out of the relays in order for the all-around athlete to participate in more individual events. He single-handedly earned 18 points Saturday after placing second in both the long jump and discus and seventh in the 200m.

Bravo and Keen were third in the 200m and long jump respectively.

Two Railroaders also placed in the 110m hurdles with Vittawat Sriphong-Ngarm finishing sixth and Piparth Sriphong-Ngarm eighth.

Fernley scored 29.5 points in the final four events to overtake Sparks for second place. The Railroaders’ 87 points were good enough for third place though.

The girls recorded 70 points to take fourth.

The Sparks girls 4x400m relay was fourth. Bishop was fifth in the triple jump, and Elina Falapapalangi took sixth in the shot put.