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The NIAA 5A Boys State Championship was as close as it could possibly be on both the individual and team side.
On the individual side, sophomore Logan Scott (Faith Lutheran) came in with the fastest 5K in Nevada this season at 15:51. But he would have 5A competition from the Northern region he hadn't seen before venturing down to Boulder City. Jackson Davis (Douglas), Cael Mattioli (Reno), Eric Ortega-Gammill (Reno) and Jackson Elliott (Damonte Ranch) had all run in the low 16s this season. Scott and Ortega-Gammill were NIAA 5A Southern and Northern individual champions last week.
As the individual race broke apart it came down to a group of four runners in Scott, Elliott and the Reno duo in Mattioli and Ortega-Gammill. As the race went on it would break down to Scott and Mattioli pulling ahead. As the finish came into site it was the Faith Lutheran sophomore who had the extra gear as Scott pulled ahead of Mattioli for his first NIAA State Championship! He would finish in 16:07 with Mattioli just behind in 16:09. Ortega-Gammill would battle with Elliott for second and finish just ahead in 16:15 to Elliott's 16:16.
Douglas senior Jackson Davis would round out the top 5 in 16:32.
| 5A BOYS 5000 METER RUN FINALS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLACE | ATHLETE | TEAM | RESULT | POINTS | ||||
| 1 | Logan Scott | 10 | Faith Lutheran High School | 16:07.90 | 1 | |||
| 2 | Cael Mattioli | 12 | Reno High School | 16:09.60 | 2 | |||
| 3 | Eric Ortega-Gammill | 11 | Reno High School | 16:15.10 | 3 | |||
| 4 | Jackson Elliott | 11 | Damonte Ranch High School | 16:16.70 | 0 | |||
| 5 | Jackson Davis | 12 | Douglas High School | 16:32.20 | 4 | |||
| 6 | Andrew Poirier | 10 | Green Valley High School | 16:36.50 | 5 | |||
| 7 | Diego Chavez | 12 | Green Valley High School | 16:41.20 | 6 | |||
| 8 | Carson Wetzel | 10 | Shadow Ridge High School | 16:41.60 | 7 | |||
| 9 | Gabriel Weaver | 12 | Reed High School | 16:46.70 | 8 | |||
| 10 | Jackson Graham | 12 | Coronado High School | 16:49.70 | 9 | |||
In 2021 Reno won the NIAA 5A Team title scoring 41 points ahead of Faith Lutheran who score 89 for second. Coming into this years meet Faith Lutheran had won the 5A Southern Regional scoring 51 points to Shadow Ridge's 65 points. In the Northern Region, Spanish Springs would take the team title scoring 72 points with Galena taking 2nd at 83 and Reno third at 86. Reno would have a strong 1-2 punch compared to their competition, but had lacked a 5th man on par with the other schools' 5th.
As expected, Reno would score low points with a 2-3 finish from Mattioli and Ortega Gammill and Faith Lutheran a single point from top runner Logan Scott. Shadow Ridge's top runner Carson Wetzel would finish 8th overall scoring 7 points. Spanish Spring's sophomore Peyton Miller would come in as their top runner finishing 11th overall.
As the teams came in, Reno would have the first runner through the line from their 1st through 4th runners compared to the other teams in the field. Both Shadow Ridge and Faith Lutheran would have a tight finish with their 4th and 5th runners finishing from 42nd through 45 as both duos would combine to score 67 points to round out the team scoring.
Shadow Ridge gained a big edge on the field from a good day from Ethan Hughes. The senior was 16th at the Southern Region a week ago and just a few seconds ahead of their 4th and 5th. At Saturday's Championship he'd finish 27th overall scoring 21 points to help make the difference in what ended up being a close team battle.
Shadow Ridge would edge Reno by just a single point scoring 107 points to Reno's 108. Faith Lutheran, Spanish Springs and Galena would be just behind scoring 113, 124 and 128 points respectively.
| TEAM SCORES | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLACE | TEAM | POINTS | SCORERS | TIMES | |||
| 1 | Shadow Ridge High School | 107 | 7+12+21+33+34 (40+47) | 0:49 1-5 Split | 17:08 Avg | |||
| 2 | Reno High School | 108 | 2+3+17+20+66 (67+70) | 3:43 1-5 Split | 17:18 Avg | |||
| 3 | Faith Lutheran High School | 113 | 1+16+29+32+35 (53+57) | 1:26 1-5 Split | 17:06 Avg | |||
| 4 | Spanish Springs | 124 | 10+19+25+31+39 (50+64) | 0:50 1-5 Split | 17:14 Avg | |||
| 5 | Galena High School | 128 | 11+24+27+28+38 (41+46) | 0:44 1-5 Split | 17:15 Avg | |||
| 6 | Centennial High | 145 | 14+22+30+37+42 (44+56) | 0:48 1-5 Split | 17:22 Avg | |||
| 7 | Green Valley High School | 148 | 5+6+43+45+49 (59+69) | 1:45 1-5 Split | 17:30 Avg | |||
| 8 | Reed High School | 156 | 8+15+23+52+58 (63+65) | 2:13 1-5 Split | 17:41 Avg | |||
| 9 | Coronado High School | 158 | 9+18+26+51+54 (55+60) | 1:46 1-5 Split | 17:37 Avg | |||
| 10 | Douglas High School | 162 | 4+13+36+48+61 (62+68) | 2:53 1-5 Split | 17:45 Avg | |||
Shadow Ridge will return 5 of their top 7 from this years state championship squad only losing 3rd runner Ethan Hughes and 6th runner Ryan Stevens.