Close to 1,000 track and field athletes, ranging in ages from 4 through 18, and hailing from several states as far away as New York and New Jersey, descended recently upon the Dave Nolte Regional Track and Field Complex at Edward C. Reed High School in Sparks, Nevada. Adjacent to Reno, the young athletes gathered there between June 30 and July 3, competing in the 2022 United States Amateur Athletic Union West Coast National Track and Field Championships. Among those athletes was Oakdale High School senior-to-be Kylie Nunes, who competed in the 17-18-year-old age category in her specialty events: the 100-meter high hurdles, the 200-meter dash, and the triple jump. Nunes also competed in the javelin throw, an event brand new to her.
Nunes’ first event of the meet was indeed the javelin throw. Demonstrating her significant athletic prowess, the rookie thrower uncorked a mighty heave of 22.88 meters (94 feet, 9 inches) to finish second among the five women entered in the event and earn a coveted silver medal.
Next, Nunes competed in one of her specialty events as a three-year member, to date, of the Oakdale High School Track and Field Team, the 100-meter high hurdles. The Sparks meet presented Nunes with one of her more significant competitive challenges this year. She skimmed over the hurdles in a time of 16.53 seconds to finish fifth in the event, which was won by Stockton phenom Yvette Harris, a multi-year veteran of the Reno/Sparks meet. Harris’ time was 13.98 in a race that included athletes from Buffalo, New York; Nevada, and throughout California.
On the final day of the meet, Nunes began the day with another of her specialty events, the triple jump and, like cream, rose to the top of the group. Displaying beautiful textbook form, Nunes leapt 10.13 meters (33 feet, 3 inches) to win the event, outjumping the silver medalist, Skye Odom of Fairfield, California, by 2 feet, 1¼ inch. In the meet’s penultimate event on Sunday, Nunes finished sixth in the very competitive 200-meter dash with a very good time of 26.56 seconds. The race began with a field of some 24 runners during Saturday’s preliminaries and was pruned down to eight runners for Sunday’s final.
“I came into this meet a little weak,” said Nunes after the meet, “but I learned a lot and hope to return next year. My goal is to set a meet record.”
Nunes also expects to have a successful senior year for the Mustangs during the 2023 track and field season and hopes to advance to the California State Meet.
This was the 14th year that Oakdale residents Karen and Guy Fowler have sponsored the four-day Reno/Sparks meet, traditionally held as close to the Fourth of July as possible. The event began in 2008 and has run each year, except for the COVID-19 year of 2020. In addition to the actual meet itself, the Fowlers and their crew, many of whom reside in Oakdale, also sponsor a special Primary Meet within the actual meet. The Primary division in AAU Track and Field includes children between as young as 4 years old up to 8 years old. Generally, in most regular events, the 8-year-olds dominate as a simple result of greater physical development. In the Primary Meet, however, 5-year-olds, for example, only compete against other 5-year-olds in events such as the 55-meter dash, the 100-meter dash, the 400-meter dash, the long jump, and the shot put. This year, some 152 children competed in the Primary Meet alone, which set a record for the meet. The entire meet itself has grown exponentially over the span of the past 14 years, indicated by the fact that this year it included athletes from throughout California and Nevada and also New York, New Jersey, Texas, Colorado, Idaho, and Utah. The team champion was the Oakland Police Athletic League team, which has been a fixture of the meet for each of the 14 years of its existence.
