STATE MEET: Del Sol’s Weinstock ready for big strides

Evan Weinstock was limited to a spectator’s role at last year’s Class 4A state track meet.

This year, many eyes will be watching the Del Sol senior.

After failing to qualify in any event as a junior, Weinstock is one of two Southern Nevada athletes who will participate in four events at the 4A meet, which begins at 3 p.m. today at Damonte Ranch in Reno.

Weinstock will compete in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles, the high jump and long jump in his second trip to a state event in this school year. He also was a member of the Dragons’ football team that played in the state championship game in December.

“I grew into it, (plus) after football season I concentrated on my conditioning,” said Weinstock, who joins Centennial junior Karli Johonnot as the only Southern athletes entered in the maximum four events.

“My high jump has gone from (5 feet 8 inches) to 6-4 and my speed in the hurdles has improved. I only did the 300 (hurdles) twice — in the last week of the season in order to get a qualifying time for regionals.”

Some qualifying time it was. Weinstock’s clocking of 38.96 seconds in the Sunrise Region finals was the fastest for the 300 hurdles at a Sunrise meet since 2004. He heads to state as the No. 1 seed in both hurdle events.

“I think we’ll see the South dominate the top places in both the boys and girls hurdles,” Del Sol coach and regional meet director John Dixon said. “Weinstock and Johonnot are used to big meets and doing multiple events.”

Johonnot will compete in both hurdle events, the high jump and pole vault.

Two other elite South athletes favored to win multiple events are Legacy sophomore Avione Allgood, who is ranked No. 1 in the shot put and discus, and Valley senior Garic Wharton, who will be a big favorite in the 100 and 200 meters.

In the girls team competition, Western hopes to successfully defend its state championship despite a narrow third-place finish behind Centennial and Cheyenne at the Sunset Region meet.

This time, Western’s main competition will come from the North.

McQueen dominated the North Region meet, collecting 13 qualifying spots in 11 events. Western has nine qualifying spots in six events.

The Warriors are seeded first in all three sprint relays (400, 800 and 1,600), have the top three qualifiers in the 200 dash and are likely to get a top-three finish in the 100.

Western’s Tierra Tyler will attempt to successfully defend the state titles she won last year in the 100 and 200.

The Warriors’ only other points are expected to come from Sunset champion Paradise Sanders in the 400, which probably will be the pivotal event.

McQueen’s Brianna Tate is the top seed in the 400 and Sanders is No. 2. Most likely their finish relative to each other will result in a four-point swing in the team scoring.

“Western will get huge points from their sprinters and relays,” Dixon said. “McQueen gets a ton of points in multiple events. It will be close.”

The battle for the 4A boys championship probably will come down to Sunrise champion Canyon Springs and North Region winner McQueen. Both teams have double-digit entries, but on paper Canyon Springs is more than 20 points better than McQueen.

Dixon is less certain about the outcome for another reason.

“The weather may be a factor up north. High (temperatures) are predicted in the 50s — not what we Southerners like to see,” Dixon said. “I’ll always be leery of form holding on the second day at state. The traveling group, which is the South this time, occasionally has trouble on Day 2.”

The meet runs through Saturday, with events starting at 9 a.m. on the second day. All four classes will compete.