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Thursday, May 14, 2026 at 4:34 AM

Pochop, boys 4x100 relay team win titles to lead Vaqueros at 3A North Region Meet

Pochop, boys 4x100 relay team win titles to lead Vaqueros at 3A North Region Meet
Jayden Esparza, Keeshawn Love, Bryce Dunagan-Stephens and Michael Fitzgerald celebrate on
the medal stand after their first-place finish in the 4x100 relay at the 3A North Region
Championships last Saturday. Photo by Ron Perkins.

The Fernley High School track and field team qualified 21 athletes for this week’s 3A state meet, including seven relay teams and 10 individuals who qualified in a total of 12 events at last week’s 3A North Region Meet at Reno High.

Angel Pochop in the girls discus and the boys 4x100 relay team won regional titles last week to lead the Vaqueros, who had six boys and four girls qualify individually. Justice Martell-Artiaga and Kole Miller each qualified in two individual events.

The 3A State Championships will be held on Friday and Saturday at Hug High.

Including relays, Martell-Artiaga, Blessing Mhondo, Faith Mhondo, Bryce Dunagan-Stephens, Jayden Esparza and Joe Perkins each qualified in three events overall.

The team of Michael Fitzgerald, Bryce Dunagan-Stephens, Jayden Esparza and Keeshawn Love won the boys regional championship in the 4x100 with a time of 44.10. They also qualified for state in the 4x200 by placing third in 1:32.48.

The 4x400 team of Elijah Perez, Andrew Peterson, Bodie Parsons and Perkins finished second in 3:27.13 and the 4x800 team of Noah Thompson, Peterson, Alex Mergell and Perkins finished fourth in 8:38.31.

Perkins also qualified individually with a third-place finish in the 800 in 1:59.07, a personal best, and Dunagan-Stephens qualified in the 100 with a second place finish in 11.43.

In the discus, the Vaqueros had three state qualifiers with Wyatt McGinnis placing second at 138-3, Parsons third with a throw of 132-6, and Miller fourth at 132-3. Miller also placed fourth in the shot put at 42-08.5 to earn a second state berth. Esparza finished second in the triple jump at 41-08.75.

Fernley recorded several additional boys top-eight finishes. Dunagan-Stephens also placed sixth in the 200 in 23.64. Perez finished sixth in the 400 in 53.10. Perkins placed eighth in the 1600, followed by Cael Wilson in ninth. Wilson added a seventh-place finish in the 3200 in 10:42.72, a personal best, with Mergell eighth, Zachary Petersen ninth and Dominick Dietrich 10th, all in personal-best times. Esparza placed sixth in the 110 hurdles in 16.00, a personal best, and Fitzgerald finished sixth in the 300 hurdles in 42.11, also a personal best. Peterson placed eighth in the 300 hurdles.

On the girls side, Pochop won the discus with a personal best throw of 116-1. She also placed seventh in the shot put with a throw of 26-10.75. Reese Johnson added a fourth-place finish in the pole vault at 8-6 to qualify for state and placed fifth in the triple jump at 31-10.00.

Martell-Artiaga placed fourth in the 100 hurdles in 15.85 and second in the 300 hurdles in 47.56, a personal best. Faith Mhondo added a fourth-place finish in the 300 hurdles in 49.28, also a personal best. The 4x200 relay of Faith Mhondo, Asia Christopher, Blessing Mhondo and Nakyla John finished second in 1:48.62 and the 4x400 relay of Christopher, Kinley Behrendt, Faith Mhondo and Blessing Mhondo placed third in 4:14.25. The 4x100 relay of Melissa Yokoi, Martell-Artiaga, Blessing Mhondo and John placed third in 51.09.

Fernley added several more girls top-eight finishes. John placed seventh in the 100 in 13.26, a personal best. Blessing Mhondo finished eighth in the 400 with a time of 1:04.72. Christopher placed seventh in the 100 hurdles in 17.96 and fifth in the 300 hurdles with a time of 51.04.

The 4x800 relay team of Alyssa Gromelski, Bronwynn Garrett, Regan Scott and Behrendt finished sixth with a time of 11:11.19. In the discus, Haley Stevenson placed ninth with a throw of 76-07 and Brylee Harry-Glazier finished ninth in the high jump at 4-2.

Fernley state qualifiers:
— Boys 4x100, champion
— Boys 4x200, third
— Boys 4x400, second
— Boys 4x800, fourth
— Joe Perkins, 800 (3rd)
— Wyatt McGinnis, discus (2nd)
— Bodie Parsons, discus (3rd)
— Kole Miller, discus (4th) and shot put (4th)
— Jayden Esparza, triple jump (2nd)
— Girls 4x100, third
— Girls 4x200, second
— Girls 4x400, third
— Justice Martell-Artiaga, 100 hurdles (4th) and 300 hurdles (2nd)
— Faith Mhondo, 300 hurdles (4th)
— Angel Pochop, discus champion
— Reese Johnson, pole vault (4th)


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