Nevada Track and Field began the Credit Union 1 Mountain West Indoor Track and Field Championships on Thursday in Reno, Nevada. Johanna Haas earned a silver medal in the pentathlon, setting a new second-best all-time point total for Nevada with 3963 points. The team finished the first day with 16 points, placing fourth in the standings.
The pentathlon started the day’s events. Johanna Haas led by winning the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.56 seconds, earning 1004 points. Alma Kathan finished third in this event with a personal best of 8.75 seconds for 963 points, while Valeria Paez-Rueda placed tenth at 8.96 seconds and collected 918 points.
In the high jump segment of the pentathlon, all three Nevada athletes were among the top five finishers. Alma Kathan cleared a personal best of 1.69 meters to take third place and earn 842 points. Johanna Haas was fourth at 1.66 meters for 806 points, and Valeria Paez-Rueda also cleared 1.66 meters—a lifetime best—to finish fifth with another 806 points.
During shot put, Haas threw for a distance of 12.97 meters to win that portion and collect an additional 725 points. Paez-Rueda followed with an effort of 11.06 meters (fifth place, earning 599 points), while Kathan threw for 10.08 meters (535 points).
Alma Kathan led Nevada in the long jump section by reaching fourth place with a leap of 5.72 meters (765 points). Paez-Rueda took eighth at 5.58 meters (723 points), and Haas jumped to tenth place at 5.51 meters (703 points), maintaining her overall lead before the final event.
In the concluding pentathlon event—the women’s 800m—Haas ran a time of 2:27.44 to finish twelfth in that segment but secured enough total points to claim second overall and earn silver for Nevada: “Haas’ championship pentathlon was historic for the Pack with her 3963 point total the new number two all-time total for Nevada, overtaking Wolf Pack great Nicola Ader.” Alma Kathan finished eleventh in the race and placed fourth overall in her debut indoor championships appearance with a score of 3831; Paez-Rueda ended thirteenth in this segment and seventh overall at 3730.
All three athletes contributed championship points to Nevada’s team score.
Elsewhere on day one, Annalies Kalma qualified first out of preliminaries in the women’s indoor track & field championships’ 200m dash after running a time of 23.37 seconds; Magdalene George narrowly missed qualifying for finals by finishing tenth at 24.09 seconds.
In pole vault competition, Adessa Matthews and Alyssa Carson both cleared an opening height of 3.54 meters to finish seventeenth and nineteenth respectively.
Nevada’s relay team—composed of Skylar Bennett, Kylee Parsons, Halyn Senegal, and Natalie Roberts—finished eighth in their distance medley relay event with a time of 12:06.46.
The championships continue Friday with further jumping and sprinting events scheduled to begin at 1:15 p.m.
