April 14, 2016
Photo courtesy Segerstrom High School
RENO, Nev. - The Nevada Wolf Pack family grew today after the signing of two distance runners to the cross country and track & field squads.
Stefanie Ortega and Katarina Stashyn will be running in Wolf Pack blue and silver next year after signing yesterday and today. Ortega, from Santa Ana, Calif. will graduate from Segerstrom High School this year after finishing up her senior track season. The same goes for Stashyn, who will be coming out of Vacaville, Calif. and Vacaville Christian High School. Stashyn has really surged her final year of high school, and is seeing the best times of her life.
"This is the best distance group I've ever signed," said head cross country coach Kirk Elias, who has been coaching since 1985. "With our November signees and the addition of mid-year transfer Lindsey Adams, we'll be reloading after losing four senior out of our top five runners."
Ortega has been a premier performer in Southern California for several years now. Her best 1600 meter time is 4:56.87, which, comparable to the mile for indoor season, would land her on the Nevada all-time list. On the cross country course, Ortega took 10th in her division at the 2015 California state championships with a time of 17:55 on the 5000 meter course. Such a time would rank the soon-to-be Nevada freshman fifth on the Nevada all-time freshmen list.
Photo courtesy Prep Cal Track
Stashyn is a quickly improving runner. Her time at the 5000m state championships in 2015 was 18:19, a significantly faster time from her 19:34 the year prior and good enough to tie Erika Root's freshman best, currently ranked 12th in school history. She also sliced her 3200m time from 12:02 to 10:50.37.
The two join Hiley Dobbs, Delaney White and Adria Barich to round out Elias' distance signees for the 2015-16 season.
