Sophomores come up big in distance races

By Trey Trusty for DyeStat

State Meet Highlights

Many people gathered together this year at BYU’s Clarence Robison Track Stadium (elevation 4627 feet) to watch impressive performances from 1A to 5A at the rainy State track meet. The quality in Utah is strong, primarily known in the distances, but also across the board. The sophomore duo Casey Clinger and McKay Johns of American Fork and the sophomore from girl from Davis High School, Aubrey Argyle, were all particularly dominate in the 5A 1600/3200 double. Boys sprints (Chase Heiner), hurdles (Zane Farrer and Colton Yardley) and jumps (Brett Matheson) all represented with impressive performances, as did Andre James in the throws.

The girls side was equally competitive with Kaysha Love in the sprints and a big win from Taylor Cowan in 3A Javelin. Arianna Williams, Elsja Mecham and Olivia Leavitt, all from different classifications, were all powerful in the hurdles.

Sprints:

Chase Heiner of Provo High came out with a state leading time in the 400 in 47.70 (in a close battle against Orem’s Nick Ashby) after nearly breaking a state record in the 200 at the Davis Invitational with a fast time of 21.35. Junior Tovar of Orem had the fastest time overall in the 100 with a time of 10.85 beating out Clearfield’s Deondre Hambric (10.94) for the 4A title.

Kaysha Love lead the Herriman Mustangs girls to another 5A State Title with her wins in the 100 (12.03), 200 (24.72), 4x100 (48.92) and third place in high jump (5-3). Class 2A was extremely competitive in the girls sprints lead by freshman Jaslyn Gardner winning the 100 in a time of 11.98 and the 200 in a 24.91.

Hurdles:

Zane Farrer of Westlake High School won the 110 highs in dramatic nail biting fashion after pulling his hamstring over hurdle #8 and diving across the line to win in a 14.58 over Colton Yardley of Syracuse (14.62), who later won the 300H in 37.81. Caleb Whitney performed well in 3A cruising in with times of 14.76 and 38.81 to win both of those titles.

On the girls side Arianna Williams of Hillcrest High School won girls 5A 300H in 44.26, which was slightly overlooked due to Junior Idaho transfer Elsja Mecham of Summit Academy who blazed in with a time of 42.68 and also a 14.86 to win both races in 2A. The fastest time of the day in the 100H came from 3A’s Desert Hill’s Senior Olivia Leavitt in a 14.65.

Distance: Conner Mantz (who just returned from IAAF XC Championships in China) was just beat out in the 4A 1,600 final by Josh Collins of Wasatch who ran a 4:12.50, but he came back to win the 3,200 in 9:03.4. American Fork’s boys went one and two in the 1600/3200 double by Casey Clinger and McKay Johns, both sophomores, who ran 4:13.37/4:15.49 and 9:10.52/9:14.56.

Aubrey Argyle of Davis broke the meet record in the 3,200 in 10:35.87 after winning the 1,600 the day before (4:57.3). Kashley Carter of Juab won the 1,600/3,200 double in 3A and Lucy Biles had the fastest time of the day in the girls 800 (2:14.95)

Field:

The rainy conditions made the throwing events more difficult but that didn’t stop Andre James, who won the boys 5A discus and shot Put. Cameron Bates of Maple Mountain threw the farthest on the day in the javelin on his last throw for a distance of 181-10. Lone Peak’s Senior Brett Matheson won the boys 5A high jump in a jump with 6-11.

Amarissa Hawker, senior from Herriman, was dominant in the shot put winning with a throw of 46-9 on her last throw. The farthest throw in the discus came in 4A by Logan’s Maia Garren with a far throw of 139-3. And in the girls 3A javelin Taylor Cowan of Juab High School beat out the favorite Chrissy Glassman of Park City with a throw of 125-1 to Glassman’s 121-11.