Saturday, April 18, 2009

Track Update #7

Darts -
What an incredible week. I have to say that the entire TEAM responded well this week to the challenges issued by me and Coach West. We asked the seniors to step up and lead us, and we asked the rest of the TEAM to show more dedication, commitment, and excitement. This was the best week of the season so far, and it gives us the momentum we need going into the final few weeks. The best part of the week was seeing the TEAM come together on Friday for the time trials and on Saturday for the Taylorsville Invitational. In talking with the other coaches, we felt that the TEAM made some huge strides toward accomplishing our season goals. We were proud of you and your efforts this week.

Friday - JV Time Trials: We were particularly impressed with the energy that you brought to the time trial on Friday since it had been a while since many of you had competed, and the weather had caused us to miss the meet on Wednesday. There were some great prs and season bests led by Carlee Petersen in the 1600m, Joe Albrechtsen in the 1600m, Brad Nye in the 800m, Derek Gallacher in the 800m, Luke Thompson in the 200m, and a strong finishing 4 x 400 on the boys and girls sides. It was also nice to have so many of you competing on Saturday hanging around to encourage your teammates.

Saturday - Taylorsville Invite: We left Taylorsville with 2 first place trophies. It was nice to go back and redeem ourselves after the difficult time we had at the "jr prom invite". It was a lot of fun to have nice weather and to see your hard work paying off.
On the boys side, there were many highlights: The 4 x 100m team of Benson, T-Car, Jon, and Avery finally nailed it getting the baton around in a state leading 42.54. Marshall Burton, still in his rookie season, won the javelin and qualified for state with a huge pr of 162'03. Kyler Sprague had 2 big prs in the hurdle races - 15.56 in the highs for 3rd place and 40.20 in the 300 hurdles to capture the win. Seth Gutzwiller ran an incredibly tough race in the 3200 leading from the start until the last 100m to finish 3rd with a state qualifying 9:40. Taylor Carling hit a state qualifying mark in the 100m dash in 11.20 - still on the rise ready for a strong finish to the season. The boys 4 x 400 (Eric Johnson, Ben Poulson, Ben Keaton, and Ben Richards) just missed state qualifying, but put together our best race of the season to win in 3:30. The 4 pole vaulter all had season bests - Hayward (13'00), Dixon (12'00), Bramhall (12'00), and West (11'06 - a 2 foot pr). Benson Richards qualified for state and just missed the victory in the 400m with 50.77. Devin Lang nearly qualified in the 1600m with his very tough pr of 4:28 to finish 3rd. Ryan Avery had two 2nd place finishes in the 100m and long jump. Jon Ferguson ran a pr 22.60 - good enough for 4th in the 200m. And both Conrad Daley and Alec Pectol scored in the high jump with their jumps of 6'02 and 6'00 respectively. Overall we had great balance as we scored in every event except for the medley relay where we missed the exchange zone (but would have finished 4th). The final scores were: Davis 125.5, Riverton 91, and Bingham 78. Both Riverton and Bingham will continue to come after us the rest of the season. We need to stay humble and strong.
On the girls side we went into the meet thinking it would be a big challenge to beat Riverton this time without stacking our distance events, but we had girls step up in many places helping us come through with the win. We started off strong in the 100m run with 4 out of 4 prs including Sylvia's all-time mark of 12.71 - good enough to qualify for state and place 5th. Brooke Jensen went under 15 for the 2nd time in her career to win the hurdles in 14.96 - and the other hurdlers followed with prs. Meghan Hedquist (5:22-2nd) and Hollie King (5:32 - 8th) both scored in the 1600m run. The 400m ended up being a huge event for us with Dani Figgins 2nd in 58.59, Chelsea Jackson 4th in 60.87, Michelle Clouse 5th in 62.17 and a pr 63.66 for Madi Holt. Rachel Jackson ran a season best 47.41 for 7th. Candace Eddy lead the way with 4 girls scoring in the 800 - Candace (1st), Jessie (6th), Brittany (7th), and Talya (8th). Our medley team of Kelsey Datwyler, Madi Holt, Missy Lott, and Candace Eddy ran the fastest time in the state this year to win and qualify for state. Dani Figgins had another pr in the 200 (25.41) to place 2nd and lead the charge of 3 girls scoring (Brooke - 5th and Sylvia - 8th). And Katie Swanson continued her comeback to place 3rd in the 3200m with a time of 11:49. Emily and Talya also scored in the 3200 - Talya ran 3 laps with only 1 shoe on in her first 3200m race ever (12:11). The girls 4 x 400 ended the meet in style with a 4:03 victory. And in the field events we scored with Brooke Jensen (4th long jump), Megan Storey (6th long jump), Katie Swanson (7th high jump), and Kristin Burton (7th discus). The final scores were Davis 121, Riverton 106, Bingham 41.
Way to go to all the Darts who competed hard and all those who stayed to support their TEAM.

Athletes of the Week: Marshall Burton, Benson Richards, Sylvia Harrison, and Missy Lott.

Coming Up:

TEAM Pictures - Monday, April 20th - after school in the bleachers. Bring your uniforms.

Dual meet with Layton - Wednesday, April 22nd - the meet will begin at 3:00pm, you will all be excused at 1:45 to help us prepare for the meet. It will be a good practice meet for the Davis Invite.

Davis Invitational - Saturday, April 25th. You will all be expected to be there from 7:30am until 6:30pm (I might ask some of you to come at 7:00am). If you have any conflicts during that time, we need to know IN WRITING beforehand. As I have stated many times this season, it is the biggest day of the year for our program. We really want to rise to the occasion and put on the best meet of the year. Our performance in running the meet is just as important as our performance in competing in the meet. We will go over assignments again on Tuesday and Friday. Make sure you know what you are supposed to be working on. You will also know on Monday what you will be competing in. If we all come together, we can put on the best Davis Invite ever. I know that Sadies Dance is that night, but please inform your dates, or keep in mind, that you have an important commitment to the TEAM. Let me know if you have any issues with this - I promise not to get too mad at you. I will also be sending out an email with things your parents might be able to help with if they would like to get involved. A big part of the Invite is the luncheon. We will make assignments to have you bring rolls, salads, or baked potatoes. More information to come. Our focus each day this entire week will be to prepare for the Invite.

Alumni News - Congratulations to Natalie Haws who competed in her first collegiate 3000m steeplechase at the Mt Sac Invitational on Thursday night and set the Weber State freshman record for the event running 10:22 (which also qualifies her for the NCAA regional championships). Also, Congrats to Ryan Thomas who completed his first marathon running an impressive 3:17 at the Salt Lake Marathon on Saturday.

Thanks for what you each contribute to making our TEAM great. We could not be what we are without each of you giving an effort to be our best. We may have individual weaknesses, but together we can achieve greatness this season.
I am honored to call myself your coach.
Coach Talley
(801) 580-8713

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