Track Update - BYU Invite

Darts -
After a couple of long, cool days at the BYU Invitational, we came home with a lot of lessons learned, a few more state qualifying marks, some good experiences, and some successful finishes for both the girls and the boys. On the TEAM side of things, the girls finished in 5th place - but only a few points out of 3rd. And the boys won their 3rd straight BYU Invitational. I have said it many times before, but this is the most difficult invitational to win (sometimes even harder than the state meet) because it combines all the schools from 3A, 4A, and 5A. Congratulations to all the boys and the girls who went down and competed, and thanks to all those who were able to come down and support the TEAM. Those who didn't compete were a great help to the coaches and did a good job cheering on their teammates--of course we will need a lot more of that in 2 weeks when we are back down there for the state championships.
Our primary purpose for the BYU Invite is to get a feel for the state meet. Although we didn't have a ton of season bests (due mostly to the weather), I think we accomplished most of our goals in preparing our TEAM for the state championships. Now it is just a matter of competing hard at the region meet and being focused and determined going into the state meet. There are a few factors which will really help us going into the final 2 weeks of the season: 1) Take care of yourselves. Eat healthy food, and get plenty of rest of the next little while. By healthy food I mean plenty of good carbs (pasta, potatoes, breads, etc) some protein, some iron (red meat), fruits and vegetables, and not too many sweets. You will also want to be staying up on your hydration - it could be really hot at our final meets. That goes for every event. 2) Have confidence because you have worked hard all season long, and we are ready to compete to our very best. 3) TEAM work - support each other, lift each other, encourage each other, be excited for each other. This is where track & field becomes more of a TEAM sport than at any other time of the year.
The BYU Invite Highlights:
Decathlon - Joe White, Drew Rees, and Gavin Fowler competed on Wednesday and Thursday in 10 events. Wednesday was the 100m, high jump, long jump, shot put, and 400m. Thursday had the 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and 1500m. It was fun to watch, and I am sure a memorable experience for the 3 of them despite the bad weather conditions. Joe finished 6th and Drew finished 8th. They scored 8 points for the TEAM.
Friday - In the morning, Jessie Wilding, Meghan Hedquis, and Emily Hansen all had season bests in the 3200. Jessie and Meghan qualified for the state meet with 11:27 and 11:30. Sylvia Harrison qualified for finals in the 100m dash and the 100m hurdles and the 200m dash. Missy Lott just missed qualifying in the 200m. Dalton Facer and Kyler Sprague qualified for finals in the 110 hurdles and the 300 hurdles. Both looked strong in the cold weather. Ben Keaton qualified for finals in the 400m dash. Tara Timothy finished 3rd in the Javelin among 5A athletes. Landon Simonsen made finals and finished 8th in the shot put. And the highlight of the day was Tyson Bullock's long jump of 21'09.75 inches - it puts him 11th on our all-time list and ranks him 2nd in 5A. When looking at just the 5A athletes, we are looking strong going into the state championships.
Saturday - We came back Saturday and struggled in a few areas, but also had some people step up for us. Abby Frodsham ran well in the rain during the morning 1600m. Becca Albrechtsen (2:25) and Anni Andersen (2:28) both had prs in the morning 800m. Becca's was the 10th fastest time of the whole day. Spencer Betker had a big throw in the javelin (164') to finish as the top 5A athlete and 4th overall. Alex Swapp made finals and finished 8th in the discus (4th among 5A). Our boy high jumpers struggled a bit, but have got to stay confident as all 4 of them still finished in the top 7 for 5A athletes - this could be a huge event for us in 2 weeks. Our pole vaulters also struggled a bit, but need to realize that some small improvements could mean placing at the state meet. In the afternoon finals, our girls 4 x 100 finished 3rd (2nd for 5A). The boys 4 x 100 were 9th (5th for 5A). The medley teams both finished as the top 5A relays. The boys 4 x 400 finished 1st and qualified for state (as I assured Coach Parrish they would) and ran a strong time of 3:23.9. The girls 4 x 400 were 5th and just off of their season best. Brad Nye, Austin Neuner, and Joe White all qualified for the state meet in the 1600m and all finished among the top 7 from 5A. Jessie Wilding and Anna Ward finished 6th and 7th in the 800m. Ben Poulson finished 2nd in the 800m, but if he stays a little closer to the leader, his kick is nearly unbeatable. Kyler and Dalton picked up some points in the hurdles - but both still feel like they are ready to run faster the next 2 weeks. The hurdles have really come through for us all year. Sylvia had to run 3 races within 30 minutes because of poor scheduling on the part of BYU. She still came thorugh strong in the 4 x 100, hit a hurdle in the 100h - but would have placed very well, and then finished 5th in the 100m just minutes later. She showed a lot of toughness and will not have to deal with the same scheduling challenge in 2 weeks. It was also her birthday. And finally, it was really nice to see Dani Figgins running again in the 4 x 100. We have missed her and it will be good to see her at region and state. Great job to all who came and competed and stayed positive despite any challenges we might have faced through the week. It was an exciting and fun couple of days. I even sorta learned how to "jerk".

Athletes of the Week:
Drew Rees - 8th place finish in the decathlon
Joe White - 6th place finish in the decathlon + 1600 state qualifying mark
Alex Swapp - 8th place finish in the discus - hard work all season long
Jessie Wilding - state qualifying 3200m run - also placed in the 800m and anchored the 4 x 400m relay.
Kayla Sagers - 3 solid relay races on Saturday

Coming Up:
Region Championships - Wednesday and Thursday May 5th and 6th - at Syracuse High. Beginning at 3:30 both days. The bus will leave Davis High at 1:45 each day - you will be excused at 1:30. Tomorrow we will post a schedule with all those who will make it into the meet. Wednesday field events will be girls jav, long jump, and shot put, and boys high jump, discus, and pole vault. Thursday field events are boys long jump, javelin, and shot put and girls discus and high jump.
State Championships - Friday and Saturday, May 14th and 15th at the BYU track. We will have a bus go down each day. A few of you will be able to stay over night at the hotel on Thursday and Friday - those who are competing in morning events. Each year some of the athletes stay down in Provo with family or friends or in hotel rooms or camping (if you want to organize any of that, it will be on your own). We would like as many of you as possible to be at the meet both days. We will need to organize rides and sleeping accomodations early on.
Sophomore Region - Will be at Fremont High on Tuesday, May 11th. We will take 1 bus. All sophomores and also those who do not make it to the region meet in your events will be able to compete (even if you are a senior). This will be the final meet for many of you. Those not in the region championships should treat this as your championships.
Practice without the track - The track will be coming out on Wednesday this week (or at least it will begin). We will be practicing at Layton High's track on Saturday morning at 9:00 am. We will then go over to Layton High on Monday and Wednesday the week of the state meet. The pole vaulters are going to go out and workout at Syracuse. Those competing at the state meet will need to be at the practices we have at Layton High. Small sacrifice for a new track.
TEAM Banquet - Will tentatively be on Tuesday, May 25th at 6:00pm. We will also have a fundraising car wash from 3:00pm until 6:00pm on that day.

I have added some pictures to the blog from the Davis Invite www.darttrack.blogspot.com and Steve Petty is putting up some pics from the meets on his facebook account if you want to check them out. Thanks Steve and Brad for the great pics.

Once again, thanks for your commitment and sacrifice. Let's bring everything we have to the region meet and come away with some dominating performances and then go after the state championships - just 2 more big ones. Let me know if you or your parents have any questions.
Thanks
- Coach Talley