Dart Update - STATE CHAMPIONS!!!

Darts & Supporters -
Every year, the state championships is what we work so hard to prepare for. We spend so much time and energy getting ready to perform our best when it counts the most. I felt that we sacrificed so much this past 6 months, and it truly paid off as we brought home 2 state championship trophies. Every year the state championships turns out to be a story all it's own. This year was one of the most exciting and inspiring state meets I have been involved in. As a coaching staff, we are so proud of this TEAM and the efforts of everyone involved. We came together and looked stronger than ever as we earned the title of CHAMPIONS. . .

Although we woke up to rain on Friday morning, it was a nice morning for the 1600m - at least for Davis. Shea Martinez pulled off the victory for the girls with 5:03, and Ellie Child had a great race to finish 3rd in 5:12 (it was only her 3rd mile of the season). This gave the girls a solid start with 16 points. The boys 1600 was just as strong as Brad Nye had a great kick to finish 2nd in 4:16.01, Austin Neuner looked strong with his pr of 4:17.03 for 4th, and Joe White dipped under 4:20 for the first time with 4:19.46 for 7th. Preston Johnson and Brayden Cromar were the top sophomores in the race. It was just the way we wanted to being the state championships. In the meantime, Marcus Daley was high jumping in the puddles and gave us some great TEAM points with his 3rd place finish (6'02). Throughout the morning, the rain got worse, but the Darts stayed strong. The girls long jump gave us some more points as Kaylee Kamalu finished 4th (16'08), and Kayla Sagers was 5th (16'06). They both seemed to be enjoying the pouring rain - and were staying positive while many of the competitors in the meet were folding under the bad weather. As the day went on, we saw some great performances in the trials - we qualified Sylvia Harrison and Adelyn Jones in the 100 hurdles; Dalton Facer in the 110 hurdles; Sylvia in the 100m Dash; both the girls and the boys 4 x 100m relay teams; Shea Martinez and Tara Anderson in the 400m; Sarah Oldham and McKenna Hill in the 300m Hurdles; both our girls and boys medley relay teams (thanks to Madi Holt, Logan Thomas, and Seth Thompson stepping in for the trials); Sylvia in the 200m Dash; Landon Hart in the 200m Dash; and both our 4 x 400 relay teams (thanks to Tyra Colohan, Ellie Child, Tyson Bullock, and Ryan Lee for stepping in and helping us in the trials). Although we were muddy and wet, we were looking strong as Friday came to a close. We had a few more spots we would have liked to grab for the finals, but we got the job done and set ourselves up for a strong Saturday.

Saturday morning, the girls started up where they left off. Meghan Hedquist ran a strong 3200m - finishing in 3rd (11:37). It was Meghan's final race in a stellar Davis high career - Meg will be remembered as one of the all-time great Davis distance runners both in track and cross country (she has now been a huge contributer in 4 state championship teams and 3 state runner up teams). Both Tessa Brown (11:54) and Joanna Boyd (11:55) wrapped up their seasons with big PRs - their first time breaking the 12:00 barrier. Tanisha Langston tied her season best in the high jump with her 5'02 jump which was good enough for 7th place and a few more points to our total. The girls continued to roll on the track as the day went on. It was great to see them gain confidence with each passing event. They seemed to really feed off of each other's energy and really motivated one another as they competed as a TEAM. Sylvia and Addy ran an exciting hurdle race to finish 1-2. Both were under 15.00 for the first time with 14.74 and 14.81 (Davis #3 and #4) the fastest times of the day from any division. Both will be coming back next year to run even faster. Sylvia came right back to take 2nd in a close race in the 100m Dash - where she tied her own school record in 12.25. The girls 4 x 100 team (Kayla, Tara, Adelyn, and Sylvia) ran a great race to finish 1st with 48.29. Our momentum continued as Shea and Tara went 2-3 in the 400m Dash. Shea ran 57.74 and Tara came from about 6th to 3rd in the final 100m to finish in 57.83 - a big PR and Davis #3 all-time. Sarah Oldham and McKenna Hill kept our rampage going with 1st and 7th in the 300 Hurdles. Sarah ran amazing over the last 2 hurdles to move from 3rd to 1st and finish with 45.17 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7JFG6u_SLI). McKenna ran 46.65 for a big PR in 7th. Not longer after, the girls 800m brought us 19 more points - and pretty much sealed up the victory. Shea had her second win of the meet with a 2:14 and Ellie ran another solid race with a 2:20 - good enough for 3rd. Anna Ward gave an amazing last effort to move up for 6th place (an incredible comeback story for this year). Even though we had it wrapped up, the girls continued to tear it up on the track and in the field events. Jessica Richardson (just a sophomore) had a big pr throw of 109' to finish 4th in the discus. Our Medley team ran away with the title and all ran some great splits - Kayla Sagers, Bailey Carling, Ellie Child, and Anni Andersen cruised to the victory in 4:14.99. Sylvia had her 4th top 2 finish of the meet with a pr and near school record 25.20 in the 200m (2nd place). And our girls 4 x 400 (Kayla, Madi, Tara, and Shea) dominated as they have all year long with a 3:56 1st place finish - giving us 1st place in all 3 relays and a combined total of 146.5 points - I think it is the most we have ever scored in a state track meet. We scored in 14/16 events and we doubled the 2nd place team score. It was an amazing day filled with incredible, gutsy, performances. The girls showed a lot of heart and a lot of TEAMwork - and we as coaches were extremely proud of their efforts.

Day 2 for the boys was a bit of a roller-coaster ride (as many state meets tend to be). It is normal to have ups and downs - it makes things exciting, and it also reveals the character of a TEAM. Although the 3200m did not go as we had hoped, the boys in the race gave great efforts. To get 6 boys qualified for one event is quite an amazing accomplishment (especially considering that 4 of them are sophomores - well, more like super freshman). Those distance runners have really carried us through a lot of the season - and although I was hard on them after the state 3200 - I feel that they are an incredible group with a lot of guts and a lot of heart - and I am proud of their hard work and their efforts. They will continue to be successful because they work hard together. Austin Neuner capped off a great high school senior year - Our seniors, including Austin, have led by example this season and have really set the tone for us. We have a group that will be greatly missed. Things didn't look great in our first few events Saturday. The American Fork boys had a commanding lead at one point, and looked as if they might have a shot at pulling off the upset. It was nice to get a 4th place finish from Tyson Bullock in the long jump and an 8th place finish from Dalton Facer in the hurdles. Both Tyson and Dalton are part of that group of seniors that have led us and kept things exciting for us over the past 3 years. In the face of adversity, we needed some of our boys to pull through and inspire our TEAM. Our momentum started to build as our 4 x 100 relay gave us something exciting. Tyson, Seth, Kyle, and Landon nailed their hand-offs perfectly - but just narrowly missed the 1st place finish. They still ran a season best 42.30 - and lost by just .06. It gave our team some much needed energy. At the same time, Landon Simonsen, Miles Flake, and Mark Lindstrom all 3 made the finals in the shot put. Landon had a big pr (53'02) to finish 4th, and Miles came through on his final throw with 48'03 for 6th. Things were beginning to go our way. The boys 800m race was the true turning point for us. It was such a crucial event because we were facing off with 3 really good American Fork runners. Brad Nye ran a near perfect race to get the victory in 1:54 (a new pr) and Joe White gave a great fight to finish 4th with 1:56.28. We outscored AF 15 to 9, but more importantly it gave us confidence and it really got our crowd into the meet. It was so fun watching the celebration of Brad and Joe's teammates. It was definitely one of the most exciting moments of the meet - and was our first 1st place of the meet as well. The boys medley got the job done - running our fastest time all year (3:34). Tyson Bullock, Kyle Green, Dallin Hart, and Adam Mathias all looked strong in our 3rd place effort. And Landon Hart gave us another point with his 200m dash 8th place finish. All of the energy from our TEAM really got our javelin throwers inspired. It is nice having the jav competition right in front of the TEAM camp. Jacob Ferrell looked great in warmups, but badly sprained his plant-foot ankle on his first throw of the competition. After getting taped and testing the foot out, he was able to throw just far enough to sneak into finals on his last throw in the trials. Then on his last throw of the competition Jacob moved up to 3rd place with a 10 foot pr of 168'01 (Davis #5 all time). Spencer Betker provided us with some huge excitement as he had a monster throw of 194' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEYKPW5Jeak). It was a new school and state record (for the new javelin which was made heavier in about 2002). The Davis crowd erupted in excitement, and it sealed up the boys TEAM victory. Spencer's 2nd best throw of the meet was 192' - also beyond the old state record (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuu4Lhlerrc). It was one of the greatest moments in Davis track & field history. We wrapped up the championships in style as Dallin Hart, Joe White, Brad Nye, and Landon Hart ran the fastest 4 x 400 from any division to pull away from the field with a 3:20.70 (just .28 seconds off of the school record). We earned 1st place finishes in 3 of the final 5 events of the meet - to give us the TEAM title with a total of 93 points. American Fork was 2nd with 70 and Riverton came in 3rd with 69 points.

You can see the full results at www.runnercard.com. I will get some pictures up on facebook in the next few days (you don't have to be my 'friend' to view them), and I will try to add all of our video footage to youtube through the next few weeks.

I definitely want to thank everyone who was so willing to help us all season long. It would be impossible to name everyone who has helped us to win the state title - all the athletes, parents, coaches, and alumni - so many people have sacrificed their time and talents. We had a lot of help at the state meet. Thanks to the Carlings for taking such good care of the coaches, for taking a bunch of pictures, and for providing me with some much needed snacks and caffeinated drinks whenever needed. Thanks to Logan Wood, Abby Frodsham, Michelle Mendez, Caitlin Farrer, and others for their help with filming and with pictures. Thanks to Julia Anderson, Brooke Gutzwiller, and Tracey Munson for being at the track on Friday at 6:15 am to help me get the spot and for helping me set up. Thanks to all those athletes who helped set up on Saturday and helped carry all of the coolers and gatorade and water on both days. Thanks to our administrators (Coach Welk and Principal Burton), and our biggest fans (Mrs. Meade and Mrs. Barney) for coming down and enjoying the win with us. A special thanks to all the coaches - Coach West, Coach Parrish, Coach Lauren, Coach Rob, Coach Alayna, Coach Agnello, Coach Armstrong, Coach Fowers, Coach Janae, and Coach Brad - for all their expertise, for all their sacrifice, for all their time, and for all their love for the athletes and for the sport. We have had the greatest TEAM of coaches this year - and it shows as the athletes perform. We are lucky to have every one of them. Thanks to all the athletes (and student fans) and alumni who weren't competing who still came down and provided the needed help and the needed energy. I think this was our best "fan" year ever. There were tons of parents and other coaches who were very complimentary of your support for one another and your excitement for the TEAM. I thought we did it right on Saturday as we lined the fence and cheered for our teammates. And thanks to all of you who competed and made Davis Track & Field proud. You were all so willing to give your very best - to compete with heart and determination. You are truly champions in every sense of the word - in the way you performed, in the way you helped your TEAM, and in the way you worked hard for this well-deserved state title. . . double state title! It has been a tremendous year, and it was an exciting state meet.

Thanks for a great year. It has been a pleasure to be involved as your coach -
Coach Talley

What's Left?
Uniforms - please turn in your uniforms either Monday after school or Tuesday in class or after school. Those who do not turn in their uniforms will be issued fines.
Banquet - We are going to have a TEAM barbecue/awards banquet on Thursday, May 26th at 5:00pm. We will need help with the barbecuing. It will be for athletes only (sorry we aren't able to invite parents as well).
Track Class - We will be cleaning up and playing games over the final 3 classes of the year. You are still required to come.
Cross Country TEAM Meeting - will be Tuesday, May 31 at 3:00 in my classroom (2512) - do some recruiting!!!