Darts -
Sorry it took me a few days to get this email sent out. I am
still processing everything that went on, and as I replay the events of the
state meet, I am filled with pride and gratitude. That was one of the most
exciting and unforgettable state championships in Davis Track &
Field history. Both the boys and the girls put so much heart, toughness, and
unity into this season and into the state championship meet. Despite plenty of
challenges and setbacks, we never gave up; we stayed strong right to the end,
and then we took advantage of our opportunity to win both titles. I kind of got
carried away with my write up, but here goes...
Girls Summary
The girls state meet could have come down to any one of 4
teams winning the title. We may have had a slight predicted points advantage
going in, but there were 3 teams within a small striking distance of 10 points.
As we have learned in the past, anything could happen. We would have to be on
our game and do everything in our power to score points.
The first day started strong for the girls. Ruby Jane had a
monster throw in the javelin with a 9 foot PR (113 feet) that was followed up
by Katelyn Hoskins' PR of 111'09--they finished 4th and 5th and gave us the
great start we were hoping for. Our first event on the track was the 1600 where
we had 5 seniors qualified. Aubrey Argyle, Ally Geisler, and Miah Weaver all
ran under 5:08 and all scored points by finishing in the top 8. In our other
field event finals, Mary Page had a great throw in the shot put for 6th place,
picking up 3 more points; Ashley Harris came up big on her 3rd attempt at 10'00
in the pole vault to grab a 6th place finish; and Kassidy Webb qualified for
finals and finished 9th, but barely scratched on a very impressive final jump
that would have been in the 16'06 range. In the trials on the track we
qualified everything we needed throughout the day - Corina in the 100m, Ruby
Jane and Becky in both of the hurdles, and all three relays. It was a very
steady day, and we had quite a few girls step in getting our relays qualified:
Olivia Griffin, Keslee Stephenson, Lindsay DiReda, Gabi Uboldi, and Olivia
Franks. We finished the day in a good position to go after the title on day
two.
Aubrey started us off with a very strong effort in the
3200m. She ran a gutsy race and a very quick final lap of 71.8 to pick up 3rd
place with a season best 10:52. It is Aubrey's third time being top 3 in the
3200 in her career (would have been all 4 if it weren't for a stress fracture
as a junior). Ruby Jane and Becky picked up some much needed points in the 100
hurdles with their 3rd and 7th place finishes. Olivia Griffin had a clutch jump
on her first attempt at 5'01 to finish 7th in the high jump and give us a few
more points--Liv was a great surprise for us in the high jump this season. Our
4 x 100 team ran their fastest times of the year at state (49.58 in trials and
49.74 in finals) to give us a 4th place finish--even if they weren't satisfied,
Lindsay, Keslee, Gabi, and Corina ran a very clean, focused race when the
pressure was on. We picked up our only individual championship of the meet in
the 300m hurdles where Ruby Jane stayed strong down the stretch to finish 1st
in 44.00 (she narrowly missed the school record in the trials with her PR of
43.74). Becky closed like an animal with a PR of 45.25 for 4th place. They have
worked out together for 2 years side by side and they ran all 4 of their hurdle
races at the state meet in side-by-side lanes. Those two have been the best
examples of teammates working together and pushing each other unselfishly. With
only 3 events remaining (for us), the girls 800m was crucial. We need at least
10 points--Ally Geisler ran a courageous race and nearly pulled off the upset
with her 2:14 PR, good enough for 2nd--Ally has finished 4th-2nd-2nd-2nd in her
4 years in the 800m; Aubrey Argyle finished her legendary career at Davis with
her 10th All-State finish (including xc and track) and 3 more crucial
points for 6th place (2:19), and Miah Weaver showed so much toughness with her
9th place finish (2:21). Miah has run the 1600-3200-800 triple nearly all 4
years of her high school career (only missing the 800 as a sophomore); she has
shown so much heart race after race. Those 3 distance seniors have been the
core of our TEAM in track and XC for all 4 years--it was so fun to see them end
with a TEAM title after being a part of three 2nd place finishes. Ally bounced
back about 50 minutes after the 800m to run another 800m as the anchor of our
medley relay. We really needed a top 3 finish and our sprinters (Lindsay,
Corina, and Keslee) put us in a perfect position. Ally got the baton in 3rd
(neck and neck with the girl who beat her in the 800m) and made a strong move
with 300m to go to pull away from the pack and give us 2nd place points
(beating the 800m champion by :06). That 800m-Medley 800 double takes a certain
kind of toughness, and Ally has been all over that for 3 straight years!
After a couple of strong finishes from the Syracuse girls in
the 200m dash and the discus, it all came down to the 4 x 400 with 3 teams left
in the team title race. The scores before the 4 x 400 were Davis (78), Syracuse
(76.5), and Herriman (70). Ruby Jane gave us a strong start, Olivia Franks
stepped up under pressure and passed off to Becky neck and neck with Weber for
1st place, when Becky hit the 200m mark, she opened up and pulled away, and
then Ally put down the hammer and anchored us to a near school record time of
3:54.80 for the win. It was a fitting way to seal the deal and lock up the TEAM
title.
EVERY girl on this TEAM was contributing. Everyone of them
gave their best possible efforts and made sacrifices for their teammates. And
it was great to see so many girls who hadn't qualified there to support and
encourage and scream their lungs out for their TEAM. Coming back off of last
year's loss by 1.5 points, it was so rewarding to see these girls put together
such a strong meet as a group! I cannot think of a more deserving group of
girls.
Boys Summary
Coming into the meet, we knew that this would be one of the
most competitive team battles in 5A history (with some extremely deep
individual events as well). On paper (rankings/predictions), we were a slight
underdog to Syracuse--maybe 10 points--and neck and neck with American Fork
because of their strong distance trio. It was evident the winning team would
have to score over 110 points.
Our first event for the boys was the 1600m on Friday
morning. We had a stellar group of boys in the race (our distance boys finished
4th in the nation in cross country), and they ran some solid times, but
distance points were going to be extremely hard to come by in the state
championship this year with the depth of the distance runners currently in
Utah. Frasier was our top finisher in 11th with 4:22. We may not have picked up
points, but our boys ran a fearless race and set a tone that we could build off
of. Our 2nd final was the high jump, and it was a crucial one. Xakai Harry,
Johnny Thornton, and Andrew Simonsen did a tremendous job of energizing and
inspiring each other. I started watching at 6'02--and it was obvious that
Johnny had been playing tennis during everyone of my illegal uniform lectures.
I witnessed him fly over the bar in a white, long sleeve Davis
basketball shirt and gray sweat pants (straight from the 90s). Although he
was disappointed to change into the proper uniform, he still cleared 6'04 and
finished 5th. Xakai came up HUGE for us with a 1st place finish, tying his PR
with 6'08, and beating the top returner from last year. As the first day went
on, we qualified just enough on the track to keep us in it--Caleb, Andrew, and
Carter in the 110 Hurdles; Andrew, Caleb, and Kelton in the 300 Hurdles; Jade
and Sawyer in the 400m; and a huge one--Brendon in the 200m. All 3 relays
looked great as well, and we had some guys step up huge for us in getting all 3
qualified: Landon Baird, Riley Stringham, Dallin Anderson, and Jacob Vaughan.
In our other two field events, we picked up some much needed points from Cache
Arbon in the pole vault--he had a big jump at 14'00 to lock up 5th place, and
then went on to PR with 14'03-- and Eli Beard in the discus. Eli finished 2nd,
and may not have been satisfied, but scored some important points for us, and
was determined to come back for more on day 2. At the end of the first day, we
had qualified just enough to stay in it, but Syracuse had put together a
phenomenal 1st day and had pulled away from us slightly in predicted points. We
went into day 2 looking like we were 10-15 points behind, and we would need to
have some monstrous performances.
The first performance of Saturday morning was Eli Beard in
the javelin. Eli picked up the Jav for the first time this year in our final
dual meet, and then qualified for state at region. It has not been his primary
event, but he was willing to try anything to help our TEAM, particularly since
Xakai could not throw this year due to an elbow injury (Xakai took 2nd in the
javelin a year ago). Eli gave us just enough points with a 7th place finish. We
squeaked out another point from Matt Ward in the 3200m. Matt ran a patient
first mile and an extremely gutsy 2nd mile to pick up 8th place. That 1 point
may not seem like much, but we weren't ranked to get any points in the distance
events, and it was impressive to watch Matt fight so hard through that race for
that one point--it captured perfectly our motto for the meet: "Every point
counts. Every second, every inch, all the way through the finish line."
Coach Agnello did a great job getting the TEAM fired up and inspired throughout
the morning, and our small victories would prove to have large implications as
the day progressed. Our hurdlers stepped up big time in the 110 Hurdles - all 3
finalists running their PRs to get us a massive 16 points. Caleb was 2nd in
14.95, Andrew leaned for 3rd in 15.05 (ahead of 4th by .01), and Carter ran a
big PR with 15.20 for 7th (only .02 in front of 8th)--demonstrating once again
the importance of fractions of a second. All three of them have prepared and
worked so hard for that moment. Possibly one of the most impressive feats of
our TEAM this season is the way Caleb adjusted his hurdling. After a partial
tear in his MCL, Caleb could no longer hurdle with his normal trail leg. He had
to switch trail legs and did so with a great amount of determination and
stubbornness. It is amazing that in just 2 months he has gotten even faster
than before, using his opposite trail leg (basically, nothing can stop him).
That performance was followed up by our boys 4 x 100m relay where Landon Baird,
Xakai Harry, Sawyer Anderl, and Riley Stringham ran very close to our season
best and snagged a 3rd place finish. Again, demonstrating poise and focus and
teamwork in getting the baton around. We had to work very hard throughout the
season to get that down, and I am proud of them for never giving up on it.
Xakai was back at it in the long jump right after his 4 x 100 performance. Two
weeks ago, he set the Utah state record in the long jump with a 23'11.50, but
it was in no way "in the bag". He had to get after it again at state,
and locked up a gigantic victory for us with a 23'00 jump. Xakai was competing
with some extra energy and purpose and kept talking about getting it done for
his TEAM. His double victory in the jumps really kept us in it, and they were
our only 2 individual titles of the entire meet for the boys, but most
importantly, Xakai competes with heart and passion and he loves his teammates.
He'll tell you he is just like everybody else--just out there doing his very
best and trying to get better. Jade and Sawyer both left it out on the
track as well in the 400m dash where they finished 6th and 8th and added 4
points to our total - again, not satisfied, but getting the job done. I think
this really fired them up for the 4 x 400 later in the day. Our trio of boy
300m hurdlers were next. All three of them ran PRs and they really closed hard
down the final stretch. Andrew (2nd), Caleb (4th), and Kelton (6th) all got on
the podium and racked up another 16 point performance (32 points from the 2
hurdle races). Andrew just about picked up the victory - and would have with 2
more meters in the race. Caleb ran under 39 for the first time, and could
only use one of his legs to lead with the entire race (difficult in the 300
hurdles).
As the hurdles were ending, Eli and Yabo were putting the
shot in the infield. The two of them have worked so hard this season and both
have improved tremendously. We finished 2-5 in the shot put and added 12 points
to our total. While Syracuse faltered slightly and gave us a legitimate
opportunity for a comeback. Our boys medley ran our best time of the year by
:04 seconds, with some great sprint legs by Riley and Andrew, and then a killer
400m leg by Landon (49.5 - his best split of the year), and a 1:57 from Jacob
Vaughan - good enough for a 4th place finish. Then in the 200m, Brendon Redford
came through for the TEAM with a Davis #8 all-time mark of 22.32 (22.31 in the
trials to qualify him). Brendon's time was good enough for 4th, even though he
was ranked 11th in the event coming into the state meet. I think it is the
fastest a Davis sophomore has ever run. Woodhall from Syracuse set a state
record in the 200m (his second of the day after the 400m), and Kaufusi
(Syracuse) ran a huge PR and they finished 1-3. It was the perfect placement to
set our two teams up for a showdown in the 4 x 400m relay.
Coming into the relay, we had a 2 point lead (104-102)
over Syracuse. The most likely scenario would be for Syracuse (the state's
fastest team in history at 3:16 this season) to finish 1st, and our boys to
finish 2nd (our best time this year was ranked 2nd at 3:21). That would mean a
tie in the team score (112-112) and a share of the championship. A tie has only
happened one time in Utah track & field history (1990 between Davis and
East for the 4A title). It was a pretty intense atmosphere. Our four guys
(Jade, Riley, Sawyer, and Kelton) are all seniors and were all ready for the
challenge. They were calm and determined. They were also a little bit in awe of
the opportunity and they realized it was their final race in a Davis
uniform--it made them a bit emotional, but we could tell they were going to
give it everything they had. Jade set the tone with undoubtedly his strongest
opening leg of the season. Riley took off strong in the lead, and before he was
around the turn, we noticed from the backstretch that Syracuse must have
dropped the baton. Riley came down the backstretch with a commanding lead, and
Syracuse's 2nd runner was 5-6 seconds back in last place (8 teams). As our boys
and their mass of teammates realized what was happening, the intensity
increased - Sawyer says "it felt like the track was literally shaking
under my feet as I ran in front of the team down the backstretch." Each of
our guys ran as hard and as tough as they could. On the final leg, Hunter
Woodhall made a courageous effort and moved from 8th to 2nd with 50 meters
remaining. He had closed the gap on Kelton and nearly caught our team with an
incredible 45.4 final split, but Kelton stayed calm and strong and held on for
the victory - clinching the outright state championship for our boys. It ends
up that Syracuse was disqualified for tossing the baton in their panic after
the drop, but both teams still put on quite a show. It was the most electrifying
finish of a state championship that I have ever witnessed. Our team
erupted--the excitement had kind of built up after 2 days of an
intense battle. It was the 19th boys track title for Davis--the most by any
school, and our 9th championship in the past 11 years.
I am so proud of our TEAM for never giving up and for
supporting each other so well. I apologize for such a long write up - I imagine
most of you won't read the entire thing - but it really was a legendary track
meet. We came into the meet wanting to compete with heart and finish with
something memorable, and that is what we got. I want to quickly thank our
seniors for all of their hard work and sacrifices for the past few years. They
have really stepped up over the course of this season, and we will miss them -
but they are going to continue to do great things. I want to thank our
incredible coaching staff for all of their time and their love of the sport and
for these athletes. We are lucky to work with such talented, passionate people.
And I want to thank our parents this year for all of there support and trust
and love. I feel truly blessed to be part of this program in this community.
Sincerely,
Coach Talley
Davis Track & Field
State Rings - If anyone is interested in State
Rings, we will meet in my classroom on Tuesday after school. ANYONE can order a
state ring (even if you did not compete at state) - but you will have to pay
for your own rings (I wish the school or program had that kind of budget).
Rings will cost between $150-$250 depending on what kind of style/finish you
choose. No one needs to feel like they have to order one. I will send out more
information after we meet on Tuesday. We will need to finalize the order by the
following Wednesday (5/31).
Uniform Turn in - Please Turn in your uniforms
at one of the following times - Tuesday (right after school),
Wednesday (track class or right after school). There will be a $40 fine if you
don't turn it in and a $10 late fee if you turn it in after Wednesday, May 24.
Please turn them in on time.
Final Schedule Items
Tuesday, 5/23 - Uniform Turn in; State Ring Meeting @ 2:30
in Room 2512 for all interested.
Wednesday, 5/24 - Track Class (Uniform Turn in, Exhibition
Races, Clean Up)
Thursday, 5/25 - Track BBQ/Awards Banquet - Barnes Park @
6:00pm
Tuesday, 5/30 - Cross Country Information Meeting @ 2:40 in
Room 2512
Full State Results - http://results.runnercard.com/Results/results.jsp?meetid=1001064
Davis Girls Results -
100m - Corina Price 13.19 (9th), Gabi Uboldi
13.37 (16th)
800m - Ally Geisler 2:14.63 (2nd), Aubrey Argyle
2:19.26 (6th), Miah Weaver 2:21.05 (9th), Jenna Connell 2:26.14 (18th)
1600m - Aubrey Argyle 5:04.64 (5th), Ally Geisler
5:05.76 (6th), Miah Weaver 5:07.04 (8th), Grace Neuenschwander 5:20.40 (20th),
Haylee Downey 5:32.05 (24th)
3200m - Aubrey Argyle 10:52.53 (3rd), Miah
Weaver 11:26.42 (13th), Haylee Downey 11:44.58 (18th), Abi Waddoups 12:14.54
(21st)
100 Hurdles - Ruby Jane Mathewson 15.09 (3rd),
Becky Swanson 15.95 (7th)
300 Hurdles - Ruby Jane Mathewson 44.00 (1st),
Becky Swanson 45.25 (4th)
Pole Vault - Ashley Harris 10'00 (6th), Ashley
Taylor 9'06 (9th), Mariah Jenkins 8'00 (17th), Eliza Hafen 8'00 (17th), Katie
Fielde3n 8'00 (19th)
Long Jump - Kassidy Webb 15'10.25 (9th)
High Jump - Olivia Griffin 5'01 (7th), Kimberlin
Cox 4'11 (15th), Emily Nelson 4'09 (24th)
Javelin - Ruby Jane Mathewson 113'03 (4th),
Katelyn Hoskins 111'09 (5th)
Shot Put - Mary Page 36'10.50 (6th)
Discus - Kenzie Sagers 93'10 (14th)
4 x 100 - 49.74 (49.58 in trials) - 4th (Lindsay
DiReda, Keslee Stephenson, Gabi Uboldi, Corina Price)
Medley - 4:10.62 (4:17 in trials) - 2nd (Lindsay
DiReda, Corina Price, Keslee Stephenson, Ally Giesler, Olivia Griffin and Gabi
Uboldi)
4 x 400 - 3:54.80 (4:00 in trials) - 1st (Ruby
Jane Mathewson, Olivia Franks, Becky Swanson, Ally Geisler, Olivia Griffin,
Keslee Stephenson)
Academic All State - Haylee Downey, Kellie
Haddon
Team Scores
- Davis - 88
- Syracuse - 80.5
- Herriman - 76
- Lone Peak - 66
- Bingham - 59.5
- Weber - 46
- Westlake - 35
- American Fork - 34
Davis Boys Results
100m - Brendon Redford 11.34 (14th)
200m - Brendon Redford 22.32 (4th)
400m - Jade White 50.06 (6th), Sawyer Anderl
50.73 (8th)
800m - Frasier Williamson 1:59.24 (13th), Mitch
Clove 2:00.93 (15th)
1600m - Frasier Williamson 4:22.96 (11th), Jacob
Vaughan 4:25.08 (12th), Connor Jones 4:28.89 (16th), Brigham Halverson 4:29.33
(17th), Camren Todd 4:32.52 (18th)
3200m - Matt Ward 9:25.18 (8th), Frasier
Williamson 9:31.44 (13th), Camren Todd 9:38.57 (15th), Josh Peters 9:53.73
(16th)
110 Hurdles - Caleb Kamalu 14.95 (2nd), Andrew
Simonsen 15.05 (3rd), Carter Hardy 15.20 (7th), Zack Olsen 15.72 (10th), Porter
Sweat 15.85 (11th), Kelton Johnson 16.38 (17th)
300 Hurdles - Andrew Simonsen 38.46 (2nd), Caleb
Kamalu 38.87 (4th), Kelton Johnson 39.31 (6th)
Pole Vault - Cache Arbon 14'03 (4th), Hayden
Conrad 12'00 (26th)
Long Jump - Xakai Harry 23'00.50 (1st)
High Jump - Xakai Harry 6'08 (1st), Jonathon
Thornton 6'04 (5th), Andrew Simonsen 5'10 (15th)
Javelin - Eli Beard 161'02 (2nd)
Shot Put - Eli Beard 54'00.75 (2nd), Isaac
Yablonovsky 49'10.50 (5th)
Discus - Eli Beard 169'05 (2nd)
4 x 100 - 43.06, 3rd (43.16 in trials) -
Landon Baird, Xakai Harry, Sawyer Anderl, Riley Stringham
Medley - 3:32.98, 4th (3:37.46 in trials) -
Riley Stringham, Andrew Simonsen, Landon Baird, Jacob Vaughan (Dallin Anderson
in trials)
4 x 400 - 3:21.42, 1st (3:25.53 in trials)
- Jade White, Riley Stringham, Sawyer Anderl, Kelton Johnson (Dallin Anderson
and Landon Baird in trials).
Academic All-State - Jacob Vaughan, Lance Ford,
Camren Todd, Justin Butler
Team Scores
- Davis - 114
- Syracuse - 102
- American Fork - 97
- Weber - 60
- Lone Peak - 59
- Fremont - 36
- Riverton - 32
- Herriman - 32
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