Desert Hills wins girls and boys region track titles

Desert Hills High School girls and boys track team members pose with trophies and medals after winning Region 9 championships at Dixie High School, St. George, Utah, May 9-10, 2018 | Photo courtesy of Desert Hills track team, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Desert Hills High was the runaway winner in both the girls and boys track and field regional championships held Wednesday and Thursday at Dixie High School.

The Lady Thunder scored 199 team points during the two-day meet, while runner-up Cedar had 147.

For the boys, Desert Hills scored 165 team points, while second-place Canyon View scored 100.

“It was another great region championship,” said Desert Hills coach Dace Goulding. “The girls team is so deep. Madi Clark took first in long jump, high jump, 4×400 meter relay and second in the 100 hurdles.”

Goulding called the Thunder boys, who won their sixth straight region title, “a great group of athletes.”

“We have relied heavily on Carter Reynolds in the hurdles, with the top time in all classifications,” Goulding said, adding, “Ty Marz in high jump and the throws group could be huge for us at state.”

Following is a short recap of some of the top performances at the Region 9 championship meet:

Girls events

Desert Hills High School girls track team members pose with trophies and medals after winning Region 9 championships at Dixie High School, St. George, Utah, May 9-10, 2018 | Photo courtesy of Desert Hills track team, St. George News

Desert Hills junior Samantha Nelson won the 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:27.57. Her teammates Lauren Luekenga and Bailey Brinkerhoff finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

In the 1,600-meter run, Nelson placed second to Cedar’s Mic Webster, who posted a winning time of 5:06.41.

In the 800-meter run, Pine View freshman Alli Baker was the winner in a time of 2:19.84. Coming second in that race was Desert Hills junior Trinity Schimbeck, who also placed fourth in the 1,600.

Junior Jasie York of Cedar High was the winner of both the 400-meter and 200-meter races, posting respective times of 57.28 seconds and 26.01 seconds. York also took second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.00 seconds, with her senior teammate Julia Hunt winning that event with a time of 12.53 seconds.

Desert Hills junior Chloe Taylor won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.62, narrowly edging freshman Darcy Jackson, who finished in 15.69. Taylor also won the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 45.88. Cedar’s Julia Hunt was second in the 300 hurdles with a time of 47.18.

Desert Hills won both the 4×100 and 4×400 relay races, while Cedar’s girls won the sprint medley event.

In field events, Clark, a senior at Desert Hills, won the long jump with a leap of 16 feet, 10 inches. Her teammate Lacey Swaney was second with a jump measuring 16 feet, 0.25 inches, just ahead of Cedar’s Julia Hunt, who took third with a leap of 16 feet exactly. Clark also won the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 2 inches. Also clearing that height were Hurricane teammates SaRiya Sims and Alexis Martin, who placed second and third, respectively.

In the girls shot put, senior Ella Burrows of Dixie won the event with a throw measuring 39 feet, 10 inches on her sixth and final attempt. Coming in second was Merce Tarrayo of Cedar, whose best effort was 34 feet, 11 inches.

In discus, Brooke Shoop of Cedar won with a throw of 102 feet, 9.5 inches. Celeste Fiame, a Pine View senior, won the javelin event with a throw measuring 121 feet, 9 inches.

Boys events

Carter Reynolds of Desert Hills won both hurdles events, posting a time of 39.87 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles and a time of 14.33 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles.

Desert Hills High School boys track team members pose with trophies and medals after winning Region 9 championships at Dixie High School, St. George, Utah, May 9-10, 2018 | Photo courtesy of Desert Hills track team, St. George News

In the 3,200-meter race, senior Jensen Lambert of Cedar took first place with a time of 9:50.29. The next three finishers were all from Desert Hills, with Matthew Thatcher, Ethan Ashby and Bryson King taking second through fourth places, respectively. Lambert also won the 1,600-meter race in a time of 4:26.11, with senior Alex Hill of Pine View placing second in 4:30.30.

In the boys 800-meter race, senior Spencer Garate of Hurricane placed first, clocking in at 1:58.62. Also coming in under 2 minutes in that event were Easton Brandt of Canyon View, Logan Hall of Pine View and Tim Amodt of Hurricane.

Zachary Marsden, a junior at Desert Hills, won the 400-meter race in a time of 50.58. Canyon View senior Mitchell Wright won the 200-meter dash in a time of 23.00 seconds.

Tae Washington, a senior at Snow Canyon, won the 100-meter dash in a time of 10.77 seconds.

In field events, senior Matt Kitchen of Dixie won the long jump with a leap measuring 20 feet, 8.5 inches. He also took fifth in the high jump. Desert Hills senior Tyler Marz won the high jump by clearing 6 feet, 4 inches, the only athlete at the region meet to do so.

Kitchen also won the javelin event with a throw measuring 200 feet, 7 inches on his final attempt. That was nearly 10 feet farther than Kitchen’s next-best throw at the meet, and more than 35 feet farther than the runner-up finisher – Cedar’s Drake Fakahua placed second with a best throw of 164 feet 10 inches.

Stephen Campbell, a senior at Hurricane won the shot put with a throw of 52 feet, 6.5 inches. He also placed second in the discus with a throw of 147 feet, 0.5 inches. Junior Ryan Warner of Desert Hills placed first in the discus, his best effort measuring 148 feet, 8 inches.

In relay events, Desert Hills boys won the 4×100 relay, while Canyon View placed first in both the 4×400 and the sprint medley relays.

To view full meet results at runnercard.com, click here.

The state track meet is May 17-19 at Brigham Young University in Provo.

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Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2018, all rights reserved.

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