DH boys set new standard with 6th straight title; Cedar girls also win

Desert Hills victory lap, 4A Utah state track meet competition, Provo, UT, May 18, 2018 | Photo by AJ Griffin, special to St. George News

PROVO – The Desert Hills boys track team recorded its sixth straight track and field championship over second place Orem 114-88, and the Cedar girls team won its second championship in three years 118.5-58 over the second place Thunder girls team Friday at Clarence F. Robison Track on the BYU campus.

4A Utah state track meet competition, Provo, UT, May 18, 2018 | Photo by AJ Griffin, special to St. George News

Desert Hills’ Carter Reynolds dominated the hurdles for the second straight year, taking gold in both the 110 and 300 hurdles, but it was Zachary Marsden that unexpectedly won all the sprints and added points that likely were the difference makers in clinching DH’s sixth straight state title. Marsden anchored Desert Hills’ first place 4×100 team, and snatched gold in the 100, 200 and 400.

“I just had to focus on landing forward and running my race,” Marsden said. “I PR’d by quite a bit, so I’m pretty happy about that. I am super hyped to have swept the sprints and I wasn’t expecting to do that. Practices are super hard. Coach Goulding and Fielding sure know how to put us through work and we all give it our all and it shows on the track.”

While Marsden’s clean sweep of the sprints came as a shocker to most attendees at the state meet this weekend, Thunder head coach Dace Goulding said he knew he had an ace up his sleeve in Marsden.

“Zach didn’t run at BYU invitational so he didn’t have the times that a lot of these 4A runners had,” Goulding said. “So we knew he might come in and shock some people and picking up the 4×100 as the anchor, the 400, 100 and the 200 all 10 pointers. All state champs. Amazing.”

Discus thrower Ryan Warner was the only other first-place finisher for Desert Hills with his 161-foot toss.

Snow Canyon’s Jared Jensen, Conner Poulsen, Dallin Graf and Zarek Proffit took 2nd in the 4A boys 4×400, 4A Utah state track meet competition, Provo, UT, May 18, 2018 | Photo by AJ Griffin, special to St. George News

“It feels great to be state champion, but it just really feels like any other meet,” Warner said. “We started practicing back in January and practice makes perfect. Muscle memory. It’s a huge accomplishment and for me it’s not about coming out to the meet for ourselves, but coming for the team.”

Reynolds, who has already signed with Weber State for track and field, agreed with Warner’s team-oriented outlook.

“It feels pretty good to win at the hurdles for the second year in a row,” he said “But mostly we wanted to go for that No. 6 in a row state championship. It’s the first time in history and we knew that going in and we just said we needed to get it.”

The Lady Reds, who played runner-up to the Lady Thunder last year, dominated the girls side this time around, doubling their nearest competition, DH, in points. Sprinter Jasie York won the 200, 400 and anchored Cedar’s first place 4×400 team. York also added a fourth-place finish in the 800. Lady Reds soccer star and Snow College signee Julia Hunt claimed fastest girl in the state, winning the 100 with a time of 12.41. Cedar also won gold in the sprint medley.

Cedar’s Jasie York, 4A Utah state track meet competition, Provo, UT, May 18, 2018 | Photo by AJ Griffin, special to St. George News

“We worked hard all year,” Hunt said. “Right when my soccer season ended, I went right to track and focused on working hard so we can take state. I wanted to give it all I’ve got because I’m graduating and that’s what I did, so I was happy about that. We made sure to come out here and beat Desert Hills. We love Desert Hills, too, and a lot of their girls are our friends, but it feels good to beat them.”

Cedar head coach James Davidson said that all offseason Cedar used the loss as fuel to work hard and avenge their second-place finish.

“We tried our best last year and didn’t quite get the numbers that we needed,” Davidson said. “The girls knew how close they were last year and that was one thing they wanted to do this year, to switch the roles of the teams and they did it. They started back in January and worked their butts off. They stayed extra hours to work on the little details.”

York agreed with her coach that hard work was responsible for their success at the state meet.

“I am really happy with the meet today,” York said. “I PR’d in all my events. We worked hard from the start everyday having a state championship in mind and I think it’s really helped and it’s paid off great for us.”

Full results for the 2018 State Track and Field Championships can be found at: Runnercard.com

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Twitter: @oldschoolag

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

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