High school track and field: Athletes excel at start of season’s final stretch at Cedar Invitational

Written by Jeff Richards
April 30, 2023
Athletes compete at the Cedar High Invitational track meet, Cedar City, Utah, April 29, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

CEDAR CITY — The Cedar girls and Pine View boys had the top team scores at the Cedar High Invitational track meet on Saturday.

Athletes compete at the Cedar High Invitational track meet, Cedar City, Utah, April 29, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

On the girls side, the Cedar Reds accumulated 123 points to runner-up Pine View’s 83. 

Leading the way for the Reds were top throwers Quincy Esplin and Kiara Hansen, who together accounted for 34 of their team’s points. Esplin won the discus with a throw of 132 feet, 2 inches, bettering her previous personal best (and school record) by 1 inch. It’s also the top throw in the state this season. Esplin, a senior who has signed to compete at SUU this fall, also took third in the shot put with a mark of 35 feet, 2 inches. Meanwhile Hansen, a junior, won the shot put (37 feet, 9 inches) and placed second in the discus (113 feet, 9 inches).

In the boys meet, Pine View finished with a team score of 96 points, while runner-up Snow Canyon had 83. Coming in third was host team Cedar with 77.5 points, with Crimson Cliffs right behind in fourth with 75.5 (the Reds and Mustangs split a point when they tied for sixth in the boys high jump).

“Although a lot of teams were either resting key athletes or missing them to other activities there were still a lot of great performances as teams looked to shore up their region and state rosters,” said Pine View coach David Holt, who named several top Panther athletes who sat out, including Trey Despain, Ashley Leavitt and Colton Sam Fong. Additionally, there were others who were participating in the state solo and ensemble, including Teancum Jensen and Bridger Jaggi.

“We were pleased to see where both our boys and girls teams finished, considering those we were missing,” Holt added. “We hope to build on those finishes to peak well for state.”

Echoing that sentiment was Snow Canyon coach Justin Redfearn, who said, “Really proud of our athletes today. We had several top performances and personal records. We qualified even more athletes for BYU and state this weekend.”

Like many of the other schools at the Cedar meet, Snow Canyon rested several of its top athletes in preparation for the next three weeks. Following the BYU Invitational in Provo on May 5-6 and the Region 10 championships at Dixie High on May 10-11, the state track meet is scheduled for May 19-20, also at BYU in Provo.

Following are selected individual highlights from the Cedar High meet:

Boys

Junior Ammon York of Cedar celebrated his 17th birthday on Saturday with a first-place finish in the 400-meter run. He posted a personal best time of 50.63 seconds. Coming in second place was Jason Carlisle of Parowan, in 51.82.

McKoy Smith of Cedar won the 300-meter hurdles in a time of 38.50 seconds, the second fastest time in the state across all classifications this season, behind only Snow Canyon’s Trevor Gough, who clocked a 37.87 at Desert Hills on April 1. Smith also finished fourth in the 110 hurdles. Winning the 110 hurdles was Snow Canyon’s Matt Maclennan, whose winning time was 14.74 seconds. In addition, Crimson Cliffs teammates Austin Eaton and Kaden Haight both finished among the top four in both hurdles races.

Athletes compete at the Cedar High Invitational track meet, Cedar City, Utah, April 29, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Austin Eaton also won the long jump with a mark of 22 feet, 4 inches.

Canyon View juniors Bret Sorensen and Payson Slade posted a 1-2 finish in the 3,200-meter run, with respective times of 10:46.94 and 10:47.77.

Chase Hansen of Desert Hills won the 800-meter run in a time of 2:01.76. Coming in second place was Kyle Ransom of Canyon View, who crossed the finish line in 2:02.09.

Will Warner of Snow Canyon won the 100-meter dash in a time of 10.92, which is the second-fastest time in school history, according to his coach. Warner’s teammate and fellow Kolter Stuart placed third in that same race with a time of 11.29. Placing in between them was sophomore Easton Lott of Crimson Cliffs, who finished in 11.23. 

Travis Stewart, a senior from Kanab, won the 200-meter dash in 22.70. 

Pine View senior Keaton Heaps won the 1,600-meter run in a time of 4:38.26. Three of his Panther teammates also placed among the top five, with freshman Jaxon Bender placing second, senior Diego Aguirre taking third and junior Talmage Wright finishing fifth.

Also from Pine View, senior Sawyer Woods won the javelin with a throw measuring 170 feet, 1 inch. Placing second and third in that event were Snow Canyon teammates Joseph Smith (154-10) and James Johnson (146-10).

Trent Durbin of Cedar won the shot put with a top mark of 45 feet, 6 inches.

Owen Iloa of Hurricane won the high jump, clearing 6 feet 2 inches. Also from Hurricane, junior Alexander Campbell won the discus with a throw of 139 feet, 9 inches. Placing a close second was Kayden Kreci of Snow Canyon, whose best mark was 137 feet, 8 inches.

Girls

Desert Hills teammates Drew Schwartz (12.28 seconds) and Kooper Dennison (12.54) posted a 1-2 finish in the 100-meter dash. Dennison won the 200 in a time of 25.94, with Pine View sophomore Jade Reimer taking second in 26.29. Although Snow Canyon freshman Amelia Nadauld won both the 100 and 200 heats, she opted not to run the finals of either event.

Athletes compete at the Cedar High Invitational track meet, Cedar City, Utah, April 29, 2023 | Photo by Jacqui Knighton, St. George News / Cedar City News

Sophomore Lucy Harris of Desert Hills won the 100 hurdles in a time of 15.21. Placing second in that event was junior Lilly Wittwer of Snow Canyon, who finished in 15.57. Those same two athletes also had the same finish in the 300 hurdles, with Harris winning in 45.62 and runner-up Wittwer crossing in 46.02.

Freshman Kenidee Glazier of Kanab won the 400-meter run in a time of 1:00.17. Finishing a close second was Cedar junior Mckenlee Mogensen, whose time of 1:00.47 qualified her for state.

Glazier also won the 800-meter race in a time of 2:18.82. Placing second in that event was Cedar’s Mayce Dalton, who finished in 2:22.99.

Kanab’s Glazier completed her gold trifecta by also winning the 1,600-meter run, posting a time of 5:23.77. The next three spots in that race all went to Pine View, with teammates Adri Baker, Brooklyn Hill and Kate Jones taking a respective second through fourth.

Also from Kanab, senior Madi Orton won the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 4 inches. Coming in second place was Brentlee Mineer of Parowan, who cleared 5 feet, 2 inches.

Senior Paisley Blood of Canyon View won the long jump with a mark of 16 feet, 9 inches. The next three spots in that event all went to Cedar High: Kenzie Bird (16-02), Anna Reed (15-10.5), and Ashley Flanigan (15-07.5).

Kadee Harland of Panguitch won the javelin with a top throw of 122 feet, 10 inches.

In the 3,200-meter run, Snow Canyon’s Abigail Laidlaw won in a time of 12:53.04. Pine View’s Brecken Heath came in second place in 13:15.52.

“I’m so proud of how much this young lady has improved over the years,” coach Redfearn said of Laidlaw. “She is the definition of hard work and a positive attitude.”

For complete meet results on runnercard.com, click here.

Cedar High Invitational, April 29

Top 10 girls team scores

  1. Cedar, 123.
  2. Pine View, 83.
  3. Crimson Cliffs, 68.
  4. Desert Hills, 65.
  5. Kanab, 57.
  6. (tie) Snow Canyon, 48.
  7. (tie) Canyon View, 48.
  8. Hurricane, 33.
  9. Dixie, 26.
  10. Parowan, 24.

Top 10 boys team scores

  1. Pine View, 96.
  2. Snow Canyon, 83.
  3. Cedar, 77.5.
  4. Crimson Cliffs, 75.5.
  5. Hurricnae, 66.
  6. Desert Hills, 60.
  7. Canyon View, 48.
  8. Kanab, 34.
  9. Dixie, 17.
  10. Gunnison, 13.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Richards, a native of Salt Lake City with family roots in Panguitch, lived in Moab for 20 years before joining St. George News in 2017. Jeff is a longtime journalist and secondary school teacher. He and his wife Penny are the parents of five daughters. They also have three young grandsons and one granddaughter. Jeff and his family enjoy swimming, camping, sightseeing, reading, and taking pictures.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @stgnews@moabjeff@stgnewssports

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