Braves,
What a week we have had. Going in to the meet the boys were projected second, only 8 points ahead of 3rd place Box Elder, and the girls were projected 3rd, 20ish points behind Woods Cross. I do those projections for a couple of reasons. First, it gives a frame of reference on where we stand as the meet progresses, and second, it helps as you ponder entries and relay assignments both before and during the meet. Here are some highlights. This was a team win in every sense of the word. We won by 17 points, which can be made up in a single event if things go just right, so every single person was profoundly needed.
On the boys side, with Jace, we had originally planned on entering him in the 100m, 200m, 300H, and 400m. We felt like he could win all four of those, but after BYU, he had not yet qualified in the 110H, although he was ranked in the top ten at state, so we had to drop an event to add the 110H so he could qualify at region, and give us the best shot at state next week. While his 400 has been his bread and butter, we decided to drop that event knowing that Blake was in line to win the 400, which of course he did, so we wouldn’t lose many points. Dallin was an obvious choice for the mile and two mile, and either the 800 or the medley to go along with the 4x400 at the end. After he ran his school record shattering time on Saturday at BYU, with his insane final lap, it occurred to me very early Monday morning to enter him into the 400m, with very little intention of having him run it. We had thought that if he managed to sneak into the finals on day one, only 10 minutes after finishing his mile, that on day 2 he could really break up Box Elder’s points, but again, we thought maybe that was a lot to ask of him. I talked to him three or four times after the mile and before the 400 in an attempt to make it very clear that it was his decision on whether he thought he could run a 53s 400 or not after having just finished the 400m. Of course he decided to give it a go knowing that it was our best chance and maximizing points. When he lined up, the announcer, Bob Wood, who has been around track as a professional agent and coach for probably 30+ years said, “and doing an interesting double in lane 1 is Dallin Mason who won the mile just a few minutes ago.” It is a strategy that is rarely used because it is next to impossible, and personally I have never seen it, but he just went out and powered through that 400 in 52 seconds to sneak in the finals. As you know, the next day he finished 3rd, displacing enough Box Elder runners to net the team 11 points that couldn’t have been predicted. If you think that is crazy, it gets crazier.
Blake is one of the best athletes I have seen at running a hard 400m then turning around and running an 800m. That is a really difficult thing to do, but he has done it extremely well over the past few years. Initially we were going to put Dallin in the medley and not the open 800, in order to ensure a state qualifying spot so we can get points out of it at state, but we decided to put him in the open 800m in order to maximize our points at region and trust in Danny in the medley (and for the record he absolutely would have come through for us). Somehow, someway, Blake and Dallin, who had just finished their 400m ran against a field of people running their only events of the day and flat out smoked ‘em over the final 100-200m on their way to finishing 1st and 2nd. I just remember the whole stadium was screaming as they came down the final stretch. This is where it goes full crazy – I mean, I’m literally laughing about it right now because what they did is absolutely insane. There was a ten minute break for the academic all-region awards after the 800 and before the medley. Blake came limping off the track with a huge blister after the 800 and when he collapsed in a pile of sweat and fatigue I asked him if he wanted to run the medley in a few minutes – a strategy we only recently considered even though I had been pondering for days about what events to put people in. Without missing a beat he breathlessly said, “I’ll do whatever you want coach.” I asked Dallin, who looked very similar to Blake the same question and he too was like, “sure!” What normal human wants to do a 400, 800, 400/800 in one day, let alone within the span of like 50 minutes?? Right before the medley I said to a wx coach, “If this doesn’t test them then I don’t know what will.” Sure enough they staggered into the medley and destroyed the field to finish first. I honestly have never seen anything like that and I still don’t know how they pulled that off. A lot of people don’t ever want to run a 400 or an 800 at a meet, but these guys did three of them in an hour. And flipped the script of the region meet. Up until the 400 on the boys side, we had fallen a ways behind into 3rd place due to our opponents running very well in a few early events and increasing their points while lowering ours.
The one race in between the ones described above was the 300H, in which Jace and Etienne kept it rolling by running away from the field finishing 1st and 2nd. At about this same time our javelin throwers were down on the field participating in their normal domination. They had 5 of the top 8 places and scored a team high 22 points in the single event. Keep in mind that we only won by 17 points. Stetson lead the way finishing 1st followed by Nainoa and Chase, each with big time clutch PRs then Garrett and Kekoa. Nainoa and Kekoa were our two throwers who scored in multiple events, with Nainoa finishing 2nd in the discus and Kekoa 6th in the shot. Those two have worked their tails off for 3 years and they came up big for us at region. Bills and Peterson boosted the team tremendously by moving into 4th and 3rd respectively while they had been projected lower. Bills told me all year how excited he was for state, but he hadn’t qualified until Thursday – it just shows what determination and confidence can do for you. Coach Munk kept calling me with updates with how the field events were going and each update seemed to give the team a boost of energy, because things just kept going well.
Our girls jumpers did profoundly well, scoring way above projection and getting Julia and Bri in the long jump to state, and Bri and Sophia in the high jump. Julia won the LJ with Bri in 3rd and really boosted the team. Our girls hurdlers got two sophomores to state, Briel and Sophia, both of whom finished 4th with a PR in the 100H and 300H respectively. We had 4 girls in each hurdle race, with only 8 people in finals and they all had a PR in the 300H, with Kiwi finishing 2nd to also stamp her ticket to the state championships. The girls day started off on a high note when Laurie and Trisha battled box elder in the 3200m for 7 laps before they both pulled away and left the BE runner in the dust. They ran huge seasonal/personal best races and finished 1st and 2nd, and moved to 3rd and 4th on the all-time list at Bountiful High. That is a pretty impressive feat for this duo with some great things to come. Our girls distance team continued their dominance from Cross Country by finishing 1st, 2nd, 6th, and 7th – contributing 23 points.
Our girls medley team had not qualified for state so we decided to put our best 800m runner on it to give us our best chance at qualifying (again, in retrospect, Abby, who was going to be on it, would have qualified as well).. Emma and Ashley ran hard in the 200 legs against some fast teams and Olivia got the baton for the 400 in last place. She moved into 3rd after about 150m. I looked away for the next 100m as I walked across the field but by the time I looked back she was flying past girls who were like a foot taller than her. She was like a bullet over those last 150m cruising past the field moving into first with a very sizable lead. She man an enormous personal best and gave Laurie the baton so far in front she was able to cruise to a victory.
There were so many great races, jumps, and throws that it is impossible to tell the story of all of them. I apologize for anything that I missed, and I know there are a bunch. After every meet I spend time updating the season performance list and the all-time lists, and this meet probably had the most of the entire season. So many big performances. I have to take a moment to give a shout out to Daniel Mason and Andrew Williams, who exemplified what it means to be a great teammate. If you are at a track meet, you can find Daniel running back and forth across the infield yelling support for his teammates. His and Andrew’s support for their teammates and completely genuine. I had told them both that they would probably be running the medley, so they were rightfully expecting to run it. They were warmed up and ready to roll when we decided to go back to Dallin and Blake in the medley. They could have easily felt disappointed, so I went to Daniel and asked how he felt about it and he responded in his typical energetic tone, “hey, whatever is going to give us the best chance to win.” He and Andrew both ended up running the 4x400 and ran their best times ever. They responded positively because of their genuine selflessness and care for the success of the team. To me, the way they responded is as important and powerful as the way that Blake and Dallin responded.
Both our boys and girls teams scored about 20 more than they were projected, which shows the heart and mental toughness of this team. Although I spent a lot of time with the highlights, this meet was not won on Wednesday and Thursday, and it wasn’t only won by those who scored the points. This performance was made possible by the work that was put in day in and day out. There are tons of people on this team who are there every day giving their best, but may not have raced at region, or who did only one race. The team win is just as much theirs as it is anyone else’s, because it is the culture of hard work and dedication that makes everyone better, and when we work together to get everyone better, then days like Wednesday and Thursday are possible. I contribute this win just as much to individuals like Daniel Mason, Shayla LeMay, Andrew Williams, Maddy Jenkins, Makayla Broschinsky, Scott and Brandon Murphy, Nina Losee, and many others who perpetuate a culture of hard work that makes the team better than it would be without them. We are a better team because of the hard work of each of you, whether you scored 38 points or 0, what truly matters is what you did day by day. We would not have won without that culture of hard work, and if we ever win without that hard work, it will be a hollow victory knowing that we didn’t give it our all.
To give an idea just how much improvement there was, I will include a list of all the PRs/PBs that occurred this week at the end of the email. There would be a bunch more in the mile, but they haven’t sent the results of the unseeded mile. I will follow up about those on Monday. Now, on to some announcements.
JV Region is on Tuesday this week at our track. We will need each of you to help manage the meet. Those who are going to state won’t be competing, except in a few cases, but will be helping us run the meet. Those not going to state are encouraged to race on last time to give yourself another opportunity to have a PR and showcase your hard work. Any parents who would like to help run an event would be greatly appreciated. I will send further details and assignments about this meet on Monday. It will begin at 3:30 and follow the standard order of events.
The state meet is on Thursday and Friday at BYU. The entire team will be excused to come to the meet and support, but make sure I know you are there so I make sure to excuse you – it will be an ex post facto excusal.
Here is the schedule for the state meet: https://www.uhsaa.org/track/2018/State%20Schedule%202018.pdf
We are in for a great final week of the season culminating at the state championships. If you have any questions, please let me know.
Coach Jacobson
Girls PRs (for the
full performance list of the season go to www.bravestrack.blogspot.com)
100H
16.51
(#16) Briel Woolley – 5/10
17.21
(#17) Sophia Loose – 5/9
17.40 Julia
Miller – 5/10
17.49 Kiwi
Hogan – 5/9
18.35 Olivia
Mortensen – 5/9
18.76 Savannah
Waters – 5/9
300H
47.25
(#10) Kiwi Hogan – 5/10
48.95
(#16) Sophia Loose – 5/10
49.76 Olivia
Mortensen – 5/10
50.71 Briel
Woolley – 5/10
55.79 Jasmine
Miller – 3/23
100m
13.42 Julia
Miller – 5/9
200m
28.45 Emma
Blodgett – 5/9
30.31 Shayla
LeMay – 5/9
400m
71.32 Jasmine
Miller – 5/9
72.75 Shayla
LeMay – 5/9
72.85 Abby
Tew – 5/9
75.81 Leslie
Brand – 5/10
76.26 Anna
Sophia Rorrer Warren
77.25 Olivia
Harrison – 5/9
77.47 Macy
Cottle – 5/9
77.95 Ingrid
MacMurray – 5/9
78.87 Savannah
Waters – 5/9
79.17 Kaitlyn
Dickey – 5/9
80.84 Makayla
Broschinsky – 5/9
800m
2:37.48 Belle
Barlow – 5/10
2:40.37 Abby
Tew – 5/10
2:42.91 Maddy
Jenkins – 5/10
1600m
5:21.26
(#7) Trisha Thompson – 5/9
5:54.53 Maddy
Jenkins – 5/9
3200m
11:23.58
(#3) Laurie Murphy – 5/10
11:27.58 (#4) Trisha
Thompson – 5/10
12:23.17 (#14) Belle
Barlow – 5/10
High Jump
5-00 Sophia
Loose – 5/10
5-00 Bri
Mortensen – 5/10
4-08 Baily
Jenkins – 5/10
Long Jump
15-06.50 Bri
Mortensen – 5/10
Javelin
100-08.50 (#8)Baily
Jenkins – 5/9
Medley
4:26.44
(#10) Ashley Kohler, Emma Blodgett, Olivia Mortensen, Laurie Murphy
– 5/10
4x400
4:16.94 Kiwi
Hogan, Sophia Loose, Briel Woolley, Laurie Murphy – 5/10
Boys PRs
110H
15.53*
(#12) Jace Jensen – 5/9
15.82*
(#14) Etienne Newton – 5/10
300H
39.39*
(#6) Jace Jensen – 5/10
40.67*
(#11) Etienne Newton – 5/10
45.48 Sam
Nafus – 5/9
45.56 Kole
Corbett – 5/9
100m
11.10*
(#10) Jace Jensen – 5/9
11.96 Sam
Mele – 5/3
12.09 Thomas
Baskin – 4/20
12.16 Nathan
Turner - 3/28
12.36 Mitch
Hadley – 5/3
12.38 Ammon
Clark – 3/23
12.42 Isaac
Candari – 3/28
12.52 Jake
Foster – 5/3
12.98 Jared
Macarilay – 5/3
13.13 Caleb
Green – 3/23
13.20 Sam
Nafus – 3/16
13.28 Kole
Corbett – 3/16
13.92 Brandon
Murphy – 3/16
14.20 Zachary
Whipple –
3/16
200m
22.08*
(#4) Jace Jensen – 5/9
25.11 Nathan
Turner – 5/9
400m
47.66*
(#1) Jace Jensen – 4/28
50.65*
(#19) Blake Nielson – 5/10
51.44* Dallin
Mason – 5/10
55.27 Daniel
Mason – 5/9
55.56 Caleb
Green – 5/9
57.10 Andrew
Williams – 5/9
58.75 Jaden
Jensen – 5/9
60.05 Jake
Foster – 5/9
65.16 Jared
Macarilay – 5/9
69.42 Jared
Smith – 5/9
800m
1:57.32*
(#6) Dallin Mason – 5/10
1600m
5:09.18 Justin
Wood – 5/9
Long Jump
19-09 Tavin
Dougher – 5/10
19-06 MJ
Williams – 5/10
18-08.50 Teran
Beal – 5/10
Javelin
155-00* Stetson
Ryan – 4/26
143-02 Kekoa
Montalbo – 4/25
142-09.5 Garrett
Buchanan – 5/4
141-03.50 Nainoa
Medeiros – 5/10
136-01.50 Chase
Taylor – 5/10
111-06.50 Brigg
Bagget – 5/10
105-08 Hayden
Munk – 4/26
96-00 Tahj
Auvaa – 4/26
84-06 Jackson
Craven – 3/16
Shot Put
36-01 Sam
Peterson – 5/10
Discus
139-10*(#10) Sam
Peterson – 5/10
Medley
3:44.62 Sam
Mele, Nathan Turner, Blake Nielson, Dallin Mason – 5/10
