High school track and field: Local athletes shine at SUU Invitational

Written by Jeff Richards
April 21, 2024
Athletes compete in the preliminaries of the 100-meter dash at the SUU Invitational, Cedar City, Utah, April 19, 2024 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News

CEDAR CITY — The Crimson Cliffs boys and the Pine View girls were the respective winners of the SUU Invitational track meet hosted Friday and Saturday by Southern Utah University.

The Pine View girls scored 99 points as a team, while runner-up Cedar finished with 82.5 points. On the boys side, Crimson scored 135 team points, while Pine View ended up a close second with 128. See top 10 team listings at bottom of story.

The meet attracted more than 700 athletes from 19 high schools. Following are selected highlights from the meet, with emphasis on top performances by athletes from Southern Utah schools:

Girls

Canyon View senior Gabriele Dabb won the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.21 seconds, with Pine View junior Jade Reimer taking second in 12.23. Drew Schwartz of Desert Hills took third in 12.54. A few of Friday’s top qualifiers didn’t race on Saturday due to a school dance or other commitments.

Canyon View’s Dabb (25.14) and Pine View’s Reimer (26.04) also went 1-2 in the 200-meter dash, with Adelyn Telford of Desert Hills taking third in the 200.

Athletes compete in the preliminaries of the 100-meter dash at the SUU Invitational, Cedar City, Utah, April 19, 2024 | Photo by Jeff Richards., St. George News

Delta senior Zoe Thomas won the 100 hurdles in 15.52, with Cedar freshman Abigail Illian taking second in 15.71. Thomas also won the long jump with a leap measuring 16 feet, 0.5 inches.

Dixie senior Ilenia DeHart won the 300 hurdles in a time of 46.79, while Crimson Cliffs freshman Brecke Boyer (47.14) and Cedar’s Illian (47.28) placed second and third, respectively.

Grand County’s Ainsleigh Kasprick won the 400 in a time of 1:00.79, while Kanab sophomore Kenidee Glazier placed a close second in 1:01.03.

Cedar sophomore Scarlett Guillen won the 800 in 2:22.20,  with Pine View senior Elle Williams finishing a close second at 2:22.61.

Grand County senior Cadence Kasprick, Ainsleigh’s older sister, won the 1600 in a time of 4:59.60, with Kanab’s Glazier taking second in 5:20.92 and Pine View senior Kate Jones taking third in 5:22.74.

Pine View’s Jones also won the 2000-meter steeplechase, an event not typically staged at high school meets in Utah. Her winning time was 7:57.80, with teammate Emmalee Williams taking second in 8:08.98.

Athletes compete in the 4×800 relay at the SUU Invitational, Cedar City, Utah, April 19, 2024 | Photo by Jeff Richards., St. George News

Canyon View had four of the top five finishers in the 3200-meter run, led by senior Lara Sorensen, who finished in 12:20.69.

In field events, Cedar’s Kiara Hansen won the discus with a throw measuring 121 feet, 9 inches, with Hurricane’s Matilyn Dotson taking second with a mark of 120 feet, 4 inches. 

Snow Canyon senior Kennedy Scott won the shot put with a mark of 39 feet, 1 inch, with runner-up Hansen of Cedar coming just three inches behind at 38 feet, 10 inches.

Hurricane junior Kate Carter won the javelin with a throw of 111 feet, 5 inches. Carter also placed third in the shot put.

Parowan senior Brentlee Mineer won the high jump, clearing 5 feet 2 inches. Taking second in that same event was Pine View’s Tori Conrad, who cleared the same height.

In relay events, Grand won the 4×100, Dixie won the 4×200, Pine View won the sprint medley, and Hurricane won both the 4×400 and 4×800 races.

Boys

Crimson Cliffs juniors Malakai Alofipo and Easton Lott captured the top two spots in the 100-meter dash, just one-hundredth of a second apart (10.77 to 10.77). Cedar’s McKoy Smith placed third in the race with a time of 10.88, while Canyon View’s Qwentyn Petty took fourth in 10.93.

Athletes compete in the preliminaries of the 100-meter dash at the SUU Invitational, Cedar City, Utah, April 19, 2024 | Photo by Jeff Richards., St. George News

Petty was the winner of the 200-meter dash, clocking a time of 22.04. Alofipo placed second in 22.52, while Lott took third in 22.60 and Cedar’s Ammon York took fourth in 22.62.

Cedar’s Smith won both hurdles races. His winning time in the 110 hurdles was 15.04 seconds, while Cedar freshman Samuel Simmons came in second at 15.85 and Snow Canyon’s Cameron Hill took third in 16.00.

In the 300 hurdles, Smith’s winning time was 39.29, with Hurricane’s Trevor Wilcock taking second in 42.24.

Cedar’s York won the 400 with a time of 49.99, with Dixie’s Ethan Jepsen taking second in 51.58.

Pine View’s Bridger Jaggi won the 800 in a time of 1:54.87, with Hurricane’s Jarren Ence taking second in 1:56.23 and Snow Canyon’s James Butterfield taking third in 1:56.83.

Jaggi also won the 1600, posting a winning time of 4:25.82, with Thomas Daniels of Canyon View taking second in 4:26.37 and Hurricane’s Ence taking third in 4:27.56.

Daniels was the winner of the 3200, leading four Canyon View runners among the top five spots. His winning time was 9:58.40.

In a specialty staging of the 2000-meter steeplechase, Jason Kerkseik of Beaver was the winner with a time of 6:40.08, with Pine View’s Talmage Wright taking second in 6:50.29.

Athletes compete in the 4×800 relay at the SUU Invitational, Cedar City, Utah, April 19, 2024 | Photo by Jeff Richards., St. George News

In field events, Pine View seniors Teancum Jensen and Colton Sam Fong captured the top two spots in the discus, with Jensen’s winning mark measuring 169 feet, 11 inches and runner-up Sam Fong’s top mark measuring 165 feet, 8 inches.

Those same two teammates also went 1-2 in the shot put, but in the opposite order. Sam Fong won the shot with a mark of 55 feet, 6.75 inches and Jensen placed second at 53 feet, 11.75 inches.

Beaver senior Taggart Harris won the javelin with a top throw of 182 feet, 9 inches. Coming in second was Kanab junior Dixon Kelly, whose best throw was 164 feet, 8 inches.

Senior Austin Eaton of Crimson Cliffs won the long jump with a leap of 22 feet, 4 inches, while Snow Canyon senior Matt Maclennan placed second at 21 feet, 9 inches.

High jump winner Luke Hutchings of Hurricane cleared 6 feet 0 inches, as did runner-up Ty Ottenschot of Crimson Cliffs.

Matthew Carroll of Crimson Cliffs won the pole vault, clearing 9 feet 2 inches, while teammates Easton and Ottenschot both cleared 8 feet, 8 inches to take second and third, respectively.

Athletes compete in the shot put during the SUU Invitational, Cedar City, Utah, April 19, 2024 | Photo by Jeff Richards., St. George News

In boys relay events, Crimson won the 4×100, Pine View won the 4×200 and the 4×800, Beaver won the 4×400 and Parowan won the sprint medley relay.

Next weekend (April 26-27) will be the Dixie Invitational hosted by Dixie High School.

SUU Invitational, Cedar City 

April 19-20, 2024

Girls top 10 team scores

  1. Pine View, 99.
  2. Cedar, 82.5.
  3. Hurricane, 78.
  4. Grand County, 75.
  5. Canyon View, 61.
  6. Dixie, 46.
  7. Millard, 32.
  8. Crimson Cliffs 27.5.
  9. (tie) Parowan, 26.
  10. (tie) Desert Hills, 26.

Boys top 10 team scores

  1. Crimson Cliffs, 135.
  2. Pine View, 128.
  3. Cedar, 80.
  4. Canyon View, 76.
  5. Hurricane, 55.
  6. Beaver, 53.
  7. Snow Canuon, 35.
  8. Millard, 32.
  9. Dixie, 29.
  10. Desert Hills, 25.

Photo Gallery

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2024, 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. Jeff and his family enjoy swimming, camping, sightseeing, reading, and taking pictures.

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

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!