Matt Burr Invitational Highlights

Each track season multiple invitationals are held throughout the state. It is impossible for me to cover all of them in person, but I will highlight as many as I can in this blog when results are made available. Coaches or meet directors can e-mail results of each invitational to me at jcoon@desnews.com

Here are highlights from the Matt Burr Invitational held at North Sevier this past weekend:

~ It might not be two early to label North Summit as the de facto favorite among the 2A girls teams. The Braves were quite impressive in multiple events.

Erica Birk claimed strong victories in the 800 and 1600. Birk, a sophomore, won the 800 in a time of 2:28.10 – finishing 16.13 seconds ahead of her closest competitor. Her victory in the 1600 was even better since Birk won that event over Monticello’s Macee Nielson – the top distance runner in 1A – by a sizeable margin. Birk finished in 5:21.71 – 16.92 ahead of Nielson – and is more than two seconds under her 1600 time at state a year ago.

Erica Richins swept both hurdles events for the Braves. She won the 100 hurdles with a time of 17.08 seconds and claimed the 300 hurdles with a time of 50.42 seconds. In both races, teammate Hayley Richins finished a close second.

Samantha Nicoles and McKell Richins each claimed individual event victories. Nicoles won the long jump after going a distance of 16 feet and five inches. Richins finished first in the 400 meters with a time of 1:03.49. Interestingly, North Summit had three top five finishers in both these events – as well as the 200 meters race.

~ Grand hurdler Sam Demars-Conoly pulled off the hurdles sweep in the boys events. Demars-Conoly won the 110 hurdles in 15.98 seconds and finished in 41.75 seconds to claim the top spot in the 300 hurdles. In both instances, he basted Rich’s Kalon Weston. The margin between the two hurdlers in the 110 hurdles race was just 0.12 seconds.

~ San Juan sprinter Jace Holliday is on track to make a run at a 2A title in the 400 meters. Holliday won the race with a time of 51.91 seconds – just 1.74 seconds off the time he posted at the state meet last spring. Holliday finished second in the 200 and third in the 100. South Sevier’s Michael Abbott swept first place finishes in both events – winning the 100 with a time of 11.08 and the 200 with a time of 22.71.

~ North Summit also had some standout performers in the boys races. One athlete who shined in particular was Garrett Rowser, the winner of both the 800 and 1600 meters. Rowser won the 800 after crossing the line in 2:13.02 and won the 1600 with a time of 4:57.35.

~ Rich senior Caden Anderson improved on his 1A title winning height of 6 feet and 4 inches from last spring with a 6-foot-6 jump to win the high jump.

~ Richfield’s Timmy Johnson finished second in 2A in the long jump last spring. His winning jump of 21 feet and 2 inches on Saturday tied the winning jump former teammate J.D. Michaelson posted at state a year ago.

~ Monticello’s Devin Wright had one of the most impressive javelin throws in the state this spring. Wright cleared a distance of 174 feet to win the javelin throw. To put it in perspective, that distance would have been good enough to win a 1A or 2A state title a year ago and place in the top three in all other classifications.

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