BYU Invitational thoughts
I have mixed feelings about this year’s edition of the BYU Invitational.
There were many exciting races and events, but the new format meet officials used to determine the winners ended up being seriously flawed. In too many events, smaller school athletes ended up getting the shaft. All five classifications competed head-to-head – which is nice in theory – but several events featured 1A-2A “winners” who actually finished 4th or 5th in the final section.
In my opinion, it would have been much better to either have kept things how they were last spring or adopt a format similar to what the Arcadia Invitational and Davis Invitational use. In such a format, athletes compete in predetermined sections based on seed times coming into the meet. Such a setup allows clear winners to be crowned in each section.
The quasi-playoff format of this year’s BYU Invitational was unpopular with many coaches I spoke with at the meet. If it remains unchanged in 2011, don’t be surprised if several schools forego a trip to Provo and stage an alternate invitational elsewhere that weekend.
Now that I’ve gotten that rant out of my system, here are some other thoughts on the state’s biggest regular-season track meet:
No one enjoyed a finer weekend in Provo than Brighton standouts Aubrey Hale and Kylie Hirschi.
Hale, of course, shattered her own state record in the 100 meters after winning the race in 11.85 seconds. Hirschi later joined her teammate in the state record books after winning the 300 hurdles in 43.29 seconds to set a new 5A record in that event. That was a fantastic accomplishment for both girls and both are a virtual lock to earn state titles in the 100 and 200 meters and the 100 and 300 hurdles.
Both athletes have earned track scholarships. Hale will run for BYU and Hirschi will be headed to Utah State.
Speaking of state records, don’t be surprised if a few more go by the wayside at the state meet in two weeks – assuming the weather is warmer. My predictions on which athletes could do it are Orem senior Kyle Turner and Mountain View senior Kelsey Brown.
Turner and Brown both nearly made records fall in the 110 hurdles and 800 meters respectively. Turner came up just 0.34 seconds short of breaking a 19 year-old 4A record in the 110 hurdles after smacking a hurdle with his knee near the end of his race. Brown battled bronchitis all week and still ran 2:10.66 in the 800 — a time that fell just 0.15 seconds shy of the state record.
North Summit finished as the top 1A-2A girls team and the collective performance from the Braves just confirms how tough they will be to beat at the 2A state meet.
Erica Birk was the top 1A-2A finisher in the 1600 and 3200. Birk clocked in at 5:09.97 in the 1600 and 11:24.45 in the 3200. Samantha Nicholes finished first among 1A-2A athletes in the 100 and 200 meters – finishing in 13.18 and 27.13 seconds respectively in those races.
Enterprise is probably the only realistic challenger to North Summit because of standouts Tressa Lyman and Jodi Williams. Lyman topped the 1A-2A girls in the 300 hurdles and 800 meters. Williams had the best high jump among the smaller school athletes.
Windy conditions were bad enough during the boys long jump on Friday to nullify some solid marks. That ended up being especially bad news for Wasatch Academy’s Lucas Haroldsen.
Haroldsen went 23 feet and 3 inches on his fourth jump of the day. Such a mark, if not wind-aided, would have handed the Tigers standout the 1A state record for the long jump.
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