State track meet thoughts

I covered the Utah high school state track meet for the third straight year this weekend and I have to say in that time I have witnessed few performances that rival what Brighton senior Kylie Hirschi accomplished on Saturday.

Hirschi pulled off an almost unthinkable feat when she won both hurdles races, the 400 meters and the 800 meters. Winning state titles in any four events is a fantastic accomplishment for any athlete.

Still, Hirschi’s feat was much more special because it demonstrated just how incredible her athleticism and conditioning is. Her final three events were staged one after another with only a token amount of recovery time in between each one.

Another thing that made it extra special: It was just Hirschi’s second 800 and just her third 400 race all season.

Brighton coach Knute Rockne told me repeatedly that Hirschi is an once-in-a-lifetime athlete and I totally agree. Utah State has a real gem in her.

Hirschi’s best friend and Bengal teammate Aubrey Hale sums things up perfectly.

“She’s a beast,” Hale said. “She is a perfect athlete. I’m amazed by her.”

Other thoughts from the 2010 state track meet:

~ I’m predicting right now Avery Calton runs off four state titles in four years in either the 1600 or the 3200 or maybe both.

Calton has been nothing short of phenomenal as a freshman at Ogden. She owns a deadly kick that makes her capable of overtaking practically any distance runner.

After winning the 1600, 3200 and finishing second in the 800, Calton will go into this fall and next spring as the athlete to beat in her classification.

And Calton knows she will have a huge target.

“I just got to keep going,” Calton said. “The pressure is on now.”

~ One of the best finishes I was unable to mention in Sunday’s paper was the 4A boys 3200 race. Box Elder’s Braden Perry edged out Maple Mountain junior Spencer Hanson by just .08 seconds to win the event. Perry finished in 9:31.21 and Hanson crossed the line in 9:31.29.

Hanson can’t feel too bad about the loss though. He was the 4A 1600 winner on Friday and he will certainly be among the favorites when next season rolls around.

~ It is always fun to watch state champions come back and repeat as winners in the same events the next season. But it’s equally exciting to see an occasional upset here and there.

I chronicled a few on Saturday and Sunday in print. One upset victory that I didn’t get a chance to go in depth on was the 2A 100 hurdles race.

That race saw North Summit’s Erica Richins knock off Enterprise’s Tressa Lyman — winning in 15.89. Richins knew Lyman was heavily favored in both hurdles races and dedicated herself to going full out to beat her.

“I’ve been working hard all year,” Richins said. “She’s a great runner and I knew I’d have to put in a good time to beat her.”

Richins’ win lit a fire under Lyman the rest of the afternoon. She came back and won her remaining two races — including a dramatic upset of North Summit’s Erica Birk for the 2A 800 title.

~ You might have missed it, but a handful of sprinters completely dominated the 100 and 200 meters in all five classifications among the boys athletes on Saturday Only 3A produced different winners in those races.

Copper Hills senior Chandler Johnson stood out the most to me with his sweep because he was not the primary title contender in his events at the start of the spring.

Johnson spoiled what was supposed to be a comeback day from injury for Riverton’s Parker Bluth when he withstood Bluth to win the 5A 100 title in 10.98 seconds. Johnson followed up by winning the 200 in 22.12 seconds. It was one of the better finishes in any boys race because the Grizzlies sprinter edged out Alta’s Skylar Burningham by .04 seconds to win. Burningham took third at 22.16 and Bluth claimed third at 22.21.

Burningham was not denied a state title altogether though. He had tasted victory in the 5A 400 race earlier when he finished in 48.40.

~ Kudos to Duchesne’s Sidni Fabrizio for claiming state titles in three events.

Fabrizio won both the 1A high jump and the 100 meters title on Saturday after she defended her state title in the long jump on Friday. I did not mention it in my article originally, so I thought I would recognize her accomplishment in this space.

~ There were few surprises in the team title chases because virtually every school that won was a title contender or the primary favorite going into the state meet.

I guess the most surprising development for me was seeing Davis finish second to Riverton in the 5A boys race and 5A girls race. The Silverwolves edged the Darts by 1.5 points on the boys side to claim that title and ran away with the girls crown entirely.

You have to go back to 2003 to find the last time Davis didn’t win either the boys or girls team title in 5A.

—