2014- A ROLLER COASTER RIDE
In early December at our Indoor Track Meeting, and again in February at our Outdoor Track Meeting, many Titans made the commitment to do whatever they could to make the 2014 Track and Field season a great experience on both an individual and TEAM basis. I think that for all committed athletes, that goal was met. As usual, each workout, each week, each meet resembled a roller coaster ride. There were many incredible highs followed by some lows, again on an individual and TEAM basis. The State Championships definitely bore that out as there were some incredible high points followed by some disappointments, then more highs. From an overall perspective, it was a great meet and a great season. There were many life lessons learned that at some point in our lives will validate the sacrifice, hard work, dedication and commitment.
STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Lady Titans capped off an incredible year by placing 4th in the 5A State Championships. In the seven-year history of Syracuse High, this is the highest TEAM finish in the state girls competition. Another milestone was achieved when Cidnee Davies became the first Lady Titan State Champion as she captured the 100m hurdles in a school record time of 14.64. She was the only sophomore to make the finals. Brenn Flint just about duplicated the honor as she was leading the discus competition with a school record throw of 133'11", but was passed by a Herriman thrower on her last throw. And Suzy Robertson was just a couple strides away from an individual state title as her 43.70 school record in the 300m hurdles put her in 2nd place. These three will be honored as First Team All-State athletes for their performances.
Jentry Skidmore capped off a great freshman year by finishing 3rd in the long jump (17'00.75") and 4th in the 100m dash (12.67). She was the only freshman to score in either event. Cidnee jumped 16'10 to place 5th in the long jump. Isabella Williams, though hobbled by her ankle injury, still ran 5:06.89 to finish 5th in the 1600m run. Suzy’s 15.18 was good enough to finish 5th in the 100m hurdles. This missed 3rd place by just .01. Brenn picked up a 3rd place medal in the shot put with a PR toss of 37'08.75. Though it was not a scoring event (we wish it were as we would have finished 3rd in team scoring), Mallory Ashby placed 3rd in the pole vault clearing 9'03, and Lauren Busby finished 6th at 8;00. Both were PR marks. Jentry, Suzy, Katrina Dunlap and Sharlie Dimick ran great medley relay legs to finish 4th in another school record time of 4:13.22. To cap it off for the Lady Titans, the seniors girls went out in style as Sharlie, Katrina, Mallory and Suzy all ran their fastest splits of the year to finish 6th in the 4x400m relay. Their time of 4:03.75 was the #2 mark in school history. What a great way to cap off the highest Lady Titan finish in Track and Field.
The Boys chances were hampered somewhat by injuries and some bad luck. But there were many highlights in the 8th place finish. Their point total was only two points from 6th place. Caden Call had our highest finish as he threw 53'05.25" to place 3rd in the shot put. This will earn him Second Team All-State honors. Dallas Besaw’s 49'03.25" in the shot was good enough for 7th place. Colten Yardley (5th, 15.00) and Karson Nielson (6th, 15.23), picked up good points in the 110m hurdles. Colten also finished 7th in the 300m hurdles in 39.15. Kavika Fonua’s 11.17 was good enough to finish 5th in the 100m dash. Nick Merriman cleared 12'06 to place 7th in the pole vault and threw 141'10 to finish 6th in the discus. Braiden Tovey’s 141'05 was 7th in the discus. Mason Leishman threw 158'09 to place 6th in the javelin and had a big PR jump of 6'03 to finish 8th in the high jump. The final event of the meet perhaps typified the entire season. There were some extreme highs and lows, all within 3:27.45. The 4x400m relay was off to a great start thanks to outstanding legs by Neilson and Loren Burrell. Hunter Woodhall then took the baton and ran like he was possessed over the first 200m of his leg. At that point, a collision in front of him sent him to the track. He hurried up, finished his leg strong, passed the baton to Yardley, who ran a sub-50 split to get us across in 6th place. This race encapsulated many things that make this the greatest sport. The individual efforts and sacrifices of athletes working towards a common goal as a TEAM. The importance that supportive TEAMmates can make. How a person reacts after a set-back (or crash to the track). Sacrificing individual goals for the TEAM. I’m referring to Karson running in the trials Friday, even though he knew it may hurt his chances in the finals of his events on Saturday. While a clean race in the relay would have resulted in a much better time and probably a 6th place TEAM finish, maybe there were some other lessons learned.
Congrats to all who made it to State and gave it their best efforts no matter what the outcome. Thanks to the Coaches for their support from the first gun to the final finish. And thanks to those Titans who supported their TEAMmates over the long two days. This support made a huge difference.
ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
Mason Leishman capped off his junior year in style with two top-eight finished at State. This should be great incentive to set some lofty goals for 2015. Though they have already been selected, Becca Jacobsen, Cody Kelley and Zach Griffin are honored again as they were selected to the 5A Academic All-State Team. All three have maintained a 4.0 GPA over the last four years. And they have been able to do this while still giving 100% effort to and support of Titan Track and Field.
JV/SOPHOMORE REGION
The Boys finished 5th and the Girls 4th at the Sophomore/JV Region meet at Davis. Bryant Edgerton picked up the only individual title as he won the 3200m run in 10:22.0. Nicole Kimber moved into the #8 spot on the Titan All-Time list with her PR throw of 78'00 in the javelin.
2014- A RECORD YEAR FOR RECORDS
Besides the highest finish ever at State for the Lady Titans, there were many other impressive stats that point out how good a year it really was. Nine Outdoor School Records were set by the Girls and 46 performances made the All-Time Top Ten list. The Boys had two Outdoor School Records and filled the All-Time list with 40 performances. In the average of the Top-Three performances in each event, eight of the 14 events for Girls and six of the 14 for Boys saw new records. That showed not only quality this year, but very good depth in most events. An amazing feat: Suzy Robertson has made the All-Time list in eight of the 14 events.
ALUMNI ACTION
Mayra Franco ran some great times at the Big Sky Championships running 11.67 in the 100m dash to finish 7th, and 25.12 in the 200m dash. Lindsey McFarland ran 2:18.05 in the 800m run, not what she hoped for, but still a solid season for the “energizer bunny”. Tyrell Yardley ran 46.98 in the 400m dash at the Georgia Tech Invitational.
TEAM PICTURES
We will take TEAM pictures Monday (May 19th). Uniforms at Letter Point Charts will be turned in at that time.
TITAN DECATHLON
The 7th Titan Decathlon will be contested this Tuesday and Wednesday. Anyone can enter, but you must commit to compete in all 10 events, not just your speciality. It's a lot of fun to participate in or just to help officiate and watch. Many have found some new events they are proficient in while others find they really aren't very good at many of the events. But everyone has some fun.
TEAM BARBEQUE
We will hold this Thursday, May 22nd at 5:00 in the Stadium. Parents are invited. We will try to be finished with eating and the awards by about 6:30.
CROSS COUNTRY MEETING
This will be held May 22nd at 3:30 in the Blue Room. Contact Coach Wilcox if you have questions.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
May 19 - TEAM Pictures, Uniforms turned in, Letter Charts turned in @ 2:50
May 20/21 - Titan Decathlon @ 3:00
May 22 - XC Meeting in the Blue Room @ 3:30
May 22 - Track Barbeque in the Stadium @ 5:00 pm
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