| Maquette Potts soars over the high jump bar during the Region 8 track meet last week. |
Because Carbon High is home to one of the luxurious tracks in the state, Lehi High School decided to host this year’s Region 8 finals on the Dinos home turf.
The two-day event took place May 7-8 and attracted athletes from five different schools to compete for region titles.
Carbon felt comfortable at the event and the boys team jumped ahead of the pack at the end of the competition.
The Dino boys were in second place as they entered the final two events of the region meet.
This is when the boys 4×400 meter relay team stepped out onto the track to compete for the region title. The team of Scott Terry, Isaac Goodrich, Bryan Stewart and Joe Palmer pushed themselves and dominated the relay race. Terry kicked off the event and gave the Dinos a significant lead. Each runner who followed Terry lengthened the lead which boosted the team to a first place finish. This bumped the Dinos point tally up and moved the boys team closer to a first place team finish.
The final event to take place for the boys was the javelin. Lee Prettyman reached back and launched a winning throw of 178 feet to push the boys into a first place team finish in the region for the second year in a row.
Leading up to the final round of competition, action was intense and close.
In the first round of action which took place Wednesday afternoon, Terry led things off by winning the 1600 meters in 4:33.98. Goodrich was close behind with a third place finish in the same event.
According to Carbon’s assistant coach, Stewart Foster, the race was exciting from start to finish as the lead exchanged a couple of times in the last 300 meters. In the end however, the Dinos finished ahead of the pack.
In the high jump event, Neal Maynes and Stewart placed third and fifth respectively.
Perry Laulu came in after getting his wisdom teeth pulled on Wednesday, but didn’t miss a beat as he placed second in the discus.
The following day proved to be more successful for Laulu who won the shotput with a final throw of 46 feet, nine inches.
Tyson O’Neil also had a successful performance and placed third in the discus competition.
Coach Foster explained that Stewart had a great day in the hurdles. The coaches thought that he would win the 110 meter hurdles, but Stewart started to lean to soon before the finish line and ended up in second place. The Dino athlete also finished close behind the leaders in the 300 meter hurdles to capture third place honors.
In the 100 meter run, Tyson Hackwell ran a great race and had a strong time to automatically qualify him for the state race. Hackwell qualified for the finals and finished the race in fifth place in the finals at the region meet.
Palmer had a great showing at the region meet as he won the 400 meter race in 52.49 seconds. He then went on to win first place in the final round of this event.
The 200 meters also allowed Palmer to capture a medal as he placed fourth with a time of 23.89 seconds. Hackwell followed in fifth place.
In the boys 3200 meter run, Goodrich managed to lead the group to capture the first place victory. He was followed by Terry in third place.
Terry also competed in the 800 meter run and led a close race and finished in first place with a time of 1:59.44. He was followed by Goodrich who placed second with a personal best time of 2:00.53.
According to Foster, Jacob Burrows dropped his time by five seconds and finished in fifth place with a time of 2:04.75.
“We have three boys that have a good chance of winning state this weekend, but we will wait and see what time brings,” explained Foster.
The Carbon girls also had a successful showing at the region meet last week. Overall, the team placed third in the region.
Melanie Madsen finished in second place in both the 1600 meters and the 3200 meter run.
Brittany Horrocks placed fifth in the 3200 meters while Ashley Rowley finished in fifth place in the 1600 meter event. Horrocks also placed fourth in the 800 meters after passing an athlete in the last straight away of the race. This qualified her for the state event this weekend.
Brittany Pollastro won the competition with a put of 35 feet, two and one-half inches. Michelle Ruden placed fourth in the shotput event.
In the girls high jump competition, Maquette Potts finished in third place while Cora Broadbear finished in fifth place in the 300 meter hurdles.
Andrea Newby ran to a fifth place finish in the girls 200 meter run.
In the relay events, the Carbon girls finished third in both the medley relay and the 4×400 meter relay.
The relay team consisted of Sarah Gileadi, Mikaleen Loveless, Jessica Serfustini and Brooke Herrick.
The medley event was ran by Broadbear, Herrick, Liz Bennett and Rowley.
All of these athletes will now move on to compete in the state finals this weekend at Brigham Young University. The event will take place May 16-17 and Carbon is expected to do quite well.
Each of the Dino’s coaches was excited with the athlete’s efforts and look forward to the finals this weekend in Provo.