| Hard work and determination grace the face of Stephanie Cox as she races for the finish line. The Dino track team is in the middle of a successful season which is bound to bring several athletes to the state championships in May. |
The Carbon High Dinos track and field team have been running around the past several weeks competing against as many teams as possible in order to advance into the state championships to be held in May. The Dinos began the trek on April 9 when the team traveled to Mount Pleasant to compete in a region eight meet. All five region eight teams and Richfield competed in the event making the meet a huge success.
The Dinos also had their own success at the meet as several athletes completed best times in their respected events.
Scott Terry started things off for the Dinos as he led the way in the boys 3200 meter race. Terry finished in first place followed by teammate Issac Goodrich who finished in second place. Terry also had a successful race in the 800 meters in which he placed second.
Seth Marsing had a change of pace and competed in the 1600 meter race instead of the 800. Marsing placed first in the 1600 meters.
Bryan Stewart had a personal best time in the 300 meter low hurdles. Along with this time, came a first place finish for Stewart who proved to have the upper body strength to beat his opponent by inches in a closely contested race.
T.J. Potts finished in second place in the boys high jump with a leap of five feet 10 inches.
In the boys throwing events, Lee Prettyman led the way by placing second in the javelin as he hurled the spear 154 feet, four inches. Prettyman also placed second in the discus with a personal best throw of 119 feet, 11 inches.
In the girls event, Melanie Madsen easily won the girls 3200 meter run and places second in the 1600 meters. Madsen runs hard during her races, but always has a furious finishing kick for the last 300 meters of her race. Most runners usually give up or wait for the last 50 to 100 meters to try and kick it in, but Madsen does not, which makes her a strong competitor in all of her races.
Jessica Serfustine is rounding into form little by little. Surfistini won the girls high jump with her best jump ever of five feet, three inches.
Maquette Potts also had a personal best jump for this year, as she placed second with a jump of five feet, one inch.
Becky Unsworth threw 100 feet, one inch to place third in the girls discus. Unsworth also placed second in the girls javelin.
After finishing a successful meet in Mount Pleasant, the Dinos traveled to Richfield for a qualifying meet on April 20.
Instead of a spring track meet, the Dinos had a winter track meet. The weather turned out to be bad, as the ground was covered with snow. At the coaches meeting, it was decided that the meet would be postponed for a half an hour or more before the meet would start, in hopes that the sun would poke through the clouds to melt the snow. That is just what happened as the meet began slightly off the regularly scheduled time.
The delay did not seem to effect the Dinos who had a strong showing at the Richfield meet. To begin things, the girls 3200 meter run kicked the meet off. Because the weather was cold, most of the girls ran in extra clothing, but some were brave enough to run in the normal shorts and tops. Melanie Madsen placed second behind one of the top runners in the state. Madsen was beat out by seven seconds. With a time of 12:23, Madsen’s time was good considering the weather conditions. Madsen also placed third in the 1600 meter run, missing first place by two seconds.
Alicia Torres continued her climb up the ladder in the high jump competition. Torres placed first with a personal best jump of five feet, three inches. Maquette Potts placed fourth in the same event with a leap of four feet, nine inches.
Emily Rice placed fourth in the javelin with a throw of 98 feet, five inches. The grass infield was wet and covered with snow, so conditions were bad for the throwers.
In the boys division, Scott Terry placed second in the 3200 meter run. Terry’s time was not his best, but he did beat some of the class 3A’s best 3200 meter runners. Terry also placed sixth in the 1600 meter run.
Seth Marsing ran with the leaders in the 800 meter run, until the last 150 meters. At that point, the runners gradually pulled away, leaving Seth in third place.
Lee Prettyman pulled a muscle in his shoulder on his first throw in the javelin. Therefore, Prettyman did not risk further injury and did not take the rest of his throws, settling for a sixth place finish.
Jacob Burrows and some of the other Dino athletes are getting better times, and hope to break through into the top six places in the next few meets.
The next meet for the Dinos will be held on Wednesday at Emery High. The 3:30 p.m. start time should make for a warmer meet than the last one for the Dino team. The outcome should also be hot for the Dinos.