| Bryan Stewart clears a hurdle during the Carbon Invitational last week. Stewart qualified for the final round of hurdle action, but was unable to participate in the event due to prior school engagements. Carbon coach, Stewart Foster feels that the young Dino athlete would have been able to place quite high in the final standings if he had competed. |
The Carbon High track and field team hosted their second invitational meet of the year last weekend as teams from across the state competed for top bragging rights.
The event, which took place April 11-12 allowed athletes to compete at one of the best facilities in the state. The outcome was successful for the Dinos who are proud to call this field their home.
According to assistant Dino coach, Stewart Foster, at the end of the first day, points were tallied up and both the Carbon boys and girls teams were leading the way into the second of action.
It looked as if the Dinos would sweep the winners board, but approximately 20 athletes did not compete in Saturday’s event because of prior school engagements.
The boys team did manage to hold on tight however and captured the first place honor out of the 11 teams who competed in the meet.
The boys team was lead by Isaac Goodrich who was the second leading point getter out of all the boys at the meet. Goodrich placed first in the 3200 meter run and second in both the 800 meters and 1600 meters.
In the 1600 meter run which took place opening day, Scott Terry placed first with a time of 4:33. This time qualified Terry for the state championships to take place in May at Brigham Young University. Terry had already qualified for the 800 meter two weeks ago at Carbon’s first invitational meet.
Perry Laulu placed seventh in points for all male participants. According to the assistant coach, Laulu was in top form mentally and physically as he hurled the discus to a first place finish at the invitational.
Laulu also placed second in the shotput. He lost the first place finish by one inch. His throw of 44 feet, seven and one half inches qualified him for an automatic place at the state meet.
Joe Palmer placed ninth in points at the event amongst all the male athletes. Palmer finished in second place in the 400 meter run, third in the 800 meters and sixth in the 200 meter run.
Palmer also anchored the 4×400 meter relay which the team captured a second place finish.
Other members of the relay team included Goodrich, Jacob Perez and Chris Cook. Because two original relay member were not in attendance, Perez and Cook filled in and according to Foster, did an excellent job.
In the jumping events, Neal Maynes placed third in the long jump and second in the high jump event.
Dinos jumping coach, Jimmy Jewkes was impressed by the performance and looks forward to greater improvements each week.
The Dino throwers are still holding their own according to Foster. Lee Prettyman placed first in the javelin and fourth in the discus event.
Justin Blackham finished in sixth place in the javelin competition and Cook and Randy Jones followed close behind.
Bryan Stewart and Jan Jorgensen qualified in the hurdles and sprints opening day, but due to other commitments, neither could run in the finals on Saturday.
Foster suspects that both athletes would have finished high in the standings if they were able to compete.
Tyson O’Neil put the shotput into orbit to place fourth overall at the Carbon meet while Dustin Howa, Chase Julian and Daniel Colonna competed well in the sprints.
The lady Dinos were in first place at the end of the day on Friday, but they ended up in third place out of 11 teams by the time the event concluded.
Long distance Dino runner, Melanie Madsen placed fourth in the 1600 meter event opening day. When she came back the second day to run the 3200 meters, she was determined to win the event, explained Foster.
“At the mile and a quarter mark, Madsen was running with three other girls who had separated from the pack of 20 others. She fell off the edge of the track and lost contact with them. She did manage to get back up and finished in fourth place. Most people would have laid there and cried, but not Madsen. In fact, coach Ellias Perez thinks she is his hero,” explained Foster.
Jana Burrows placed sixth in the 800 meter run while Brittany Horrocks finished in sixth place in the 3200 meter event. Both girls also ran in the 4×100 meter relay.
In the 4×400 relay, Sarah Gileadi, Andrea Newby, Allie Stewart and Amie Stewart placed second.
The Stewart sisters also placed fourth and fifth in the 100 meter hurdles while Amie finished in fifth place in the 300 meter hurdles.
In the throwing events, Brittany Pollastro finished in first place in the shotput with a throw of 35 feet, seven inches. She was followed by Michelle Ruden who finished in fourth place.
Pollastro’s throw also surpassed the state qualifying mark for a second time this year.
In the girls discus, Marsha Jensen finished fifth overall.
Jessica Serfustini placed first in the ladies high jump event. While doing so, Serfustini also qaulified for the state event next month.
Maquette Potts followed Serfustini by placing third in the high jump event.
A special event was conducted which allowed coaches to compete against one another. Dino coach, Melissa Pollastro competed in the coaches and weight throws relay and lead off on the first 100 meters. She was able to blow past everyone, including the men who competed in the event. The entire Dino team watched as they cheered her on.
The team which Pollastro competed on eventually finished in first place in the event.
The weekend proved to be successful for the hosting team. The Dinos now look toward picking up where they left off this Tuesday as they compete in Castle Dale in a state qualifying meet.