Darts and Supporters,
It was an incredible weekend at the UHSTCA (which stands for Utah High School Track Coaches Association) Indoor State Championships at the Olympic Oval. Most impressive was the amount of prs and season bests that we saw. I really feel that the consistent work that you athletes have put in during the indoor season has paid off. There have been many improvements that we should be proud of. There were 52 season bests for the girls and 55 season bests for the boys (that's 107 total for those of you who need help with the math).
I know that the indoor meets take a lot of time on Saturdays (sometimes all day long) and some late Friday nights, but I have been so impressed with your attitudes and your willingness to sacrifice your time and efforts for the TEAM. I think your attitudes are what makes this the best program in the state. Thank you and your parents for putting so much into making this indoor season successful in so many ways. We have one more big meet (Simplot) where I hope we continue our trend of improving our marks and learning to compete.

UHSTCA State Championships - both the boys and the girls TEAMS repeated as STATE CHAMPIONS in dominating fashion. The boys team finished with 107 points. 2nd place was Box Elder with 38 and 3rd was Syracuse with 35. The girls team scored 92 points to finish ahead of second place Riverton (51) and 3rd place Ogden (40). My favorite statistic is that with boys and girls combined, we scored 199 points. The next closest teams were Riverton with 78 and Syracuse with 72.
This week I would like to highlight some of our prs or "personal records" (for a complete updated performance list go to www.davisindoortrack.blogspot.com):

Girls:
Triple Jump - It was the first time for Sarah, Megan, and Addie so they all finished with personal bests, but the best part of it was that they were brave enough to stay late on Friday night to score some points for the TEAM in an event that is kind of awkward, and they had a lot of fun doing it. Sarah finished the event with our #2 all-time mark (32'01). I am sure she will be anxious to triple jump again.
Hurdles - Brooke had a rough trials race, but came through strong in the finals winning in 8.88, breaking her own state record (and pr). Megan Storey improved her pr by over 1/2 a second.
Mile - Katie Swanson came through big time to finish 3rd with a 9 second indoor pr (5:19); Hollie King had an indoor pr of 11 seconds (5:31); Carlee Petersen who is coming off of an injury ran an indoor or outdoor pr and season best by 11 seconds (6:01); and Danna Stuart improved her time by 9 seconds (6:16).
400m - Chelsea and Rachel Jackson continue to lead the way for us by improving a little at a time (which becomes more and more difficult the faster you get in a sprint race). Michelle Clouse has been working hard and ran a big pr (1:04.88).
800m - Candace finished 2nd in a close race with a season best 2:21. Talya Kussee ran a gutsy race to finish with an indoor pr and all-time #8 mark 2:28. We also had big improvements from Becca (3 seconds), Tessa (2 seconds), Lizzy (4 seconds), Addie (7 seconds), Anna (5 seconds), and Brooke Gutzwiller (10 seconds).
200m - Dani had a rough day in her other events but looked strong in the 200 - finishing 3rd in 26.16 (#3 all-time). Then we had a big group of prs from Kayla, Missy, Tara, Kelsey, Sarah, Emily, Madi, and Kayla. Nearly every girl who ran the 200 finished with a pr.
3200 - All three girls in the 3200m scored for us and had all-time marks. Katie finished 4th (11:42) Meghan was 5th (11:42) and Emily was 7th (11:58).
Both 4 x 400 and 4 x 800 relay teams were tired from their other events, but came through with wins, locking up the TEAM championship for the girls.

Boys:
Tony Hill was named the meet MVP and was awarded a Nike running watch from Salt Lake Running Company. I am sure it will come in handy timing all of Tony's running events. He finished with two prs and first places in the Shot Put (56'10) and the Weight Throw (55'10).
We also had prs in the field events from Jon Ferguson in the long jump (21'11.75) - just 1 inch away from the school record; Dalton Facer in the long jump (18'05); Mark Lindstrom in the weight throw (37'08); and all of our triple jumpers: Jon, Dalton, Kye, and Tyson. Although they weren't prs, we got big points from Alec Pectol (1st in the high jump), Conrad Daley (2nd in the high jump), and Alan Dixon (2nd in the pole vault). We could have stopped competing after the Friday night field events and we still would have won by over 30 points - it shows a lot of depth in the field events, but we also have to keep working hard, because the competition will get stronger in outdoor.
60 Hurdles - Jeff Hawkins had a 1/2 second improvement to 9.49.
60m dash - Ryan Avery was just off of his pr, but finished 1st in the meet (7.09). Marc Schneider improved by almost a second running 8.29.
1600 - we had 20 boys run the 1600m, and 17 of them finished with indoor prs. We were led by Seth's 2nd place finish (4:29). And had big prs from Brad Nye (4:42 - 12 second pr), Joe White (4:47 - 9 second pr), Curtis Carlisle (4:48 - 8 second pr), Jeff Taylor (4:51 - 7 second pr), Adam Seelos (5:00 - 8 second pr), Bradley Fry (5:11 - 14 second pr), James Stenquist (5:11 - 7 second pr), Matt Swanson (5:12 - 8 second pr), Mike Arnold (5:18 - 26 second pr), Nate Lee (5:23 - 9 second pr), and Weston Christensen (5:40 - 9 second pr).
400 - Benson Richards ran our #3 all time mark of 50.92, and Eric Johnson ran an impressive 53.85.
200 - Benson Richards came back in the 200 and ran a SCHOOL RECORD 22.63 to finish 4th. Jon Ferguson ran 23.13 - all time #4.
800 - Devin Lang ran a smart and gutsy race to finish with a 6 second pr of 2:00.82 (Davis #4 all-time); Also had big prs by Joe White, Matt Swanson, James Stenquist, Mike Arnold, and Nate Lee.
3200 - Seth Gutzwiller finished 2nd again with an impressive time for his 2nd race of the day - 9:43. Brian Alfaro turned in a 10:42 in his first time running the 3200.
Relays - we put together a solid 4 x 400 (3:36) - faster than any time we ran indoor last year. Benson Richards capped off a great day with a 49.7 split. And we won the 4 x 800 with strong runs by Mike King, Leland Stenquist, Brad Nye, and Devin Lang.

I am sure I missed some of the improvements and great performances, but I must say that overall we had 2 great days of competing. Congrats to all that have helped the TEAM with the indoor state titles.

Athletes of the Week: Devin Lang, Seth Gutzwiller, Eric Johnson, Talya Kussee, Chelsea Jackson, Carlee Petersen

Hoodies/Sweats - Money can be paid in the office any time this week. You will not get your sweats until you give your receipt to Coach West. Remember it is $20 for the sweat pants and $25 for the hoody (+ $5 if you put a name on the back).

Simplot Games - Information was sent home regarding the Simplot games. I will also be sending out a copy of the itinerary. Please contact me with any questions. We will be leaving the school at 3:00pm on Thursday, Feb 19th. Please meet at the school at 2:30. I will be contacting those who have volunteered to drive with more details. Please let me know if you can drive up or back and you don't think I am already aware of it. We are looking pretty good on rides both ways.
We will be staying at the Ameritel Inn on 1440 Bench Rd. in Pocatello (208) 234-7500. We should be back on Saturday night at around 6:00 pm. It looks to be a fun trip, but we will need all your cooperation.
The $115 can be turned in to me any time between now and next Tuesday (the 17th) along with the parent/athlete waiver.

Outdoor Track Meeting will be held on Thursday, February 26th after school in the auditorium. If this will be your first sport as a Davis High student, you will need to get a physical scheduled and fill out an A-form. Come see me any time if you need to get a copy of the A-form. Also, if you have any 'U's, they will need to be worked off before you are eligible.

Thanks again for being committed and making this TEAM great.
Coach Talley
(801) 580-8713