High school track: Five overall state records — four of them relays — fall during Day 1 of the 6A state meet

In the weeks that followed after the conclusion of Westlake’s girls basketball season, nearly every time Shelby Jensen went out for a run to get her distance legs back, in that moment she regretted ever going out to play basketball.

Had she just skipped basketball like she did the year before, the Utah state commit would’ve never lost her fitness in the winter and been able to build on the great conclusion of the cross country season which included a third-place finish at the state meet.

“It’s like knowing you can run a five-minute mile and not being able to run 6:30 in a workout. Legs hurt, and you thought you were in shape and you’re not,” said Jensen.

Fast forward two months, however, and Jensen said opting to play basketball was, “probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”

Not only did she get to play basketball with her younger sister one last time, but she said she got to enjoy other aspects of her life and body that she otherwise would not have. And in the end, her distance legs came back just fine.

Shelby Jensen kicked off the 6A state track meet at BYU on Thursday by winning the 3,200 race with a time of 10:43.73. It was the first state race in track or cross country she’d ever won. And the fact her future roommate at Utah State, Natalie Swain of Bingham, finished right behind added to the special moment.

Joining Jensen on the podium were teammates Millie Robinson in seventh place and Marci Havens in eighth place. They might not have been on that podium had Jensen not played basketball this winter and returned to the track with renewed focus.

“Basketball just taught me the importance of team is important in any sport you play, you have to have good teammates who want to push you and you have to be a good teammate in order for everyone to be great,” said Jensen.

Jensen’s performance was one of the highlights during Day 1 of the state track meet, that concludes on Saturday at BYU.

American Fork’s girls team leads after the first day of the state tournament after picking up points in six of the seven events contested so far. It included Clara Baker winning the shot put.

Other individual winners for the girls were Skyridge’s Miley Richards (javelin), Fremont’s Amare Harlan (long jump) and Weber’s Cami Cvitkovich (high jump). Cvitkovich’s jump of 5’09.75 is the best jump in the entire state this season.

For the senior Harlan, Thursday was her last chance to try and break the overall state long jump record that she missed out on by a quarter of an inch at the Region 1 meet last week. It wasn’t in the cards again despite a great jump of 19’02.25, but she did manage to lower her 100-meter overall state record from 23.63 to 23.56 in her qualifying heat.

She’ll be one of the feature athletes to watch as she participates in the 100 and 200 meters on Saturday.

Another feature athlete to watch on Saturday is Eden DeVries in the 100-meter hurdles. She ran a 14.24 in her qualifying heat on Thursday, a week after posting a time of 14.09. The state record is 14.08, which was set 40 years ago.

“I hit a couple hurdles, so still proud of the time but not the exact time I wanted. But it’s OK, I think all that matters is it’s been a good season and even if state ends up being bad it will be OK,” said DeVries.

She’ll have one more chance to try and break the record in Saturday’s hurdles final.

For the boys, Layton is the Day 1 leader after throwing standout Tyler Poole won both the shot put and discus. Teammate Davis Cox also placed in the top five in both events to help the Region 1 champion Lancers pick up valuable team points.

Weber’s Joshua Hamblin won the long jump on Thursday, with Syracuse’s Brevin Hamblin winning the javelin.

The standout on the track was once again American Fork senior Daniel Simmons. On the same track that two weeks ago he set a new overall state record in the 3,200 meters with a time of 8:49.05, he ran a sensational time of 8:52.14.

Though it was three seconds shy of his record time, in some ways he was more pleased.

“I was definitely trying to better myself, and conditions wise I think I did. It wasn’t this hot at BYU, it was a little cooler. Time wise it wasn’t as fast, but I was totally happy with it,” said Simmons.

He’ll try and complete the distance double on Saturday in the 1,600 meters, and a new state record is a distinct possibility if everything falls into place for the BYU commit.

Thursday’s meet concluded with the 4x800 and 4x200 relays, and a new overall state record was set in all four races.

Herriman’s boys team won the 4x800 with a record time of 7:39.63, while Lone Peak’s won with a record time of 9:11.91. In the 4x200, Corner Canyon’s boys won with a record time of 1:26.41, while Bingham’s girls won with a time of 1:41.20 — breaking its own record from three weeks ago.

6A boys

Team scores (through 7 events)

1. Layton, 39

2. American Fork, 28

3. Herriman, 27

3. Syracuse, 27

5. Lone Peak, 25

6. Skyridge, 24

7. Corner Canyon, 22

8. Mountain Ridge, 12

Individual results

3,200 meters — 1. Daniel Simmons, American Fork, 8:52.14; 2. Noah Jenkins, Herriman, 8:56.18; 3. Spencer Bradshaw, Farmington, 8:57.06; 4. Jeff Lewis, Corner Canyon, 9:13.59; 5. William Horne, Herriman, 9:13.61; 6. Jake Seegmiller, Riverton, 9:19.14; 7. Nathan Rummler, Lone Peak, 9:21.47; 8. Alex Maxfield, West Jordan, 9:21.82.

4x200 relay — 1. Corner Canyon, 1:26.41; 2. American Fork, 1:27.20; 3. Lone Peak, 1:28.63; 4. Westlake, 1:28.93; 5. Bingham, 1:29.24; 6. Syracuse, 1:29.48; 7. Layton, 1:30.32; 8. Weber, 1:30.52.

4x800 relay — 1. Herriman, 7:39.63; 2. Lone Peak, 7:44.53; 3. Skyridge, 7:51.43; 4. Corner Canyon, 7:54.19; 5. American Fork, 7:54.21; 6. Farmington, 7:57.35; 7. Copper Hills, 7:59.94; 8. Davis, 8:02.75.

Shot put —1. Tyler Poole, Layton, 58’01.75; 2. Cameron Beck, Skyridge, 55’07.75; 3. Evan Forbush, Davis, 54’11.50; 4. Jackson Stark, Syracuse, 52’11; 5. Cade Uluave, Mountain Ridge, 52’05.50; 6. Matthew Bryant, Lone Peak, 51’10.50; 7. Chase Higham, Mountain Ridge, 50’09.75; 8. Jj Rusch, Syracuse, 50’08.75.

Discus — 1. Tyler Poole, Layton, 174’08; 2. Jackson Stark, Syracuse, 157’01; 3. Matthew Bryant, Lone Peak, 146’08.75; 4. Leon Crutcher, West, 142’10.25; 5. Davis Cox, Layton, 141’01.25; 6. Adam Hawkes, Mountain Ridge, 139’08.50; 7. Kaden Miller, American Fork, 139’06; 8. Ben Brown, Davis, 138’03.

Javelin — 1. Brevin Hamblin, Syracuse, 187’04.75; 2. Davis Cox, Layton, 174’01.75; 3. Jack Burke, Skyridge, 167’11.75; 4. Kadan Allen, Herriman, 167’04.75; 5. Whit Slack, Skyridge, 162’10.25; 6. Jonathan Wheeler, Mountain Ridge, 160’11.50; 7. Damon Sirois, Copper Hills, 154’08.75; 8. Keaton Peery, Copper Hills, 154’07.

Long jump — 1. Joshua Hamblin, Weber, 22’04.00; 2. Dominic Overby, West Jordan, 21’11.75; 3. Joshua Pommerening, Copper Hills, 21’11.00; 4. Christian Perez, Layton, 21’10.25; 5. Jaxon Durrant, American Fork, 21’07.75; 6. Tarryn Moore, Cyprus, 21’06.75; 7. Jackson Ames, Corner Canyon, 21’03.50; 8. Robert Young, Roy, 21’02.00.

6A girls

Team scores (through 7 events)

1. American Fork, 43

2. Lone Peak, 28

3. Bingham, 26

4. Skyridge, 22

5. Layton, 20

5. Corner Canyon, 20

7. Westlake, 18

8. Mountain Ridge, 16

Individual results

3,200 meters — 1. Shelby Jensen, Westlake, 10:43.73; 2. Natalie Swain, Bingham, 10:46.20; 3. Hailey Low, Layton, 10:50.29; 4. Boston Bybee, Lone Peak, 10:53.14; 5. Cailey Bracken, Mountain Ridge, 10:59.79; 6. Mya Oyler, Riverton, 11:02.49; 7. Millie Robinson, Westlake, 11:02.89; 8. Marci Havens, Westlake, 11:03.95.

4x200 relay — 1. Bingham, 1:41.20; 2. Corner Canyon, 1:42.49; 3. American Fork, 1:42.60; 4. Lone Peak, 1:45.40; 5. Skyridge, 1:45.66; 6. Weber, 1:46.80; 7. Fremont, 1:46.88; 8. Westlake, 1:47.05.

4x800 relay — 1. Lone Peak, 9:11.91; 2. Skyridge, 9:25.04; 3. American Fork, 9:27.31; 4. Herriman, 9:27.49; 5. Corner Canyon, 9:30.41; 6. Mountain Ridge, 9:36.38; 7. Westlake, 9:37.17; 8. Copper Hills, 9:43.14.

Shot put — 1. Clara Baker, American Fork, 40’00.00; 2. Anastasia Witte, Layton, 39’10.25; 3. Sariah Sotele, Hunter, 39’01.25; 4. Yvonne Lealiiee, Hunter, 37’03.75; 5. Kalo Fifita, Corner Canyon, 36’09.25; 6. Kaleigh Adams, Syracuse, 35’09.25; 7. Gillian Dangerfield, Westlake, 34’10.00; 8. Atelaite Latu, West, 34’05.50.

Javelin — 1. Miley Richards, Skyridge, 116’08; 2. Kate Sorensen, Bingham, 113’10.25; 3. Mia Midgley, Copper Hills, 104’00.75; 4. Burklie Burton, Layton, 103’02.50; 5. Grace Tycksen, Mountain Ridge, 103’00.25; 6. Clara Baker, American Fork, 102’08.25; 7. DANI (Breanna) MaAlaelu, West, 98’10.50; 8. Ruby McConnachie, Hunter, 96’11.75.

Long jump — 1. Amare Harlan, Fremont, 19’02.25; 2. Aubrey Galloway, Lone Peak, 17’07.50; 3. Zoe Hein, Copper Hills, 17’05.00; 4. Tehana Moo, Syracuse, 16’05.25; 5. Makiah Turner, Corner Canyon, 16’05.25; 6. Presley Gray, American Fork, 16’04.50; 7. Ella Thompson, West, 15’09.75; 8. Mya Huft, Kearns, 15’09.25.

High jump — 1. Cami Cvitkovich, Weber, 5’09.75; 2. Loryn Helgesen, Davis, 5’07.75; 3. Presley Gray, American Fork, 5’05.75; 4. Rylee Parkinson, Mountain Ridge, 5’01.75; 5. Emma Gibb, American Fork, 5’01.75; 6. Shelby Clegg, American Fork, 4’11.75; 7. Mary Cummings, American Fork, 4’11.75; 8. Anna Merril, Layton, 4’11.75.