Many high school track stars from all over the state gathered at the massive Kelly Walsh Stadium over the weekend, hoping to outdo competitors and top their own personal bests in a variety of track and field events.
Our young, fiery athletes from Saratoga, Encampment and HEM high schools competed their hearts out and reminded us older folks of the magic and importance of high school sports from our younger years. Watching our local youth sweat, grit their teeth, smile, cheer and even accept defeat positively, I gained a sense of nostalgia and remembered how much competitive sports meant in the high school world when I was their age.
Our proud Valley schools produced a whopping seven state champions at the state meet, including one individual athlete and six from relays. Encampment freshman Alyssa Barkhurst stood out as the clear star of the Valley after receiving, not only one, but two 1A state championship titles. She received the honors for her first-place time of 13.24 in the 100 meter dash, and first-place time of 26.71 in the 200 meter dash. Not bad at all for a freshman!
Waddie Love, also from Encampment, was another top five placer for the school. He reached fourth place with his shot put throw of 42’3”.
Two Saratoga boys relay teams also brought in some first-place wins. Ben Gates, Rodrigo Escobedo, Ben Falk and Luke Lineberry received first place in the 1600 meter relay with a time of 3:33.68. Gates and Escobedo, along with Daniel Kerbs and Cameron Collamer, replicated their success in the 3200 meter relay with a first-place time of 8.31.21.
Falk also pulled an impressive second-place win individually in the 400 meter run, with a time of 51.97 in the preliminaries and 51.31 in the finals. Overall, the Saratoga boys placed sixth out of 20 2A boys’ teams, with a total of 43 points, tying them with Big Horn High School.
The HEM athletes also fared well with several top five wins. Trevor Rice scored second place in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:03.87, and third place in the 400 meter run with a time of 52.56. He also secured fifth place in the long jump with a distance of 19-7.
Chris Strauch received fifth place in the discus throw with a distance of 124-2, and runners Rice, Wyatt Phillips, Rylie Richardson and Jason Nowak placed fourth in the 4x800 relay with a time of 9:19.59. Overall, the boys placed sixth out of 17 1A boys’ teams, with a total of 31 points, tying them with Guernsey-Sunrise High School.
Moving onto the HEM girls, Haley Clark snagged third place in the discus throw with a distance of 97-6, and Brittany Dys managed fourth in the shot put with 30-4. The girls placed 10th overall with a total of 29.2 points out of the 20 1A girls’ teams participating.
These athletically talented boys and girls really pushed themselves not only at state, but over the course of the entire spring track season. I felt fortunate to be there to witness their hard work paying off, and be taken back to a time when high school sports were the most important thing that mattered in life.
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