By Nick LaBuda
JHS Track Coach

On Friday, 5/15 and Saturday, 5/16, Juab competed at the UHSAA State Track and Field Championships.  The weather was cool and it rained for about 18 of the 22 hours we were at the BYU Track Complex.  Most of the time it was pouring rain.  Despite the weather, Juab athletes performed very well.  In 3A, on the Boys side, Desert Hills won the title, Stansbury was 2nd, and Juab came in 3rd with 47 pts.  On the Girls side, Juab had 54.5 pts. to narrowly miss 3rd by only 0.5 pts.  The Lady Wasps came in 4th behind Desert Hills, Cedar, and Park City.  Juab scored higher than all Region 12 teams at State for both Boys and Girls.
Juab had several track athletes finish in the Top 3 at State in their events.  The Top Girls performer for Juab was Kashley Carter who helped score 34 pts.  Kashley won the State title in the 1600m with a PR of 4:58.32 on Friday morning and then doubled up on gold medals by winning the 3200m with a time of 10:42.91 on Saturday morning.  In both championship races, Kashley out kicked Park City's Alyssa Snyder on the last lap to win.  Kashley also came in 2nd in the 800m in 2:19.13.  The Girls 4x400m Relay made up of Kashley Carter, Autumn Kay, Meadow Kay, and Bethni Jenson came in 3rd with a time of 4:09.28 to break the school record in this event.  Bethni also broke the 400m split record for Juab with a time of 59.30.  On the Boys side, Spencer Eldridge led the way helping to score an impressive 24 pts.  Spencer came in 2nd in the 400m Final in 49.41 , 2nd in the 300m Hurdles Final in 40.29, and 3rd in the 200m Final in 22.60.  With one more year left, several state titles may be in Spencer's future.  Kyler White was seeded 10th in the 800m race, but had a tremendous 200m kick to move all the way up to 3rd place to get the 2nd fastest time ever for Juab in this event with a 1:57.87.
In the field events, Juab's top Performance came from Taylor Cowan who won the Girls Javelin to take the State title.  Taylor was behind for the first 5 throws to the top seeded thrower in the State, but on her 6th and final throw she unleashed a 6 foot farther throw to win the event at 125-01.50.  The other great performances in the field came in Boys Javelin where Jaxon Allred got 2nd with a PR throw of 180-08.50 and Aaron Clark got 3rd with PR of 166-01.  In the High Jump, Autumn Kay tied for 6th to score 2.5 pts. with a jump of 4-09, Kemri Buck also competed and jumped a 4-09 but had more misses than Autumn, and Aaron Clark jumped 6-00.  In Long Jump, Autumn Kay went 15-03.50, Bethni Jenson got 14-08.75, and Jake Norman had a 19-02.00.  In Shot Put Jaxon Allred got 7th to score 2 pts. with a best throw of 42-03.75, Tyler Evans had a 36-11.75, and Katie Wickel had a 29-10.25.  In the Discus, Jessica Anderson came in 8th to score 1 pt. with a PR of 102-00.50 and Jaxon Allred came in 7th with a 131-08.50 to score 2 pts.  In the Girls Javelin, Saige Cowan came in 7th to score 2 pts. with a 105-01.50 and Belle Allred came in 8th to score 1 pt. with a 103-09.75.  In the Boys Javelin, Jackson Rowley had a 127-00.50.
Other performances for Juab athletes at State were in the 1600m (Nicole Anderson, 5:46.11; Kyler White, 4:36.89), 110m Hurdles (Jared Rowley, 17.74), Girls 4x100m Relay took 6th in Finals to score 3 pts. (Erika Stanley, Meadow Kay, Shanna Spencer, Bethni Jenson, 52.01), Boys 4x100m Relay (Diego Carmona, David Taylor, Jake Norman, Tim Covington, 46.24), in the 400m Bethni Jenson took 6th to score 3 pts. and to break the magical 60 second barrier with a 59.99, Girls Medley Relay (Erika Stanley, Shanna Spencer, Krista Nielson, Julia Allred, 4:36.93), Boys Medley Relay took 8th in Finals to score 1 pt. (Jake Norman, David Taylor, Tim Covington, Kyler White, 3:45.16), 200m (Autumn Kay, 28.14), in the 3200m Nicole Anderson had a 26 second PR with a 12:01.70 which broke Kashley Carter's Freshman Record by 12 seconds and Whitney Slater had a 20 second PR with a 12:20.22, and Boys 4x400m Relay came in 7th in Finals to score 2 pts. (Tim Covington, Kyler White, Jake Norman, Spencer Eldridge, 3:30.35).
Juab had 3 athletes earn Academic All-State honors: Valarie Burke, Kashley Carter, and Katie Wickel.