At the start of the track and field season, first-year head coach Molly Westcott said that, by season’s end, she wanted to get her veteran Mingus Union High School athletes onto the podium at the state meet, and get experience for the younger ones.
After the Division III state track and field championships on Friday and Saturday, May 4 and 5, it was mission accomplished. Three Marauders took home state titles while a handful of underclassmen got to see what the atmosphere of a state meet is all about.
“I think that goal is 100 percent accomplished. The kids that we talked about in the very beginning have gotten on the podium where we wanted them, and then all of the younger kids, they’ve all basically done a little bit of everything, and then we brought some of them here to show us what they can do, so I think that goal is accomplished,” Westcott said. “I’m really happy about it.”
A trio of Marauders took first place in one event and third in another.
Marauders senior Hannah DeVore led the way with a title in the 100-meter hurdles and third place in the 300-meter hurdles. DeVore was fifth at last year’s meet in the 100 hurdles, and did not make it to the championship finals in the 300 hurdles.
She finished the 100 hurdles in 15.52 seconds and the 300 hurdles in 46.04. At a handful of meets this season, DeVore raced alongside Payson High School junior Meredith Kiekintveld. The two were separated by one lane in both hurdles finals as well. DeVore will look to break the school record in the 100 hurdles at the Meet of Champions on Thursday, May 9, at the Brophy Sports Campus.
“It’s good, I think it pushes both of us a lot so that is really good for both of our races, and she’s really nice, so it’s nice to have someone to talk to,” DeVore said. “I’m really happy. I definitely passed my expectations. I PR’d huge in both of my events, so I’m really proud of myself. I think it’s a really good meet.”
Mingus junior Kendrew Streck won the shot put title with a personal best throw of 53-11 on Saturday. Streck placed third in the discus with a 139-08. Streck was the final thrower in the shot put. After Thunderbird High School senior Arvid Veidmark and a couple other throwers got fired up in their final throws of the preliminaries, Streck did the same. He clinched the title on the final throw of the finals as well.
“It’s just because Arvid, he had a really good throw, he PR’d, and I wasn’t up to that point yet,” Streck said. “So it just kind of fired me up to do better, so I kind of just launched one up there.
“It wasn’t as much pressure, I just wanted to do my best, and it felt good to be the last thrower to see what everyone threw before me, so in finals when I wasn’t [in first] it just pumped me up more to get a good throw.”
Marauders junior Meg Babcock won the 400-meter dash in 59.31 seconds, and took third in the 800-meter run on Friday night in 2:21.70. Babcock had focused on winning the 800 all season long, and used the third-place finish as motivation to take the 400 on Saturday. Babcock was runner-up in the 800 last season.
“I actually came into state thinking that it was my goal all year to win the [800] and do whatever I could in the [400],” Babcock said. “Turns out it was flipped, so that was really weird.
“I’ve actually had the goal to win the [800] since last May.”
Mingus junior Dallin Gordon also competed in the 800, taking 17th in 2:04.24. Freshman Natalee Rogers competed in the preliminaries of the 100-meter dash, finishing one spot out of Saturday’s finals, in 10th place, with a time of 13.12. Rogers made it back to Saturday’s competition in the 200-meter dash, taking ninth in the 27.60 seconds.
The Mingus boys 4 x 800-meter relay finished in 16th with a time of 8:39.93. The Mingus girls 4 x 400-meter relay team took home bronze. Three of the runners from the girls relay team will return next year, including Babcock and Rogers. All four of the boys team are coming back as well.
“Just seeing the atmosphere and being here is just that much more of a motivator for them to come back next year and do better,” Westcott said. “I think it’s extremely important. I wish I could bring every freshman or sophomore to do something or just be here and experience it.”
Mingus senior Jonathan Jung finished in 11th in the triple jump with a leap of 40-11.
“Overall I think it’s been our most successful meet. The kids that we expected to do great things did better than we thought, and we’ve got some kids at the podium at the top, so overall more than what we expected,” Westcott said.
