If East High's Matt Stowell can continue his record-setting performances from the past two weeks into the upcoming two-day state track championship meet at BYU this weekend, the senior sprinter should conclude his prep career on quite a high note. Or quite a quick one.
Consider his feats of late - teaming with Marcos Miralles-Rivera, Earl Posey and younger brother Dave Stowell to anchor the East's 1,600-meter relay in a record-time of 3:19.16 at the May 6 BYU High School Invitational.And then at last week's Region 2 meet, Stowell set another 4A record himself by clocking a 47.79-second time in the 400, as well as logging personal bests of 10.95 in the 100 and 22.00 in the 200. All three sprint times are tops among the state's reported times this year.
For the first time, the UHSAA-First Security Bank Track and Field Championships will be a four-classification meet, with the 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A boys and girls teams competing in a single, two-day weekend meet Friday and Saturday at BYU. In the past, the 1A and 2A meet has been conducted on one weekend and the 3A and 4A meet the following weekend.
In addition to East, teams expected to challenge for the 4A title include Roy, Davis, Timpview, Viewmont and Brighton. In the 4A girls, Bingham, Mountain View, Roy and Layton appear to be the front-runners. In the 3A boys, Box Elder and Bountiful will lead the way in attempting to succeed three-time champion Timpview. Timpview moved up to 4A this year. Springville and Judge Memorial lead a wide-open 3A girls field.
Stowell is one of many prep runners who should benefit from the massive meet, with Saturday's eight finals for each event - separate boys and girls divisions in each of the four size classifications - making for one long day and more extended rest periods than at normal invitationals or dual meets. Rather than an afternoon of finals, Saturday's running finals begin at 8 a.m. and last through 6 p.m.
Scheduled to compete in the 100, 200, 400 and 1,600 relay, Stowell says he'll concentrate on individual performance (read: possible record-setting runs) during Friday's preliminary heats and on placement "for our team to do well" during Saturday's finals.
Already he is hearing the speculation that his future will probably be in the longer 800 meters.
"It depends on where I go to college and what they want me to do," he said, adding that he's leaning towards Brown and Penn as collegiate choices.
Fast times and high marks have been fashionable in the immediate Stowell family. His father, Ben, the East coach who also heads up the TAC efforts in Utah, was one of the top triple-jumpers in the nation as a freshman at the University of Utah two decades ago before a heel injury in his sophomore season forced a less-successful switch to the quarter-mile.
And younger brother Dave can keep up with his older brother in the 100 - but the 16-year-old sophomore doesn't quite have the strength and stamina of his 18-year-old older brother in the 200 and 400. Still, Dave is stronger than most of the state's other runners in those two events. He has the state's third-fastest time in the 400 - 49.05.
"By the time he's a senior, I'm pretty sure he'll break my records," said Matt Stowell.
This weekend, though, Matt Stowell would like to use the state track meet to reset the records himself one more time.