PROVO — Diane Stewart didn't feel any differently when she awoke Saturday morning. Or while warming up for the 4A 300-meter hurdles final at the state high school track and field championships at BYU. She had already won the 100m hurdles, and her main goal was to beat Mountain View star Heidi Houle in the race. What happened after the gun sounded surprised everyone.
The talented Spanish Fork sophomore, who had a lifetime best of 43.8 in the event, blew past Houle and everyone else to set a new Utah prep record with a time of 42.83. She beat Houle, who took second, by more than half a second.
"I just wanted to beat Heidi. She's great and she helps motivate me for better times," Stewart said. "I felt pretty good after winning the 100 in the morning, but I guess this was just my race."
The previous record was 43.38 set by Katie Thacker of Mountain Crest in 2001. Houle missed tying that mark by just .01 seconds. Stewart also won Friday's 4A long jump for the Dons.
Team championships were captured by Davis in 5A, Mountain View for the 3rd straight time in 4A (after
eight straight in 5A), Judge Memorial with its third-straight in 3A, Juan Diego in 2A and St. Joseph in 1A.
Also on Saturday, one of the state's best-ever female athletes, Mountain View's Heidi Magill, put the finishing touches on her prep career. She helped her team to another state title with wins in the 800m and the 1,600m relay, where the Bruins just missed the state mark they set at the BYU Invitational two weeks ago. Mountain View won Saturday's race in a time of 3:53.77.
"It's kind of sad having it end, and I wish I'd run better," Magill said.
But it may be a long time before Utah sees another athlete as talented in her specialties as Magill, who will run for BYU next fall and perhaps even a U.S. Olympic team in the future.
Davis won the 5A title for its first-ever state championship. The Darts did it with consistent performances, but with only two champions on Saturday. The 400m relay team of Ashlee Cannon, Linsey Steele, Katelyn Sprague and Carolyn Swenson won in a time of 49.15 and high jumper Jennifer Schiess also won her event.
"They worked really hard as a team this year. They felt they could do it, and they did," coach Roger Buhrley said.
Northridge's Stacie Lifferth finished her fine career with a win in the 800m and as part of the winning medley relay team. Alta senior Dana Strauss finished off her career with wins in both hurdles races, and Weber's Hawley Kunz took both sprints. Other 5A winners included Viewmont's Nicole Farnsworth in discus and Elaine Connolly in the 400; Fremont's Cassie Ricks of in the 3,200 and Weber in the 1,600 relay.
Orem's Natasha Martin had a pair of victories in 4A, taking firsts in the 100m and 200m. Vanessa Hawkins of Timpview won the 3,200m; Rebecca Wilson of Timpview was the top high jumper; and Tipaleli Fotu of Pleasant Grove won the discus. Orem captured the 400 relay, while Mountain View won the other two relay races.
The most exciting team race was in 3A girls, where Judge held off Ogden by just two points. But the Bulldogs may have to send a thank-you card to a young discus thrower from Snow Canyon. Kayleen Coop, who qualified as the ninth-seeded discus competitor, got off the throw of her life, a 111-5 effort, to capture that event. Her jump up in the final standings proved enough to help the Bulldogs to victory.
"I saw (Ogden coach) Don Hall, and he told me he was thrilled with his team's efforts," Judge Memorial coach Dan Quinn said. Quinn and Hall are longtime friends who've used the rivalry to help build both of their programs. "He said, 'Hey, we were 25 points behind you when the day started. We came back. We're going home with a trophy. I'm happy.' "
Judge got victories from Samantha Gaffney in the 3,200 and Asha Richardson in the 100, 200 and 400. Ogden won the 400m relay and picked up points in several other races, but couldn't quite catch the Bulldogs.
Other 3A winners were Delta's Mariessa Nielson in the 800; Lehi's Michelle Harrison in the high jump; Park City's Chelsea Shepard in the 300 hurdles; and Cedar's Cathy Decker in the 100 hurdles. Park City and Uintah also won relay races.
Juan Diego continued the private-school dominance in girls by winning the 2A team title for the first time, ending North Summit's two-year run. State champs from the Draper school included Alexi Phillips in the 3,200 and the 1,600m relay team of Abbie Long, Ashley Paczolt, Thea Smith and Jessica Smith. Enterprise's Sharla Platt won the 800; Kanab's Samantha Hamblin took home gold in the high jump, 300 hurdles and 100 hurdles; Juab's Cynthia Bliss won the discus; and Parowan's Britni Bassett won both hurdles races. Beaver's Heather Hillock took first in the 400.
St. Joseph won its second-straight 1A title. Atim Effiong took first in both sprints for St. Joseph's; Brittany Dehaan won the 3,200 ;and Kate Nemetz won the high jump. Waterford set a new state record in the 1,600m relay as the team of Hailee Deyoung, Annie Judd, Leslie Ann Layton and Donya Mohebali won in a time of 4:11.40. Other 1A winners were Wayne's Shanda Durfey at 800m; Panguitch's Jenna Sawyer of Panguitch in the discus; Waterford's Layton in the 100 hurdles; Waterford's Deyoung of Waterford in the 400m; and Panguitch's Amy Poll in the 300 hurdles.