KAYSVILLE — This was not supposed to be a season debut for Marcus Payne. The Cottonwood sprinter was supposed to make his season debut at the Cottonwood Relays in mid-March until uncooperative weather forced it to be rescheduled.
After growing tired of waiting around, Payne took it upon himself to get approval from his coach and Davis coach Corbin Talley to run in the Davis Super Meet. The Colts senior resolved to race — even if it meant going to Davis High alone.
"It's hard to wait for meets because you anticipate them," Payne said. "You get excited. But when they go away, you got to get ready for the next meet."
The belated season debut was memorable. Payne captured individual titles in the 100, 200 and 400 meters on the final day of the Davis Super Meet Wednesday afternoon.
His best performance came in the 200 when he crossed the finish line with a time of 22.13 seconds — three tenths of a second short of matching the meet record.
Payne came to Kaysville thinking the meet would offer him better competition. Running well against a field of mostly 5A runners left him feeling like he's on the right track.
"This is my first meet, so I'm happy with what I've done," Payne said. "Just got to keep getting better. Keep working."
Davis, once again, took home top team honors. The Darts scored 203 points to earn their fourth straight boys title in the annual meet. Fremont used strong finishes in the relays, sprints and mid-distance races to claim second place with 129 points.
Bryce Hall stood out for Davis individually. Hall claimed the discus title with a distance of 161 feet and 4 inches and won the shot put with a distance of 57 feet and 11 inches.
The Darts did not win many individual events, but still accumulated bunches of points by having top five finishers in every event.
"Our depth is always our strength and our balance too," Talley said. "The kids are doing a good job. They're working hard. They're passionate about it. They're dedicated and push each other as teammates."
Hyrum Iverson just fell short of sweeping the hurdles. The Box Elder senior won the 300 hurdles with a time of 39.86 seconds. Fremont's Jon Goble edged out Iverson in the 110, finishing in 14.68 seconds. Iverson crossed the finish line in 14.73.
Iverson's time in the 300 was his best of the year so far. He had no trouble pulling away from his 5A opponents before the final hurdle.
The Bees hurdler felt confident about his chances for a victory from the start.
"If you come out afraid, then you are always going to expect to lose," Iverson said. "And if you expect to lose, you're going to lose."
E-mail: jcoon@desnews.com