PROVO — Pine View sprinter Jake Arslanian admitted he was hoping for a special day heading into the final day of Saturday's state track & field meet at BYU.
Unfortunately for the senior, he only ended up winning two of his four individual events, but that was just fine in the big picture. He earned 36 points for his team on Saturday, and that was more than enough to pace Pine View to its first 3A state title since 2002.
"It's special. Any state title run is special. Even so on a personal level cause I'm a senior, but for all the seniors and everyone who's been coming out who hasn't been able to grab that title," said Arslanian, who won four individual titles in Idaho last year as a junior. "I'm really excited, it's been a lot of fun this year with some great coaches and some great guys."
While Pine View ended a decade-long title drought in 3A, Maple Mountain prevailed in a tight pack of 4A teams to claim its first title.
The other three classifications all featured repeat winners, with Davis (5A), Grand (2A) and Duchesne (1A) all winning their second straight titles.
Davis' Brad Nye was a question mark heading into the meet with a hamstring injury, but he won the 1,600 meters on Friday and the 3,200 and 800 meters on Saturday. Those 30 team points proved to be pretty significant as the Darts tallied 124.5 points to hold off second-place Riverton (87 points) and third-place Syracuse (86 points).
"Here at the state meet, you want to do as well as possible in races, and I had some individual goals to win as much as I could, but overall it's for the team," said Nye. "We do everything as a team and I wouldn't be where I am without my coach and my other teammates. We cheer for the sprints, we cheer for the jumps and the throws, it's an all-around team sport."
Riverton's Cole Lambourne wrapped up his impressive career with individual titles in the 200 and 400 meters. His 200 time of 21.61 was the fastest in the state this year.
Only one overall boys state record was set at Saturday's meet, and incredibly it belonged to a freshman. Jordan's Austin Kafentzis tossed the javelin 199-05.75 on Saturday morning to break the state record set by Maple Mountain's Skyler Porcaro last week.
Porcaro had a chance to reclaim his record in the afternoon, but Kafentzis' mark held. Porcaro was just fine with that after leading the Golden Eagles to the 4A team title and exorcizing a few demons of his own.
"Last two years I took sixth both times, choked at state. Finally pulled it out this year and got the medal," said Porcaro.
Maple Mountain's only other individual victory came in the sprint medley, but it proved to be good enough as the Eagles tallied 62 points to hold off second-place Mountain View's 53-point effort.
"It's amazing. New school, great coaches, great team and being able to come out here and come together and get that win is amazing," said Porcaro.
Timpanogos' Logan Heslington was the only multi-event winner in 4A as he followed up Friday's 1,600 win with an impressive 3,200 showing on Saturday registering the third fastest time in Utah this year.
In another impressive display, Woods Cross' Cam Dopp turned in the fastest 300 hurdles time in Utah this year at 37.88.
The 3A team race realistically ended on Friday when Wasatch's Cale Strong went down with a hamstring injury. Pine View still had to go out and seize the state title, and with Arslanian's first-place finishes in the 100 and 400 and second-place finishes in the 200 and long jump, the Panthers did just that with a comfortable win over second-place Desert Hills.
Arguably the best boys race of the day in any classification was the 3A 200-meter dash with Judge's Christian Weidle edging Arslanian by .01 seconds.
Park City's Ben Saarel finished the meet with three individual titles, winning the 800 and 3,200 meters on Saturday to go along with his 1,600 triumph on Friday.
The 2A team title was still up grabs heading into the final event of the day, but Grand logged a second-place finish in the 4x400 ending the meet with 104 points and Richfield finishing in second with 94 points.
"It feels amazing," said Grand's Zak Hazlett. "Running across the finish line knowing that we beat Richfield, that's basically what we had to do. I'm friends with all these guys, I've been racing with them all year."
Grand's Spencer Smith picked up a very important second-place finish in the shot put that helped the Red Devils counter Richfield's strength in the long jump. Wesley Rodda also notched a pair of second-place finishes in the 100 and 200, with Enterprise's Sage Palmer winning both events.
In 1A, Duchesne's depth was too much as it tallied 121 team points, with Rich and Monticello tying for second with 77 points.
"It feels great, back-to-back, one of the best feelings you can have," said Duchesne's Macoy Young. "We had a lot of guys. Our freshman stepped up, our sophomores, we were good all the way through."
Championship Saturday
Saturday's high school state championship teams:
TRACK AND FIELD
5A boys — Davis; 5A girls — Davis
4A boys — Maple Mountain; 4A girls — Orem
3A boys — Pine View; 3A girls — Ogden
2A boys — Grand; 2A girls — North Summit
1A boys — Duchesne; 1A girls — Rich
TENNIS
4A boys — Timpview
3A boys — Park City
BASEBALL
3A — Snow Canyon
LACROSSE
D1 boys — Juan Diego
D1 girls —Bingham
RUGBY
Cathedral (Ind.)
Email: jedward@desnews.com