When Kaysha Love, Lauren Baxter, Shea Martinez, Sarah Feeny, Brenna Porter and Megan Glasmann step onto the track at the girls state championships this weekend at BYU, pay attention.
State records are in jeopardy of falling whenever any of the Super Six step on the track.
Davis’ Martinez, Sky View’s Porter and Park City’s Glasmann already own state records in the 800 meters, 300 hurdles and javelin, respectively. The three will be looking to break their own state records this weekend in a meet where as many as eight state records might fall.
As exciting as the pursuit of individual glory and state records will be, so too will the chase for team titles.
Excluding what should be an easy 5A three-peat for the Davis girls, team titles in the other four classifications all have the potential to come down to the final few events.
In 5A, though, the only drama will be for second place. Led by Martinez, Bailee Carling, Christine Van Brocklin and Jessica Richardson, Davis’ girls could win as many as 10 events this weekend en route to the team title.
Martinez set a new state record in the 800 meters at the BYU Invitational two weeks ago with a time of 2:08.40. She’s posted times of 2:08 nine times this year, but 2:06 or 2:07 are the times she’s eying this weekend.
“If the conditions are OK we’re hoping she can go faster,” said Davis coach Corbin Talley.
Bingham and Fremont should be neck and neck all meet long for second place.
Expect the same drama out of upstart Herriman and defending champion Orem for the 4A team title.
“Our girls team is very solid. We have girls in every event, but there are a lot of really good teams out the there and I expect state to be a really tough battle,” said Orem coach Andy Jacobs, who believes Herriman is a slight favorite.
While Herriman will lean heavily on freshman Kaysha Love in the sprints and sophomore Lucy Biles in the distances events, Orem hopes to ride its depth to a team title.
The 3A team title will be a three-horse race between Ogden, Park City and Cedar, but Park City coach Jeff Wyant gives the nod to sprint-heavy Cedar.
“Ogden and us get our points in the same events. We will tend to knock each other from points,” said Wyant.
Between Megan and Chrissy Glasmann, Park City should pick up a lot of points in the javelin and discus, which could push them over the top.
In 2A, defending champion North Summit is the slight favorite ahead of Richfield, but the Braves certainly won’t run away with the title like last year. In fact, they’ll need a strong meet from competitors like Erica Richins and Kaitlyn Rowser to hold off Richfield.
Panguitch is the favorite in 1A despite losing last week’s region meet to Wayne by nearly 30 points. Coach Troy Norris intentionally rested several athletes last week in an effort to qualify as many athletes to state, but nobody will be resting this weekend.
“You worry a little bit because we’re really young. We’re all pretty much freshman and sophomores, but I think we’ll be all right. We’ve got to do well in the distance races, and we’ll do alright,” said Norris.