The opening day of the 6A state track meet will likely be remembered years from now as the day not one, but two high jumpers cleared 7 feet.
Westlake’s Elias Gerald and Syracuse’s Connor Saunders pushed each other to their absolute best, both clearing 7 feet in an epic high jump that both ended up attempting 7 feet, 2 inches to close the meet.
Only 11 athletes in state history have cleared 7 feet in a sanctioned UHSAA meet, and the last person to do so was Orem’s Zach Blackman back in 2010.
Had either Gerald or Saunders cleared 7 feet, 2 inches in their final attempts, they would’ve tied the state record set by Snow Canyon’s Adam Timo back in 2008.
“It was epic,” said Syracuse coach Brian Berrong after the meet. “First time in history two jumpers have cleared 7’0” in the same meet.”
Gerald ultimately ended up taking first place as he cleared 7 feet on his second attempt while Saunders cleared it on his third attempt.
Coming into the meet, Saunders had the top mark in Utah having cleared 6 feet, 10 ½ inches at the Region 1 meet the week prior, while Gerald cleared 6 feet, 10¼ inches at the BYU Invitational.
Saunders is a senior and ends his career with his name in the record books, while Gerald is a junior and will have another year to chase that 7 feet, 2 inches height.
“It was a great experience being able to jump against Elias. Both of us being able to compete high level with the crowds cheers was really something special,” Saunders told the Deseret News.
The high jumpers weren’t the only 6A athletes who posted 2021 bests. Bingham’s Dallin Thornton won the pole vault by clearing 16 feet, and he even made a couple attempts at the overall state record of 16 feet, 3 iches, which was set in 2019.
Skyridge’s Max Davis won the 3,200-meter in a fast race with the top four runners finishing in under 9:20. Davis posted a winning time of 9:15.39.
“It was exhaustion, but it was also more satisfaction I guess because I knew going in that I was the one seed,” said Davis, who said pride helped him outkick his teammate Creed Thompson to the finish line. “And then I was just so dead, but I was OK with being dead because I knew that I had done what I came here to do.”
Skyridge’s boys went first, second, sixth and seventh in the 3,200-meter, valuable points as the team grabbed the Day 1 lead with 35 points. Corner Canyon sits in second place with 26 points, with most of its points coming from winning the 4x200 and 4x800 relays.
Corner Canyon’s sprinters give it an edge heading into Day 2, but Skyridge will have the edge in the distance races.
On the girls side, Lone Peak is the first day leader with 37 team points, followed by Layton with 32 points and Fremont with 27.
Lone Peak is loaded with distance runners and should pick up a ton of points in those events on Wednesday as it looks to defend its 2019 state title.
In the 3,200-meter to open the meet though, it was Herriman’s Addi Bruening who took center stage. She outkicked Layton’s Emma Thornley in a sprint to the finish line prevailing with a 6A record time of 10:42.61. Thornley finished .06 seconds behind her.
“Everybody started sprinting like really hard on the last lap and I was thinking I’m not going to win this thing, and the last 200 meters No. 1 and 2 started pulling away and I was a little bit discouraged. I guess I caught up to them,” said Bruening.
Bruening beat her season-best time by 10 seconds to claim the state title.
Other individual winners on Tuesday were Layton’s Lia Katoa in the shot put, Fremont’s Hokulani Sagapolu in the javelin and Fremont’s Amare Harlan in the long jump.
Harlan, a sophomore, also posted the fastest qualifying times in the 100 and 200 meters and will be one of the feature athletes to watch on Wednesday.
Harlan’s top competition in both races will be Skyline senior Brilee Pontius, who posted the second-fastest qualifying times in the 100 and 200, and her 400 qualifying time of 55.90 is the best in the entire state this season.
6A boys state meet
Team scores (after 6 of 18 events)
1. Skyridge, 35
2. Corner Canyon, 26
3. Syracuse, 25
4. Westlake, 20
5. Bingham, 18
6. American Fork, 17
7. West Jordan, 16
8. Roy, 12.5
3,200 meters — 1. Max Davis, Skyridge, 9:15.39; 2. Creed Thompson, Skyridge, 9:16.63; 3. Michael Moffat, Westlake, 9:17.02; 4. Nathan Jaster, American Fork, 9:18.43; 5. Jedidiah Megargel, Westlake, 9:22.22; 6. Seth Wallgren, Skyridge, 9:25.27; 7. Davin Thompson, Skyridge, 9:26.69; 8. Nathan Hess, American Fork, 9:30.07.
4x800 relay — 1. Corner Canyon, 7:44.91; 2. American Fork, 7:45.55; 3. Skyridge, 7:46.89; 4. Roy, 8:02.55; 5. Northridge, 8:06.63; 6. Davis, 8:06.84; 7. Herriman, 8:15.52; 8. Cyprus, 8:20.00.
4x200 relay — 1. Corner Canyon, 1:28.07; 2. Syracuse, 1:28.48; 3. Roy, 1:29.76; 4. Skyridge, 1:30.12; 5. Lone Peak, 1:30.33; 6. Bingham, 1:30.75; 7. Layton, 1:31.42; 8. Fremont, 1:32.20.
Discus — 1. Tyler Poole, Layton, 154’02; 2. Syrus Webster, West Jordan, 153’02; 3. Caleb Rosander, Syracuse, 144’07; 4. Aleka Leausa, West Jordan, 141’09; 5. Wyatt Weight, Weber, 139’11; 6. Connor Saunders, Syracuse, 138’05; 7. Dominic Azevado, Hunter, 137’02; 8. Jhamen Finau, Skyridge, 136’01.
High jump — 1. Elias Gerald, Westlake, 7’00; 2. Connor Saunders, Syracuse, 7’00; 3. Carter Welling, 6’08; 4. Jonathon Smith, Fremont, 6’04; 5. Sean Matern, Lone Peak, 6’04; 6. Mason Baker, West Jordan, 6’02; 7 (tie). Gabe Fisher, Roy; Jacob Palmer, Fremont, 6’02.
Pole vault — 1. Dallin Thornton, Bingham, 16’00; 2. Nico Rubio, West, 15’09; 3. Parker Sagers, Davis, 15’03; 4. Brandon Hall, Bingham, 13’06; 5 (tie). Aaron Haws, Fremont; Jackson Hare, American Fork; Cameron Tucker, Riverton, 13’00; 8. Terrence Smothers, Weber, 13’00.
6A girls state meet
Team scores (after 6 of 18 events)
1. Lone Peak, 37
2. Layton, 32
3. Fremont, 27
4. Herriman, 25
5. Syracuse, 22
6. Westlake, 19
7. American Fork, 16
8. Skyridge, 14
3,200 meters — 1. Addi Bruening, Herriman, 10:42.61; 2. Emma Thornley, Layton, 10:42.67; 3. Reagan Gardner, Lone Peak, 10:47.62; 4. Avalom Mecham, American Fork, 10:48.60; 5. Hope Preston, Davis, 10:58.45; 6. Eliza Mason, Lone Peak, 11:03.09; 7. Avery Moore, American Fork, 11:03.80; 8. Kenedy Maudsley, Davis, 11:05.85.
4x800 relay — 1. Lone Peak, 9:25.06; 2. Riverton, 9:25.39; 3. Westlake, 9:36.25; 4. American Fork, 9:52.05; 5. Layton, 9:52.16; 6. Northridge, 9:52.39; 7. Herriman, 9:56.24; 8. Bingham, 9:59.56.
4x200 relay — 1. Lone Peak, 1:42.71; 2. Bingham, 1:42.79; 3. Skyridge, 1:42.92; 4. Corner Canyon, 1:43.05; 5. American Fork, 1:45.25; 6. Davis, 1:45.50; 7. Syracuse, 1:46.87; 8. Roy, 1:46.95.
Shot put — 1. Lia Katoa, Layton, 38’10; 2. 2. Tieri Rigamoto, Westlake, 36’04; 3. Hokulani Sagapolu, Fremont, 36’01; 4. Ilaisaane Toa, Northridge; 5. Kalo Fifita, Herriman, 35’05; 6. Malia Niumatalolo, Skyridge, 34’07; 7. Kymberly Parry, Westlake, 34’07; 8. Marin Freeland, Herriman, 33’02.50.
Javelin — 1. Hokulani Sagapolu, Fremont, 121’05; 2. Marin Freeland, Herriman, 121’01; 3. Kaylani Hansen, Syracuse, 119’01; 4. Emma Meyer, Skyridge, 117’11; 5. Lia Katoa, Layton, 115’00; 6. Tieri Rigamoto, Westlake, 110’00; 7. Mercedes Lopez, Layton, 104’08; 8. Emma Ecker, Roy, 101’08.
Long jump — 1. Amare Harlan, Fremont, 17’08.00; 2. Abby Schofield, Syracuse, 17’04.75; 3. Tehana Moo, Syracuse, 17’00.50; 4. Meredith Boggess, Lone Peak, 16’10.00; 5. Kaitlyn Richins, Layton, 16’07.00; 6. Harmonie Ragin, Lone Pak, 16’06.75; 7. Levani Key, Bingham, 16’05.50; 8. Whitley Surrage, Fremont, 16’04.00.