Can You Win a State Title on Distance? (corrected)

Conventional wisdom says you can't win a state title on distance, but conventional wisdom hasn't met Sarah Feeny and company. Photo by Alan Versaw.

Last year, Springville barely toppled Ogden for the 4A girls state title. This year, Ogden won't be 4A; they'll be the new kid in the block on 3A. It probably doesn't help that the new kid on the block arrives with enormous potential to overturn the established order of things in 3A.

If you look at the performances of Sarah Feeny, Jamie Stokes, and Avery Calton from last year's state meet, it's not hard to see how Ogden could be very competitive in 4A once again this spring, not to mention 3A. But, if you're figuring on the damage being limited to what those three can do, you've miscalculated. A closer look at this winter's indoor results reveals that Ogden had six girls run sub-12 3200s in the last six weeks. So, add Sara Mathewson, Melissa Garrett, and Jessica Sams to the list of suspects. After you've added them to the list of suspects, stop and ask yourself how many schools around this country have six girls run sub-12 in the 3200 in one season. Add the elevation factor and the size of Ogden High School into your calculations and be even more impressed.

Somebody in Ogden has to be seriously wishing that Utah had a state 4x800. A lot of folks in 3A have to be seriously wishing that Ogden had stayed in 3A. But, neither wish matters much right now. Ogden is in 3A to stay--at least for the time being--but they won't have the advantage of getting to contest a 4x800 at the state meet.

As big as distance figures to be for Ogden this spring, it won't be strictly limited to distance. Thrower Cassidy Callahan figures to add some critical points to Ogden's cause as well. McCall Jensen definitely has potential to score points in the long jump.

If Ogden lives up to potential, they will be very difficult to beat this spring.

Those with the best chance of beating them include Delta and Cedar. Park City, traditionally a school very strong in distance, figures to be the school most impacted by Ogden's drop in classification. It will be a struggle for the Miners to have as solid of a state meet as they had last year when they represented very well in the distance events.

Cedar was last year's runaway winner at the state meet, but Ashley Gray, Aubrey Bryson, and Jordan Wolf are done scoring points for Cedar High. Things figure to be a little more challenging for the Redmen this spring, though it should be conceded that high-tier teams tend to remain high-tier teams regardless of who graduates.

Kayla Shakespeare is the big returning point producer for Cedar, a sprint and long jump specialist. Aimee Bryson, however, has enjoyed a very productive indoor season, including posting the best 400 time in the state this winter. The version you see of Aimee Bryson this spring is likely to be a stronger, faster version of the Aimee Bryson seen last spring. Sprints will continue to be a strength for Cedar, but distance has served the Redmen will in the past and should not be too quickly dismissed this spring, either.

Delta has a lot coming back and the Rabbits figure to create some trouble at the top. Trish Adams (long jump, 300 hurdles) and Kaity Diaz (high jump and both hurdles) figure to be doing most of the damage. Adams posted a 16-3 long jump in the indoor season, but has gone out beyond 17 feet in the oudoor season. The Rabbits are sprint and hurdle strong and will need to pick up some relay points to make a credible run at the state title this spring.

Park City? The Miners don't dig in the ground much these days, but they do run distance. Though only a freshman, Alyssa Snyder has already made a name for herself in the indoor season. She will join Mckenzie Snyder, Alisse Walker, and Emily Schmitt as the heart of a very good distance group. There are a few more who, from the looks of the state cross country results, could make a further impact in the distance results in state track. Park City figures to score points in distance, but the total will undoubtedly be muted by Ogden's presence in the distance events. Right now, Ogden figures to get the best of it, but Park City is too rich in distance tradition to be dismissed lightly.

Bear River is another strong 3A program worth a longer look. Sprinter Kaitlyn Wilcox and hurdler Kapri Beus figure to take the Bears a long way, but it will likely take the emergence of at least one more big point producer for them to make a strong bid for a state championship.

To take a closer look at the 2011 rankings from which the scores of the virtual meet below were drawn, here's what you do:

1. Click on Stats from the light blue navigation bar above.

2. Click on High School Girls from the Outdoor T & F selection area.

3. Set the year to '11, Returners? to Yes, and select UHSAA 3A from the League dropdown.

That will take you to the leaderboard for returning track and field athletes from 2011. Peruse the events at your leisure.

2011 UT HS F Outdoor Track Team Scores (Returners Only)

Calculated as of February 28, 2012

These rankings were calculated by scoring the rankings as a meet. We took the individual rankings and scored them as a normal meet: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.

Athletes whose graduation years are unknown were left out of the list.