PROVO, Utah-Thursday, amid propitious conditions for a state track and field championship meet at Robison Track on the campus of Brigham Young University, Wasatch High athletes excelled on the greatest stage in their sport.
Temperatures in the 70’s with cloud cover and no threats of rain in the morning enabled the Wasps to achieve at their highest level.
In the first day of 5-A competition, Lexi Vernsey placed second in the girls’ high jump (4 feet-11 inches on her leap) while Quincy Olney placed sixth in the girls’ javelin (104-06.25).
Star hurdler Annie Hill is Class 5-A’s top seed headed into the 100-meter hurdles championships Saturday. She ran 15.29 seconds in the event in Thursday’s preliminaries.
In the boys’ 110-meter hurdle preliminaries, Connely Hill’s season ended as he finished 11th overall. However, he is a promising sophomore and will have numerous opportunities to compete at the state championships in the future.
In the girls’ 400-meter dash, Sydney Hales qualified for the finals as she is the #8 seed in 5-A in the event, running the race in 59.75 seconds.
For the boys, in the 400-meter dash, Mack Hinckley placed 7th overall (50.59 seconds) as he also qualifies for Saturday’s final. He is the first Wasatch boys athlete to advance to championship competition at this meet.
In the boys’ shot put, Jay Nelson placed sixth (45-00.50) in Class 5-A for the Wasps.
Kellin Olsen placed eighth in the boys’ 5-A 800-meter run (1:57.86), earning him the last possible medal in the event.
The girls’ medley team placed 10th overall (4:22.49). The Wasps were represented by Jennifer Lythgoe, Lucy Clawson, Sydney Hales and Anna Baird in this event.
To conclude Day 1 of competition, the boys’ medley team finished ninth (3:43.09). This team features Peter Meuzelaar, Samuel Lemon, Mack Hinckley and Bentley Ackerson.
The Wasps’ boys are currently tied for 26th place with 4 points with Brighton and Hillcrest. The girls are tied for 19th place with Weber with 11 points.
The track and field squad will be back in action Saturday.
