If this weekend was any indication, it should be a red-letter year for the Park City High School track team. The Miners kicked off the season with a number of individual victories and top finishes at the Timpview Invitational in Orem and look to continue the trend.
“I don’t want to jinx it early,” head coach Jeff Wyant said, ” but it looks like they are coming together well and could be very successful”
Park City was the only 3A team among a number of 4A division squads at the meet, but Wyant wants to make sure that he is exposing his team to as much competition as he can all season long. Also, with weather limiting the quality of Park City practices, early meets in sunnier areas offer the team valuable time on the track.
Perhaps the biggest cause for celebration was in the field events, where the Miners finally have some competitors this year. After a few rough years with few throwers and jumpers, Park City got a shot in the arm this year when Tom DeLeone joined the coaching staff. An experienced field-event coach, DeLeone was able to quickly recruit and train a sizable contingent of participants who are already performing well, led this weekend by a second place in the shot put by Cash Knight.
“We scored more points in the field events in this meet than in the entire last year,” marveled Wyant.
There was also plenty of excitement among the female distance runners, who quickly established their dominance by winning the mile, two-mile and 800-meter races. It was a bit of a gold medal trade-off for the Miners as Gillian Gorelik won the mile and took second in the 800 meters, while McKenzie Snyder won the 800-meter race and took third in the mile. In the two mile, Ali Williams and Becca Cunningham tied for first place. The girls have been so dominant at the beginning of the season that it has almost become an issue for the Park City coaching staff. Wyant said that they have had to tell the girls to pace themselves when they break away in a pack in races so they don’t overextend themselves just to beat one another. With a long season and more challenging races ahead, Wyant wants to keep everyone healthy.
“We’ve had to spread it around,” he said. “We don’t need them hurting themselves running against one another.”
Among the male sprinters, Erik Walker and Blake Thorne finished first and second, respectively, in the 100- and 200-meter races.
“There’s a legitimate shot that those guys could finish very high at State,” Wyant said.
In fact, if things continue this way for the Miners, there could be a legitimate shot for a lot of the athletes this season.
“We’ve got a well-balanced team,” Wyant said.