Heading into last week’s state meet, Miners head track and field coach Dave Yocum said that individual success from boys and girls team stars Eli Warner and Mallory Carter would lead to team success.
With two race wins from Warner, in the 100m and 4x200m relay, at state, held at BYU’s Clarence F. Robinson Track, and one from Carter in the 400m, Yocum was right — Park City was set up for success.
Other Miners runners like Brogan Price, Oliver Timpson and Owen Osorio had strong meets, earning points in races like the 110m hurdles, 300m hurdles and 200m.
In the end, Park City finished with 75 points on the boys side, good for third place, and 36 on the girls side, good for a tie for eight.
The team finished fourth overall, with Mountain View earning the state title with 165 team points.
“We had almost a perfect day on Friday. We couldn’t have asked for anything more,” Yocum said. “Unfortunately, Mountain View just had a better day on the first day.”
Yocum congratulated Mountain View’s athletes and coaches on their achievement. He said they’re a nice team, and they and the Miners often cheer each other on.
The coach said he knew Warner would be one of the school’s top sprinters from day one.
“He’s the cornerstone of this team,” Yocum said. “He ran one of the top times in the history of the 100m in Utah.”
Yocum said he is hopeful Warner will continue running at Tufts University in the Boston area, where he is signed on to play football.
He expressed the same pride for Carter and her role on the Miners team.
“She’s very close already to the best that Park City’s ever produced,” Yocum said. “She could be very, very, very good.”
Yocum sees it as his and his staff’s job to not overtrain or race Carter as she improves. He said there is already interest from a number of schools for her to run at the college level.
Yocum is proud of the buy-in to his program. He has been with Park City for over a decade and has seen consistent improvements. With the Miners returning stars like Carter, Price and Timpson next season, there is optimism the team could further contend for state titles.
“It’s been a process, it didn’t happen overnight,” Yocum said. “It’s kids buying into the fact that it is hard work.”
Yocum tabbed Max Andres, Sam LaBrin and Tatum Flach as athletes who will likely step up next season and fill the shoes of Warner and other departees. Flach is one of Park City’s star distance runners but sat out state with an injury.
“I think we’re just really trying to expand the program,” Yocum said about the offseason. “We will work on some of our deficiencies, which would be jumps and throws.”
He reiterated how proud he is of this year’s group for toughing out obstacles like their track being under renovation all season and having to drive to the University of Utah or North Summit High School to practice.
“They really overcame a lot with not having a track,” Yocum said. “We don’t realize how much it wears on the kids. … That resiliency is going to pay off in the long run.”