Lady Dinos Take Second at State *Photo Gallery*

State cross country took place on Wednesday afternoon at Rose Park in Salt Lake City. “It was a fun day; the weather was perfect,” stated Carbon head coach Telisse Martak. “The course is daunting; it is so long (3.2 miles).”

Kate Heywood (Morgan) set the pace at the beginning of the race, but Beverly Lancaster (Carbon) kept up with her. They ran the first mile in 5:50, which is “smoking fast,” according to Martak. Lancaster continued to push Heywood and eventually Heywood ran out of steam. Then, Ethan Stevens (Juan Diego) made a late push and passed Lancaster. The Dino dug deep and got back out in front, but Stevens had more left in the tank to overtake Lancaster once more for first place (19:28.9). Lancaster came in second (19:33.7) and “ran the race of her life,” said Martak.

In addition, the rest of the Lady Dinos also had great showings. They all set personal records on the course by taking off at least one minute from their times six weeks ago. Ambree Jones just missed the top 10 when she came in 11th (20:22.6). Sophia Taylor was still recovering from an injury, but came in 20th (20:54.4), while Lindsie Fausett finished 24th (21:08.8) and Mariah George finished 30th (21:23.8).

“Lindsie has really come on,” explained Martak. “She went from a six or seven to a solid four.” Fausett has made the biggest improvement by far. She dropped over four minutes off her time to help her team score.

While Carbon ran hard, Ogden had the tightest pack and finished in first with 72 points. The Lady Dinos did knock off the three-time returning state champs (Morgan) to finish second with 82 points while the Trojans took third (85). It took everyone to grab second-place since the race was so close. One example is if Lancaster would not have ran Heywood down in the first two miles, then Morgan would have probably leap frogged Carbon for second. The Lady Dinos showed great effort and results. They will bring back their entire team for the 2022 season.

For the Spartans, Adaley Lester took 47th (21:53.7) and Kallee Lake ended in 71st (23:58.5). Full results, including splits and a video of the finish, can be found here.

Ogden also won the boys’ title with 44 points. Tiger Jack Blodgett took first with a 15:50.7 time. Emery’s Jess Christiansen came in third (15:59) while Carbon’s Kobe Cruz finished in seventh (16:18.9). Rounding out the Dinos were Braxton Ware (20th, 17:07.8), Garrett Black (27th, 17:12.6), Easton Humes (31st, 17:27.8) and Nathan Engar (32nd, 17:30.2). The Spartans’ top five included Camdon Larsen in 16th (16:53.9), Merritt Meccariello in 26th (17:12.2), Jack Christiansen in 50th (17:51.1), Bryon Chistiansen in 56th (18:01.4) and Dillan Larsen in 60th (18:09.1).

The rest of the top five teams were Richfield in second (74), Union in third (76), Carbon in fourth (103) and Emery in fifth (132). Full results, including splits and a video of the finish, can be found here.

“As a coach, my goal is everyone gets better,” said Martak. “They did that. They’ve been running since June, Monday through Friday. They’ve put the work in.”