Track team prepares for high-stepping year

Josie Luke

For the Emery High Track Team, warmer weather and thawing snow brings the beginning of their track season. This year’s team began practice last week looking forward to another amazing season.

In track and field, there are 16 events for both boys and girls to compete in, and each school can send four in each event, so Coach Darrell Gardener hopes that many of the almost 70 students who have shown up to practice will stay with the team for the entire season. He explained that last season they started out with about the same number of athletes, but they ended up with 30 to 35. “It’s sad, but when things get tough, some quit,” he revealed.

Coach Gardner explained that to begin each practice, the team runs a couple of laps around the track to get warmed up, after that they do drills, from doing 100 meters of “high knees” and “bounding,” to acceleration runs, all before actually doing workouts for their events.

The track team has four coaches, two for girls and two for boys. The girl’s coaches are Kevin Reynolds and Melissa Esplin and the boy’s coaches are Gardner and Kristy Guymon. Coach Gardner enjoys his time coaching the students. “We’ve got great kids. That’s one good thing about track, these kids know you’ve got to come out and you’ve got to work hard, I just love them to death,” he explained.

Although Emery High has less than half the number of students that many larger 3A schools have, the team usually has athletes who do well, even at the state tournament. Last year the team had winners in some events at state, and so this season the team should be entertaining to follow.

The team’s first competition will be on March 18 in Richfield. They will also travel to Timpview for a state qualifying meet March 27-28.

Tai Justice scores as Elks ‘Hoop Shoot’ Regional Champion

Having already tasted glory in local, district, and state competitions, Tai Justice captured another first-place finish on March 1, when he wowed the crowds at the Elks “Hoop Shoot” Northwest Regional Championship. Tai, the 11-year old son of Courtnee and Chris Justice, demonstrated accuracy from the penalty line well beyond his years and brought honors to his hometown of Huntington.

Representing Price Elks Lodge #1550, Tai, a student at Huntington Elementary School, sank 19 out of 25 free throws in the 10-11 year old boys and girls, ages 8-13 division, who have participated in the contest since last fall. Now, Tai will travel with his parents, courtesy of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, to Springfield, Ma. – the birthplace of basketball – to be among the 72 top youngsters vying for the chance to claim one of six national trophies awarded at the Elks “Hoop Shoot” National Free Throw Contest, April 24-27. A great showing in the national championship will not only earn Tai a place in Elks “Hoop Shoot” history, but also land his name on a plaque in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Spartans fall to Redmen 8-6

Josie Luke

The Emery High Spartans Baseball Team fell to the Cedar City High Redmen at home on March 11 even after a gripping sixth inning rally during which the Spartans fought back from a score of 7-1, scoring five points to bring them within one of their opponents.

Until the sixth, the Spartans only point was scored by Jordan Gee who came home on an RBI single hit by Derrick Allred in the bottom of the fourth. During the sixth, Colby Snow brought in the second run, hitting a single. After Colby, Nevin Jensen responded hitting his own, and Skyler Jorgensen reached first on a fielder’s choice, also bringing in a run and then stealing second. Jason Giles brought the excitement to its climax; batting two runs in on a double.

The Redmen responded in the top of the seventh, scoring their eighth point and the Spartans couldn’t bring the score any closer. The game ended with the Spartans trailing 6-8. In the game, Giles, Gee, Snow, N. Jensen, Blake Mortensen and Tayler Tanner each had one hit, with Allred hitting two. Giles, Gee, Mortensen, Allred and Skyler Jensen each scored one run.

The team traveled to Montrose, Colorado for a tournament on March 14-15, where they played three games, winning one and losing two. The Spartans first game was against Windsor High School. The Spartans again kept the score close, but fell to Windsor 9-11.

The second game was against Alamosa. The Spartans devastated their opponents, ten-running them in five innings, with Gatlan Huntington throwing a dominating no-hitter. The third game brought the Spartans their worst loss of the week losing to Berthoud by a score of 5-15.

This week, the Spartans face Union on March 19.