PH: A state contender? II f 7 ; " -r-i.."-""- . - ,,. , MMLjMMMMMUMLMMiMMMMMMIIMII Mlimm 111 III lir Mm III I By LEE WARNICK Record Editor , . Parowan may or may not have a baseball team this year. y-: V You'll have to excuse PHS track coach Bob Tobler for hoping they don't. "How we do this year depends on whether or not the school has a baseball team," Tobler said. "If we don't, I think we'll have a state contending con-tending track team." Tobler will be glad to note that the latest word is that Parowan probably won't field a baseball team; so the folks there can look for great things to come from the Ram's cinder track this season. The Rams expect much of their competition from fellow 1-A schools to come from other Region 12 teams. Tobler expects Kanab and Beaver to field especially strong teams, while traditional power North Summit will probably again be the team to beat at state. In the 100 meter dash, John Rex and Thomas ; Jonge, an exchange student from Brazil, are expected to lead the Rams. "John ran a 6.8 60-yard dash at the BYU Invitational In-vitational last week," Tobler said. "That's pretty good for the beginning of the season." Antonio Olaya will be Parowan's top 200-meter runner. In the 400, Tobler is expecting a state championship from Scott Freeborn, who has already turned in a time of 52.4 seconds. , Likewise, a state championship in the 800 meters could well come in the form of Doug Hermansen, who took second in the state as a sophomore last year, running about 2:06. Tobler feels Hermansen will break the two-minute barrier this year. In the mile run, Mike Webb and Antone Stones, two veterans of PHS' standout cross country team, will lead the way. Both ran in the vicinity of 5:30 at the BYU Invitational; Tobler expects their times to approach 5:00 by the end of the year. In the two-mile run, Lloyd Baker is expected to also do well. Baker already has run a 10:40, a few tenths of a second off the Parowan school record. "We should also be the state champs in the mile relay," Tobler said, with that team consisting of Hermansen, Freeborn, Wade Adams from last year's relay squad. The fourth spot is up for grabs, Tobler added. Field events will by no means be the weak sister of track events, though the Rams may be lacking the relative experience here. In the high jump, four Rams are figured to challenge the school record of 6-0. Sophomore Doug Rogerson jumped 5-11 5-11 last year as a freshman. fresh-man. Mike Jones has jumped 5-11 as well, Dan Evans 5-10, and new student Dan Rex is also expected to do well. Scott Freeborn will be back at pole vault, while Fred Baker will try to handle discus, javelin and shot put. Mike Barkdull and Junge will head up the long jumpers for the Ram squad. . After the non-scoring BYU meet last weekend, at which only six Parowan athletes par ticipated, action will pick up this weekend. Both the PHS boys' and girls' squads will travel to the massive Page Invitational Saturday in Arizona. Twenty-three boys and 21 girls teams from Utah, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico are expected to compete. Other meets Parowan now expects to participate par-ticipate in will be the Dixie and Cedar In-vitationals, In-vitationals, at Hurricane and a state qualifying meet in Lehi. Other trips to Richfield and Kanab are possible, and Parowan may even sponsor its own meet. All this will culminate in the Region 12 meet during the first week of May at Southern Utah State College, and the state meet on May 16 at Brigham Young University. Parowan High School's Dan Rex clears the high jump bar during practice this week. Rex is one of four PHS tracksters expected to challenge the school high jump record of 6-0. Coach Bob Tobler feels Parowan may be among the state's strongest teams this year, with several different individuals possibly challenging for state titles.