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Show D1 The Emery County Review, Tuesday, May 13, 2008 SPORTS Spartan Track Team takes Region Crown Rebecca Lofley The Emery High boy’s track team raced their way to the finish line May 8 to lay claim to the region crown for the first time in 15 years. The girl’s team competed well and finished in fourth place. Like most competitions, region track had its disappointments, surprises, and successes. A few runners faced the difficulties of injury or poor performance, but despite these difficulties they finished their events. Others performed far better than expected, setting new personal records, and placing in the top four in their events. Overall Emery had 15 athletes place in the top four in individual events. The top four in each event qualified for state track. Some of these were: Cort Jensen who placed second in the 1600-meter run with a time of five minutes two seconds; Nikki Rogers who placed first in both the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes; Tyler Killpack who placed first in the 400-meter and the 800-meter; Levi Swasey who placed first in the 110-meter hurdles; Lacey Montgomery who placed fourth in the 400-meter run; Kyle Johansen who placed first in the high jump with a jump of six feet; Madison Jensen who placed second in the long jump and third in the high jump; and Rebekah Bott who placed fourth in the 3200-meter run; along with many others, including Zachary Clement, Mckay Allred, J.T. Noyes, and Mark Defriez. The boy’s team’s win at region was a result of overcoming obstacles- some may call them hurdles. Most of the obstacles they have had to overcome had been dealt with in preparing for region track. One obstacle to their winning was an issue over disqualification. While running a race, one of Emery’s runners was passing between two other runners. The two other runners came together into the Emery runner’s lane and he had to push through them. As physical contact is not allowed, this situation put the region championship at risk. The circumstances were sorted out; Emery was cleared of any fault, and awarded their rightfully earned title of region champs. Now that region track competition has concluded, the Emery track team looks forward to state track this weekend held at BYU from May 15-17. Photos by Rebecca Lofley The boys track team celebrates after their region win. The girls track team ran hard and finished the season in fourth place. Lady Spartans advance in state playoffs Josie Luke Photo by Josie Luke Derrick Allred rounds third on his way home after his ninth inning lead off home run. After an outstanding effort to finish the season with a record of 17-5, the Emery Spartan softball team began the 3A state tournament with a solid win against Judge Memorial on May 10. Only allowing their opponents to score their only three runs in one inning, where they uncharacteristically performed poor defensively, the Spartans beat the Bulldogs by a score of 8-3. After drawing a walk, Jalee Jansen scored the first run of the game for Emery in the first inning on a single by pitcher Leslee Lake. In the second, designated hitter, Whitney Allen and right fielder Keera Allred scored two more runs for the Spartans to bring the score to 3-0. Judge Memorial scored three runs to tie the score in the top of the fourth inning after two Emery errors, but the Spartans pulled it together in the bottom of the fourth, scoring five runs and not allowing their opponents another run in the game. The Spartan’s offense was on display in the fourth, when Markette Tanner, the leadoff batter hit a single and was advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Allred. Jensen, Adrienne Weihing and Chelsea Skinner then hit three singles in a row, with Weighing notching one RBI and Skinner bringing in two. Bailey Kay added the exclamation point with a two run home run, and Allen added a double before the inning came to an end, with the Spartans leading by what would be the final score, 8-3. Jensen had an impressive game, going 3 for 3 with a double and two RBIs. Lake and Allen each hit twice in the game, with Allen hitting Emery’s other double. The Spartans will play their next playoff game on May 15 against Union. Spartans finish regular season with nail-biter against Carbon Dinos Spartans fall in first round of baseball Josie Luke In their final regular season game, the Spartans treated their fans to possibly their most exciting win of the season against the Carbon Dinos on May 5. In a nine inning game in which both teams played well, Emery rallied late to pull off the win by a score of 13-11. The game started out on a high note with Emery’s lead-off batter, Gatlan Huntington sending a pitch over the fence to score the Spartan’s first run. Jordan Gee followed the home run up with a single to right. In the second inning, Huntington scored again, along with Nevin Jensen and Derrick Allred to bring the score to 4-0, Emery. Carbon took the lead in the bottom of the second, scoring five runs on three singles, two walks and player being hit by a pitch, but in the back-and-forth game, the Dinos didn’t hold the lead for long. Emery scored another three runs in the top of the third, when Huntington scored his third run, Allred scored his second and Tayler Tanner also scored. Emery brought their lead to 7-5, until the bottom of the fifth when Carbon tied the game after the Spartans gave up two points on a walk and an error. The Spartans led by two after scoring two runs in the top of the sixth, and one run after allowing the Dinos to score in the bottom of the sixth. Carbon blanked the Spartans in the top of the seventh to keep themselves in the game and then managed a run in the bottom of the seventh to send the game to extra innings. Neither team scored a run in the eighth inning, although Carbon gave up two walks, so the ninth inning began with the game tied at 9-9. The momentum swung to Emery when on the first Carbon pitch, Allred whacked a hard line drive over the left field wall to put Emery up by one. Tanner followed up Allred’s home run with a single and then stole second base. Huntington then put down a sac bunt and managed to outrun the throw to first base. Jordan Gee reached on a Carbon error, and then Ryne Jones and Blake Mortensen each punched singles to put Emery up by four going into the final half-inning. Emery was a bit tight in the ninth, giving up two errors and allowing Carbon to score two runs, but they pulled out the win, 13-11. Allred had a great game with three runs, hits and RBIs, and his home run gave the Spartans the momentum they needed to score the runs to win the game. And certainly, a lot of credit goes to Mortensen who came into the game in the late innings and pitched well to hold the lead for Emery, Huntington who scored four runs in the game, and Jones, who had four RBIs. playoffs, fight back to win second game Josie Luke Although the Emery baseball team lost in the first round of the state 3A playoffs to Park City, they showed the same toughness which had marked their play during the regular season, staying alive by winning their second game against Morgan. Against Park City, the Spartans chances looked good early in the game, when after three innings, they led 3-2, but things changed in the fourth inning. In the top of the fourth, the Miners scored six runs when the Spartans sputtered, making two errors and giving up two walks, four singles and a double to their opponents. Emery scored one run in the fourth and one in the fifth, but allowed Park City to also score two more runs in the game, giving Park City the win, 10-5. Emery had only one fewer hit in the game than did Park City, but walks and errors allowed the Miners to pull out the win. Blake Mortensen hit a triple for the Spartans in the game, and Gatlan Huntington, Jordan Gee and Colby Snow each hit doubles. Had the Spartans lost their second game, they would have disappointingly been eliminated from the state playoffs, but the team showed their grit in the first inning of their game against Morgan, when after they allowed their opponents to score five runs, the first six Emery batters reached base and scored. After allowing the Trojans to score two more in the second inning, the Spartans rolled off another streak of six runs on six hits and a walk, to bring the score to 12-7. Both teams eventually cooled off, each scoring three more runs, but the early offense for the Spartans brought Emery the 15-10 win. Ryne Jones and Mortensen both had monster games for Emery. Jones went 4 for 4, with a triple, scoring four runs, with one RBI. Mortensen went 3 for 3, with two doubles, scoring two runs and bringing in two RBIs. Emery next faces Wasatch on May 15 at 11 a.m. in Taylorsville. Wasatch ended the season at second place in Region 10 to Judge Memorial. Photos by Josie Luke Field Day Cottonwood Elementary held their annual field day on May 9 at Emery High, where students from grades 4-6 enjoyed a day competing in track and field events |
