OCR Text |
Show Southern competition just too much for Miners at state track i r ( by Randy Hanskat f 1,;,The members of the Park 'City High School track team Svho qualified for the state ::; track meet this past Satur-' Satur-' 'da'y atPt'bvo' High turned in ic some: of 4heir best performances perfor-mances of the year. The only ; problem was they just weren't good enough to get in the points the competition from southern schools such as Beaver and Kanab was too intense. Park City sent six kids to Provo High: David Van Luven, Pam Finegan, Mike Price, Erin Bolton, Pat Ott, and Abbey Peterson. The clear balmy day made for perfect conditions. And the Miners responded. "All of the kids had just about their best meet of the season," Coach Bill Kahn said, "but against the southern schools there was really no power from the north to speak of." He said Van Luven ran his best 1,600 meters with a time of 4:52, but that only netted him a ninth place result. In the 3,200 meters it was more of the same, as his 11:23 time put him in 10th. Of the girls, Finegan turned her best times in both hurdle events, but didn't place, according ac-cording to Kahn. Bolton's 4'4" spring in the high jump was tops on the season, but didn't get in the money at state. There were two Miner heartbreaks at Provo. Price missed qualifying for the final round in the shotput competition by only one inch. And Pat Ott, Park City's best bet in the hurdles, broke the third gate in the 110 meter high hurdles, fell, and was out of it. Regardless of points, Kahn said he thought the experience ex-perience gained by his team was well worth the trip to Provo. He said the dominance of the southern schools was understandable due to the superior facilities, as well as the additional outdoor out-door training time. Next season Kahn hopes to have 60 kids on his team, a sizeable jump from the 40 this season. He said this year, his first as coach, was a tryout period for him and the team. Next year he plans to work on getting many more freshmen out for track. "If I can get those kids out the we will have a strong team in a couple of years," he said. Kahn is already scheduling sche-duling next season's meets. Often when the school waits to schedule meets until the beginning of the school year other schools are already booked up, he said. As a result, the Miners have had to travel to Salt Lake for the majority of their meets. Kahn also plans to push to get more equipment for the team. He wants two javelins, a ladies shotput, and a full set of hurdles (currently there are only six). He would also like to see a track at Park City sometime in the future. |