'Big 3' places in 10 events

WEST JORDAN — Clay Ostberg, Ryan Kozack and Jeremy Cox combined to score 58 of 79.5 points for the Kearns boys track team last Thursday at the regional meet at Copper Hills High School.

The "Big Three," as head coach Jim Flanagan calls them, placed in 10 different events for the Cougars, but he said he thought his team could have done better.

"Our hurdler didn't have a great day," Flanagan said. "Ostberg won the pole vault with 14 feet, but he jumped 14-feet, six inches last week."

The Cougar boys finished third overall behind Bingham (201 points) and Riverton (148.5) while the girls finished fifth with 26 points. The Silverwolves' and Miners' girls teams also finished first and second with scores of 182 and 139 respectively.

Flanagan remained optimistic about Kearns' future.

"We're rebuilding," he said. "We have the big three seniors, but the rest are freshman and sophomores. We have two freshman that are running 10:30s in the two-mile."

The biggest reason why Kearns can't compete with top programs like Bingham and Riverton is its lack of numbers on the team, Flanagan said.

"It makes a big difference," he said. "When you have numbers, players on the team have to compete against each other for spots. When they don't compete, they get complacent."

Flanagan said while the Cougars still don't have as many athletes as other schools, it has grown considerably since he arrived.

"The year before I came there were 12 kids on the team," he said. "This is my third year, and we have about 50."

For the Kearns girls, Kellli Etcheverry took second in the Javelin with a throw of 111-feet, seven inches and Darian Mockizuki took third in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 49.21 seconds.

The Hunter boys and girls both finished sixth. The girls grabbed 24 points while the boys had 21.

Jazmine Wittman took second in the 200-meter dash. She was also first after the 100-meter preliminaries, but was disqualified in the finals.

The Wolverine men's relay teams stole 14 points. The 1600-meter medley and 4x400 relays both took third and the 4x100 took fifth. Andrew Christenson and Will Scheroder were both on the two third-place finishers.

REGION 3 TRACK RESULTS

May 11, 2006

at Copper Hills High School