'Grand' day at girls meet; Davis, Orem win

PROVO — When the busload of happy state champions arrived back in Moab late Saturday night, it's a safe bet a "grand" celebration was taking place. The Lady Red Devils of Grand County High made school history earlier in the day when they captured their first-ever state track championship in the 2A competition held at BYU.

Grand County edged defending champ North Sevier by a score of 100 to 96 for the title, thanks to an exciting finish in the meet's final two events.

Davis easily won the 5A crown with a 45-point margin of victory over Spanish Fork, Orem ran away from everyone in 4A, Judge Memorial took the 3A title and Rich edged Panguitch by two points for its first-ever 1A crown as well.

But the battle between Grand County and North Sevier was a classic. Entering the 200-meter final, the teams were tied at 80-all. Senior Sylvia Bentley was going head-to-head with North Sevier's talented Kaylee Coates, and in the final few meters, Bentley held off Coates to give the Braves a two-point lead entering the 1600-meter relay.

"We didn't have to tell the girls what the final race meant," said an emotional but very happy coach Stacey Garrett. "They knew what they had to do."

And the Lady Braves did it. Senior Bentley, running the third leg, helped maintain a lead over both North Sevier and Richfield. As she came to the final pass to freshman anchor Oceana Irish, the pass came just inches before Irish would have gone out of the zone. Not to worry, the pass was clean, and Irish won the race, giving Grand its gold trophy.

"Without Sylvia's win the 200 meters, we wouldn't have had the momentum going into the relay," coach Dennis Wells said. "All the girls worked so hard for this, and it's a great tribute to what they've accomplished this year." It was also a tribute to Wells and Garrett, both of whom had their own children among the Grand County contingent on the track.

5A: Davis used its amazing depth to hold off the talented Stewart sisters of Spanish Fork and win its third straight state title. Senior Ashlee Cannon took both hurdles races, freshman Candace Eddy won the 3200 meters to go with her individual win in Friday's 1600, and the Darts' Shannon Prince won the discus. Spanish Fork twins Nachelle and Natalie Stewart exchanged one-two finishes in the 400 and 200 meters, while Mountain View's Sarah Yingling won the 800 and Viewmont's Ada Robinson captured the high jump, events they've dominated this year.