From Deseret News archives:

Individuals stand out at BYU prep invitational

Published: Sunday, May 6, 2007 12:10 a.m. MDT
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PROVO — Despite adverse weather conditions, Utah's best prep tracksters still managed to post some record-breaking marks at the BYU High School Track and Field Invitational Saturday.

With temperatures hovering around 40 degrees and uniform-flapping winds to boot, Judge Memorial and Spanish Fork took the boys and girls team titles, respectively, in the meet featuring schools from the 3A, 4A and 5A classifications. Many coaches view this meet as a preview of the state meet.

On this day, however, the spotlight belonged to a number of individuals.

Judge Memorial's Luke Puskedra started things off right in the event's first day, the 3,200 meters. Puskedra's win in 9 minutes, 4.96 seconds established a new meet record. And more importantly, the mark was an all-classification state record, beating Mountain View's Ryan Andrus' record of 9:05.33, set in 1998.

"I was thinking about trying to go after the record," Puskedra said. "I kind of had some doubts about it going in, but after the first few laps, I just got into a rhythm and hit the splits."

Puskedra has a faster time to his credit this year, but because it was run out-of-state, it did not count for the official state record. On Saturday, however, he went out in the lead and kicked hard in the final 400 meters to seal it.

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"I'm usually not that strong a finisher," he said. "But I just brought it around, saw the time and decided it (the record) was within reach."

Another standout was Spanish Fork junior Natalie Stewart, who came away with victories in the 100-meter dash (12.12 seconds), the 200 (24.44) and the 400 (56.17), with the 400-meter win coming in the face of a 30-mph head wind in the backstretch.

"I've been feeling pretty good about my races today; they're not my best times, but even with the wind it's been all right," Stewart said. "Going into the turn, I was like 'Am I moving?' So, with the wind helping me, it was really nice."

Orem's Mindy Robins continued her season-long dominance of the hurdle events, winning the 100-meter hurdles in 14.99 seconds and coming back to win the 300-hurdles in 45.35 seconds. The distance events went to Davis' Candace Eddy in the 3,200 (10:54.19), Mountain View's Sarah Yingling in the 1,600 (5:15.38) and Boulder City's Katie Palmer in the 800 (2:15.42).

Bingham's girls took the title in the 4x100-meter relay (50.22), with Judge's squad edging the Miners for the win in the medley relay in 4:18.51.

The field events went to Viewmont's Ada Robinson in the high jump (5-6) and Fremont's Lindsey Spencer in the discus (131-07).

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Timpanogos High School's Silas Pimentel, center, outruns competitors on his way to a win in the 100 meters Saturday in Provo.

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