Spanish Fork sprints past Davis to win 5A title

PROVO — Though Spanish Fork claimed its first Class 5A girls' track and field championship Saturday by a comfortable margin, the event that clinched it for the Dons was decided by the smallest fraction of a second.

Spanish Fork junior Nachelle Stewart just barely beat Lone Peak sophomore Lacey Cramer in the 800-meter run in 2:10.95, a photo finish that took judges a matter of minutes to determine the winner. The film showed Stewart won by .002 seconds, giving the Dons the points they needed to distance themselves from second-place Davis.

Spanish Fork finished the day with 112 points to Davis' 70, putting an emphatic end to the Darts' three-year reign at the top. Orem dominated throughout in Class 4A for its second consecutive title, and Judge Memorial edged Ogden in the Class 3A competition. North Sevier won its second title in three years in Class 2A, and Rich repeated as Class 1A champions.

Stewart's win, one of three championships for her, came in one of the day's most anticipated races and didn't disappoint. After jumping out to an early lead in the mid-distance race, Cramer came on hard to take the lead with about 250 meters to go. "She came up on me in the last 200, and I just had to keep with her," Stewart said. "She was faster than I thought she'd be, but I just tried to get her at the end."

Cramer, who had the absolute best pair of second-place finishes of the weekend, couldn't quite hold off her hard-charging competitor, just losing out at the line. From that point on it was smooth sailing for Spanish Fork on its way to the team title.

5A: The Dons fulfilled a season-long goal, using a complete and balanced team to claim the team championship.

"We had kids step up and exceed our expectations in almost every event," said Dons' co-head coach Dave Boyack. "The kids came prepared, and they wanted to get it. Some kids really went out of their way to help, and it looks like it paid off."

Junior Natalie Stewart was first in the 100-meter dash (12.18 seconds) and 200-meter dash (24.85 seconds), and anchored the Dons' victorious 4x100-meter relay team (48.88 seconds). Twin sister Nachelle Stewart picked up a win in the 400-meter dash (54.78 seconds) to go along with her victory in the 800, along with a second-place finish in the 200 and running the anchor leg of Spanish Fork's first-place 4x400-meter relay team. The Dons also got help from high finishes in the field events, with athletes like Becca Rowley, Kelly Roach and Elizabeth Meinhart stepping up.

Davis' Candace Eddy was huge for the Darts, winning the 3,200-meter run (11:07.51) and helping the Darts capture the medley relay (4:08.30).