Miners track teams still searching for gold

Both of Bingham's track and field teams threw everything they had at the Class 5A state championship and came up empty.

The boys' fifth-place finish was 74 points behind Davis. Meanwhile, Bingham's girls tied Copper Hills and Lone Peak for fifth place, ending up some 80 points behind 5A champion, Spanish Fork.

It was a good finish for the traditional track power but neither squad could come close to pulling off the upset, mainly because of one conspicuous area.

"I think we lack a little bit of depth," says Bingham's assistant coach Robby Duncan. "If anything, we could probably use a little more help in the throws."

For the Region 3 champion boys team, Jordan Bishop and Tyler Walker held their own in some of the field events at BYU. Bishop took home the bronze in the javelin (162-9) and Walker posted a third-place finish in the long jump (21-10), but overall, the team struggled to produce points in the discus and shot-put throws this season.

Bingham's top-ranked 4x100 relay team (Tyler Conrad, Remington Marlor, Brooks Measom, Tyler Walker) was one of the state's best this season. This strong group took home silver from the state meet, losing out to Timpanogos by just a fraction of a second.

Sure, Bingham was built for speed this year but a strong group of distance runners emerged as well. They were led by junior Nate Jewkes and senior Ryan Barrus, both had big performances at the region championships. Barrus took the title in the 1,600 meter and Jewkes won the 3,200 meter. Both athletes were able to score points at the 5A championship, but Jewkes stepped up his game for a third-place finish in the two mile.

Junior sprinter Tyler Conrad was very impressive at region, taking titles in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. At the state meet Bingham's fastest runners could only muster a pair of fifth-place finishes. Conrad in the 100-meter run and Brooks Measom in the 200-meter dash. The defending region champions will lose several talented seniors but should continue to be successful with the likes of Jewkes, Conrad, Marlor and hurdler Jared Bolz all returning.

The girls team will have to absorb two big losses with the graduation of distance runner Kim Quinn and sprinter Chelsea Baker. At the region championship, they combined to score more than half of the team's points.

Quinn, a self-made distance runner, had a superb region championship, winning the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter races. The Bingham senior faced a very difficult field at the state meet and could only post a third-place finish in the 3,200-meter run.