State track: Fremont’s Harlan breaks 2 of her own state records; Morgan sweeps 3A team titles
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- Fremont High senior Amare Harlan wins the 6A 200 meter race at the UHSAA state track and field championships at BYU on Saturday, May 20, 2023.
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- Morgan High girls track and field teammates Lucy Tripp and Grace Gordon hug after the 3A 200 meter race during the UHSAA state track and field championships at BYU on Saturday, May 20, 2023.
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- Fremont High senior Amare Harlan smiles after the 6A 200 meter race during the UHSAA state track and field championships at BYU on Saturday, May 20, 2023.
PROVO — Amare Harlan didn’t imagine her track and field career would pan out the way it has so far.
“Absolutely not. I just did it because they said I was fast in soccer, on the soccer field … I’m just super blessed with everything that’s come with it,” Harlan said.
At this week’s Utah high school state track and field championships held at BYU, the Fremont High senior sprinter won state titles in the 100 meters, the 200 meters and the long jump — simultaneously breaking her own state records in the 100 and 200 while coming close to the long jump record.
Harlan ran 11.56 seconds in the 100 and 23.56 in the 200 in qualifying earlier this week, which were both new state records.
Her finals times on a hot, muggy and smoky Saturday afternoon: 11.43 in the 100, 23.30 in the 200. Harlan said she does well in hot weather.
After she finished the 200, she smiled when the scoreboard showed her time, but she wondered if her time was wind-legal. Harlan clapped her hands and smiled later when she found out she’d run 23.30 into a slight headwind.
Underneath the smiles was an opposite emotion. It was her final high school race.
“A little bit sad to leave here, but super excited,” Harlan said.
Her final 200 as a high schooler saw her overcome a mental block that can be common in the 200 and that has persisted with her for a while: not sprinting the curve.
“I like to go a little bit slower around the curve and then sprint the whole straight, this time I just tried to sprint the whole thing,” Harlan said.
Perhaps her most jaw-dropping sprint was in the anchor leg of the 4×100 relay. When Harlan got the baton, Fremont’s team was in fourth place. The Silverwolves won.
As a sophomore, Harlan burst onto the scene by winning state titles in the 100, 200 and long jump. She repeated the triple titles last year with better marks in all three events.
This year, she completed her third consecutive state meet trifecta, raising her level once again despite how much harder it’s become to improve her marks as she’s risen to elite heights.
“I would say the constant desire to improve myself, kind of keep PR-ing and seeing my time and being like, ‘Oh, I can do this to make it better,'” Harland said. “Obviously the records are a nice achievement to add to that, but I would say overall it’s just the want to improve through myself.”
If there was anything the University of Michigan signee regrets about this season, it was missing the long jump state record.
Harlan’s personal record in the state of Utah will stand at 19 feet, 4 inches, just off the state record of 19-04.75 set by Alta’s Amy Menlove in 2001.
At this year’s state meet, Harlan jumped 19-02.25. She jumped 19-07.75 on the same BYU track a couple weeks ago but the distance wasn’t wind-legal. She’s jumped a wind-aided 19-10 before, and also jumped 19-08.25 last summer, but that was out of state.
“It was definitely frustrating because that was one of my goals this year was to break 20 feet for sure, but I don’t know … I’m just looking forward to what Michigan’s gonna help me out with,” Harlan said.
MORGAN SWEEPS 3A TEAM TITLES
Morgan High runners Lucy Tripp and Grace Gordon were supposed to finish first and third in the girls 3A 200-meter final. If they did, it would essentially clinch the team title for the Trojans.
So Tripp and Gordon finished first and second, respectively, and embraced after crossing the finish line.
They didn’t know it at that moment, but their combined 18 team points from that race went a long way toward winning the 3A girls team championship, the first in school history. Morgan’s 91 points were, ironically, 18 ahead of second-place Juan Diego’s 73.
About 30 minutes earlier, the Morgan boys team had clinched its third state championship in a four-season span (2019, 2021 and 2023, with the 2020 season not being contested). The Trojans’ 94 points were clear ahead of Juab’s 72.
Morgan is the first team to sweep the 3A team titles since Desert Hills in 2017. Both Trojans teams finished second in 2022.
“Both teams, their theme, their motto was unfinished business. They wanted to come back and prove that they could win,” MHS head coach Brennen Fuller said. “We have a lot of seniors this year, a lot of seniors, so all of them wanted to go out with two gold trophies.”
Like any title-winning team, the Trojans had depth and picked up points all over. The girls team won the 4×100 and 4×400 relay races. Tripp won the 100 and 200, and ran on the two first-place relay teams. Gordon won the 400 and ran the anchor leg on the 4×400 relay as the Trojans celebrated their title.
Bailey Beckstrom (third in 300 hurdles), Sisilia Mafi (third in shot put) and Abby Titus (third in high jump, seventh in long jump) played big roles for Morgan as well.
On the boys side, Brogan Garrett was Morgan’s lone individual event winner. Despite a pulled left hamstring, Garrett won the 400 meters, but skipped the high jump and finished last in the 200.
Winning the 400 was emotional.
“Just glory and having my teammates there supporting me and everything, just coming off of a couple rough weeks with injuries and stuff,” Garrett said.
Morgan took second in the sprint medley relay and the 4×400 relay. Jacob Carter went third in the 100, Kenny Whitmer finished third in the high jump, Rhett Nye took third in the javelin and Shaun Moore finished third in shot put and fourth in discus.
Like the girls team, many of the scoring athletes for the boys team were seniors.
“You know you want to go out with that last big bang. We sure wanted them to have that moment of glory for the end of their senior year,” Garrett said after the 200.
GIRLS INDIVIDUAL WINNERS
*–denotes new state record
6A 100 meters: Amare Harlan, Fremont, 11.43*
6A 200: Amare Harlan, Fremont, 23.30*
6A 100 hurdles: Eden DeVries, Weber, 14.03*
6A 4×100 relay: Fremont, 47.83 (Charlee Ortgiesen, Megan Wood, Kenley Fuit, Amare Harlan)
6A high jump: Cami Cvitkovich, Weber, 5-09.75
6A long jump: Amare Harlan, Fremont, 19-02.25
5A javelin: Kate Tueller, Northridge, 135-02.75
3A 100: Lucy Tripp, Morgan, 12.44
3A 200: Lucy Tripp, Morgan, 25.96
3A 400: Grace Gordon, Morgan, 56.94
3A 4×100 relay: Morgan, 50.41 (Bailey Beckstrom, Caitlyn Flitton, Brier Galley, Lucy Tripp)
3A 4×400 relay: Morgan, 4:03.00 (Sharon Gunn, Alexis Weiers, Lucy Tripp, Grace Gordon)
2A javelin: Sarah Snell, St. Joseph, 134-03.75
Unified 5A 50 meters: Mishell Perry, Northridge, 8.53
Unified 5A shot put: Annie Veliz, Northridge, 20-02.25
Unified 3A 50 meters: Phoenix Grasteit, Morgan, 9.28
Unified 3A 4×100 relay: Morgan, 1:11.11 (team names)
Unified 3A shot put: Chiara Johnson, Morgan, 20-10.75
BOYS INDIVIDUAL WINNERS
6A 400 meters: Colby Anderson, Roy, 47.53
6A 110 hurdles: Joshua Hamblin, Weber, 14.52
6A long jump: Joshua Hamblin, Weber, 22-04
6A shot put: Tyler Poole, Layton, 58-01.75
6A discus: Tyler Poole, Layton, 174-08
6A javelin: Brevin Hamblin, Syracuse, 187-04.75
5A high jump: Logan Gillian, Northridge, 6-06
5A discus: Keaton Jeppsen, Box Elder, 151-01.50
5A shot put: Brock Bissegger, Box Elder, 52-09.75
3A 400: Brogan Garrett, Morgan, 49.01
3A 110 hurdles: Malik Johnson, Layton Christian, 14.69
3A 300 hurdles: Malik Johnson, Layton Christian, 39.57
Unified 3A shot put: Titan Marler, Ogden, 29-06
GIRLS TEAM SCORES
6A
1. Lone Peak, 113
6. Fremont, 42
7. Weber, 38
10. Layton, 33
5A
1. Timpview, 76
4. Box Elder, 54
11. Northridge
3A
1. Morgan, 91
2. Juan Diego, 73
10. Ogden, 31
BOYS TEAM SCORES
6A
1. Corner Canyon, 92
7. Syracuse, 40
8. Layton, 39
9. Weber, 37
10. Farmington, 26
5A
1. Mountain View, 99
2. Box Elder, 69.5
3A
1. Morgan, 94
2. Juab, 72
11. Ogden, 21
Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.