ST. GEORGE — Snow Canyon High School track and field athletes, along with several competitors from other Region 9 schools, recently wrapped up a successful indoor track season.

“Our first indoor meet was at BYU and we got off to a good start,” said Snow Canyon head coach Justin Redfearn, referring to the Brigham Young University Invitational on Jan. 19-20.

At that meet, Snow Canyon’s Will West took second in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.03 seconds. Teammates Matt Maclennan and Semaj Thompson took third and fifth in the 60-meter hurdles, finishing in 8.22 and 8.36, respectively. In addition, Snow Canyon’s Kennedy Scott had a new personal best in the shot put with a toss of 36 feet, 5.5 inches to finish fourth overall.

The team’s next meet was the Weber State Indoor Invitational, where West placed second in the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.56, edging third-place teammate JT Westbrook by two hundredths of a second. 

West went on to also win the 200-meter dash in 23.68 seconds. He was joined by three other teammates among the top nine, with Westbrook finishing third in 23.85, Thompson taking eighth in 24.36 and Maclennan placing ninth 24.38. In addition, Maclennan won the 55-meter hurdles in 7.63, with Thompson taking third in 7.74 and Trevor Gough taking fourth in 7.77.  

Meanwhile, Scott improved on her PR in the shot put, finishing third overall with a mark of 36 feet, 7 inches.

Last but not least was the Utah Cross Country and Track Coaches Association’s Indoor Invitational at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns on Feb. 2-3.

“This is basically the indoor state meet in Utah,” Redfearn said. “We had some fantastic performances.”

One of the top highlights was Thompson winning the 60-meter hurdles in a blazing time of 8.07 seconds, which Redfearn said ties him for the fifth fastest time ever recorded by a Utah high school athlete. In that same race, Maclennan placed third with a time of 8.21 and Gough took fifth in 8.28.

Meanwhile, West and Westbrook continued to fly in the 60 meters, finishing second and third overall. West’s runner-up time was just two thousandths of a second behind West Jordan senior Dominic Overby (7.018 vs. 7.016), while Westbrook’s third-place time was 7.02.

Also at Kearns, West placed third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.21, with Maclennan placing 10th in 22.64 and Westbrook taking 13th in 22.67.

Gough also took fourth in the long jump with a leap of 21 feet, 8.75 inches, with Maclennan taking sixth with a mark of 21 feet, 5.75 inches.

On the girls side, Snow Canyon’s Amelia Nadauld won the 60 meters in 7.70 seconds, placed  second in the long jump at 18 feet 7.5 inches and finished third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.07.

Redfearn expressed his thanks to assistant coach James Thompson, calling him “the driving force behind the success of the Snow Canyon sprinters and hurdlers.”

“He did an amazing job getting them prepared for the season,” Redfearn said of Thompson. “So thankful for his dedication to our athletes!”

Coach Thompson said the reason he loves coaching indoor track is “not to build our program, but (because of) a love for the sport and giving the kids in Washington County an opportunity to train together as a group and compete together.”

Joining Snow Canyon’s contingent for the indoor track season were several athletes from Dixie High who trained alongside the Warriors. In addition, Desert Hills had some distance runners participate, while Crimson Cliffs had a few hurdlers and sprinters.

Among the other local indoor track highlights (outside of Region 9), Canyon View High School senior Qwentyn Petty earned All-American honors by taking fifth place in the 17-18 boys long jump with a mark of 21 feet, 0 inches at the AAU Indoor Nationals at Virginia Beach, Virginia on March 1.

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