Pioneer boys second, girls third at state meet; Ballard sets new 5A record

The combined Lehi boys and girls track team earned a close second place at the 5A State Championships at Brigham Young Universityon May 19-21. The Pioneers tallied 152.5 points, trailing only Orem with 168 points and easily ahead of Box Elder with 111.5.

In the boys division, Lehi claimed the silver trophy with 100.5 points while Orem got first place with 133 points and Mountain View was third with 53.

Box Elder was first in the girls field with 79.5 points, followed by Timpanogos at 58, the Pioneers right behind at 52 points and Mountain View fourth with 42.

Senior Jefferson McMullin was the top individual medalist for Lehi, with two gold medals, one silver and one relay bronze. Junior Sarah Ballard was the most decorated of the girls, with two gold medals and a relay bronze plus a new 5A record in the 200-meter sprint.

Here are the results by event for those who earned gold, silver or bronze medals.• Jefferson McMullin (Sr.): Gold 1600m (4:15.06), 800m (1:55.06); Silver 3200m (9:12.85); Bronze 4x800m Relay (8:00.61) with Noah Begay, Owen Amakasu and Tyler Martin.• Sarah Ballard (Jr.): Gold 100m (11.86 sec), 200m (24.19 sec); Bronze 4x400m Relay (3:56.75) with Chaney Bowman, Rosa Welch and Caroline Moon. Ballard set a new 5A record of 24.15 seconds in the preliminary heat of the 200m, breaking the old mark of 24.18 seconds set by Natalie Stewart of Spanish Fork in 2008.• Benjamin Johansen (Sr.): Gold 110m Hurdles (14.76 sec),4x400m Relay (3:21.33) with Isaac Dayley, River Moore andElijah Earl. Also favored in the 300m Hurdles event, Johansen fell on the first hurdle during the preliminary heat. He still got up and finished the race but failed to qualify for the final by a single spot.• Caroline Moon (Jr.): Silver 800m (2:16.66); 4^th 1600m (5:02.57); 7^th 3200m (11:03.11).• Elijah Earl (Sr.): Bronze 110m Hurdles (14.93 sec); 4^th 300m Hurdles (39.33 sec).• Teague Andersen (Sr.): Gold Discus (183-04.75 ft); Bronze Shot Put (57-00.75 ft), Javelin (164-05.25 ft).• Ajah Rajvong (Sr.): Silver Discus (131.11 ft); 8^th Shot Put (35-09.50).

Here are Lehi’s other athletes who contributed points to the total.• Tyler Martin (Sr.): 7^th 3200m (9:34.80).• Boys 4x200m Relay 5^th (1:31.08) with an all-football squad of Hemaloto Katoa, Isaac Dayley, River Moore and Kadiyon Sweat.• Boys 4x100m Relay 5^th (43.09 sec) with Hemaloto Katoa, Benjamin Johansen, Jacob Andregg and Kadiyon Sweat.• Noah Begay (Jr.): Tied for 6^th High Jump (5-11.75 ft).• Jensen Somerville (So.): 8^th Shot Put (46-06.25 ft).• Melia Finken (Sr.): 7^th Discus (102-06 ft).

The pole vault was a non-scoring event for 5A this year, but sophomore Liesel Ford was fourth (9-06.00 ft) and junior Rosa Welch was fifth (8-06.00 ft) in this practice competition.

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