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State Track and Field ~ Day 1
but modest by his (and his family's) standards.
Arrhenius is the youngest in a family that includes a former world-class thrower (father Anders), a BYU thrower (brother Dan) and the best discus thrower in prep history (middle brother Nik). But the Mountain View junior simply shrugs off any idea of pressure based on bloodlines. He quietly -- another family trait, except for the loud, guttural grunts after releasing a discus or shot -- has lived up to the Arrhenius standards.
"He's going to be something else, that kid, when he's all done," Anders Arrhenius said in between shouting encouragement in Swedish. Nik, recently returned from an LDS mission to Sweden, now handles coaching duties, which occasionally include "family showdowns."
"With the shot, we get after each other," says Leif, who is thicker now (6-foot-4, 240 pounds) than Nik as prep athlete.
Friday's victory came easily, despite an "off day" when the discus sailed too high on each of his six throws. His best mark of 189-9 was more than 37 feet farther than runner-up Kevin Smith of Box Elder.
Against the nation's best in April, Arrhenius threw 209-8, the best prep mark in the country this season.
"It's tough, I have to psyche myself up a lot," Leif Arrhenius said of not being pushed in every meet. He will take on a new challenge today in the javelin, an implement he has thrown competitively once, along with the shot put.
"If I finish in the top three, I'll be happy," Arrhenius said of the javelin. He is state leader in the shot.
The discus win also helped Mountain View to a healthy lead in the 4-A team race. The Bruins scored 35 points -- mostly in the 1,600 meters -- and sit 18 points ahead of last year's winner, Box Elder. As expected, Viewmont and Davis are close in the 5-A race; Viewmont has 31.5 points to the Darts' 30. Judge, Richfield and St. Joseph took early leads in the 3-A, 2-A and 1-A races, respectively, with the majority of the finals scheduled for today.
The 1,600 led off the meet and if Round 1 of the 5-A distance races is any indication, Davis' Jace Nye and Weber's Steve Shepherd are in for nerve-wracking showdowns.
"That's going to be scary; he's going to be gunning for me," said Nye, who claimed the 1,600 title. The rivals face off this morning in the 3,200 and in the marquee race of this meet: the 800, which includes state leader Dan Hutson of Alta.
In Friday's race, Shepherd led nearly the entire way, but never shook Nye as the two broke from the pack on the final lap. They duo were dead even coming off that final turn, but Nye pulled ahead in the last 50 meters. His winning time of 4 minutes, 15.85 seconds was the fastest of the five classifications, followed by Shepherd's 4:16.51. The next-best mark belonged to 3-A champ Tony Jones of Hurricane (4:20.53).
Those marks might have been expected, but unheralded Levi Lefevre from tiny Bryce Valley turned in a 4:20.61 to set break a year-old 1-A state mark by nearly three seconds.
For Lefevre, the most simple of changes was worth 12 seconds. In two weeks, the junior from Tropic went from a mere 1-A 1,600-meter contender to one of the state's best. Only Nye, Shepherd and Jones -- all considered national-caliber distance runners -- were faster Friday.
"At the BYU Invitational [other coaches] told me to lengthen my stride," Lefevre said. That little piece of advice evidently made all the difference. His previous best was 4:32 -- leading to almost unheard-of improvement. Yet Lefevre set a lofty goal: "I came here with [4:20] in my head," he said.
As expected, Mountain View racked up 25 points in the 1,600 meters, led by Jared Keller's surprise win (4:21.14) over teammate Mike Steele (4:21.72).
Class 5-A produced the top pole vault marks Friday with Viewmont's Adam Ball (15-6) edging Region 1 rival Jeff Agnello of Davis (15-0). Pleasant Grove's Sean Welch cleared 6-10 1/4 in the high jump.
Results
Class 5-A
Team Scores (through four events)
1, Viewmont, 31.5. 2, Davis, 30. 3, Weber, 25. 4, Jordan, 19.5. 5, Riverton, 10. 6, West Jordan, 9. 7, Copper Hills, 7. 8, Fremont, 6. 9 (tie), Alta; Bingham, 4.
1,600 meters -- 1, Jace Nye, Davis, 4:15.85. 2, Steve Shepherd, Weber, 4:16.51. 3, Nick Fisher, Weber, 4:22.25. 4, Bob Lambert, West Jordan, 4:24.21. 5, Jon Kotter, Alta, 4:25.23. 6, Jared Glenn, Cottonwood, 4:28.54. 7, Nate Lloyd, Skyline, 4:29.53. 8, Ryan Merriman, Bingham, 4:29.59.
Discus -- 1, Kevin Freeston, Jordan, 159-11. 2, Mark Bricker, Davis, 154-11. 3, Brennan Wehr, Weber, 151-1. 4, Steve Fielden, Riverton, 147-10. 5, Jeff Goff, West Jordan, 144-7. 6, Justin Parker, Riverton, 143-4. 7, Brock Money, Davis, 140-0. 8, Brent Hawker, Riverton, 139-4.
High Jump -- 1, Brandon Barrett, Viewmont, 6-8. 2 (tie), Chase Alvey, Copper Hills; Trevor Heiner, Viewmont, 6-6. 4, Gus Steadman, Jordan, 6-6. 5, Aj Lewis, Weber, 6-4. 6 (tie), Jensen Warnock, Hillcrest; Randy Grundvig, Clearfield, 6-4. 8, Andy Rawlings, Weber, 6-2.
Pole Vault -- 1, Adam Ball, Viewmont, 15-6. 2, Jeff Agnello, Davis, 15-0. 3, Matt Toone, Fremont, 14-6. 4, Brady Leavitt, Jordan, 13-6. 5, Rob Merrill, Viewmont, 13-6. 6, Gene Clark, Bingham, 13-0. 7, Jason Gerrard, Davis, 13-0. 8, Chris Oakeson, Riverton, 12-6.
Class 4-A
Team Scores (through four events)
1, Mountain View, 35. 2, Box Elder, 17. 3, Roy, 12. 4, Pleasant Grove, 11.5. 5 (tie), Mountain Crest; West, 10. 7, Lone Peak, 8. 8 (tie), Timpview; American Fork, 10, Bountiful, 6.5
1,600 meters -- 1, Jared Keller, Mountain View, 4:21.14. 2, Mike Steele, Mountain View, 4:21.72. 3, Tim Goldhardt, Olympus, 4:22.44. 4, Steve Strickland, Mountain View, 4:23.30. 5, Jason Baker, Timpview, 4:23.71. 6, Robert Finicum, Timpview, 4:24.49. 7, Nate Houle, Mountain View, 4:24.83. 8, Derek Montoya, Box Elder, 4:27.18.
Discus -- 1, Leif Arrhenius, Mountain View, 189-9. 2, Kevin Smith, Box Elder, 152-4. 3, Spencer Thomas, Roy, 147-1. 4, Forrest Ledbetter, Cyprus, 142-4. 5, Cody Anderson, Box Elder, 141-11. 6, Brett Dille, Bonneville, 141-1. 7, John Latu, West, 137-7. 8, Dallas Buck, Roy, 130-10.
High Jump -- 1, Sean Welch, Pleasant Grove, 6-10 1/4. 2, Rick Roberts, Lone Peak, 6-6. 3, Trent Bingham, Spanish Fork, 6-4. 4, Paul Nelson, Bountiful, 6-4. 5, Rory Patterson, Logan, 6-2. 6, Maros Vodila, Timpanogos, 6-2. 7 (tie), Tyler Miles, Bountiful; Nick Raventos, Pleasant Grove, 6-2.
Pole Vault -- 1, Tom Hebdon, Mountain Crest, 14-0. 2, Lorrin Jenkins, West, 13-6. 3, Chris Muelhmann, American Fork, 13-0. 4, Mike Ward, Roy, 12-6. 5, Austin Ledingham, Provo, 12-6. 6, Kirt Hill, Box Elder, 12-6. 7, John Johnson, Box Elder, 12-0. 8, Evan Shipp, East, 11-6.
Class 3-A
Team Scores (through three events)
1, Judge, 21. 2, Hurricane, 14. 3, Morgan, 13. 4, Carbon, 12. 5, Lehi, 11. 6 (tie), Ogden; Wasatch, 10. 8, Emery, 9. 9, Cedar City, 7. 10, Bear River, 5.
1,600 meters -- 1, Tony Jones, Hurricane, 4:20.53. 2, Patrick Smyth, Judge, 4:27.78. 3, Isaac Goodrich, Carbon, 4:29. 4, Todd Gilbert, Ogden, 4:30.47. 5, Spencer Brown, Cedar City, 4:32.50. 6, Charles Hart, Cedar City, 4:33.14. 7, Nik Hlady, Judge, 4:33.34. 8, Matt Scott, Judge, 4:33.61.
Discus -- 1, Erik Lindquist, Judge, 142-10. 2, Bruce Clements, Emery, 135-4. 3, Parry Laulu, Carbon, 133-6. 4, Jesse Munns, Bear River, 132-4. 5, Cody Medler, Wasatch, 130-8. 6, Joe Demke, Lehi, 128-0. 7, Tony Lopez, Grantsville, 124-5. 8, Nate Stanley, Dixie, 119-8.
High Jump -- 1, Brock Pace, Morgan, 6-4. 2, Kris Jenkins, Lehi 6-4. 3, Kent Robinson, Wasatch, 6-2. 4, Cole Toupin, Ogden, 6-2. 5, Brad Jurca, Hurricane, 6-2. 6, Kolby Kimbal, Morgan, 6-0. 7, Graham Daugherty, Park City, 6-0. 8, Curt Jensen, Embery, 6-0.
Class 2-A
Team Scores (through three events)
1, Richfield, 20. 2, Juab, 18. 3, South Sevier, 17. 4 (tie), Kanab; Juan Diego, 10. 6 (tie), North Sevier; San Juan, 8. 8, Parowan, 7. 9 (tie), North Summit; Manti, 6.
1,600 meters -- 1, Clark Abraham, Richfield, 4:34.83. 2, David Whitmore, Richfield, 4:38.72. 3, Daniel Bishoff, South Sevier, 4:40.52. 4, Brady Johnson, South Summit, 4:41.59. 5, Royce Orem, Juab, 4:42.43. 6, Kyle Jarrett, Juan Diego, 4:44.96. 7, Ryan Tripp, Parowan, 4:48.96. 8, Jonathan Jones, South Sevier, 4:49.94.
Discus -- 1, Jeremy Leavitt, South Sevier, 144-11. 2, David Dalton, San Juan, 140-7. 3, Robert Nielson, Juab, 139-0. 4, T.J. Scow, North Summit, 136-8. 5, Carlos Valle, Juan Diego Catholic, 129-9. 6, Brian Bernard, Juan Diego Catholic, 126-2. 7, Kris Bartholomew, Gunnison, 126-00.00. 8, Jeremy Seymour, Parowan, 124-10.
High Jump -- 1, Mace Glazier, Kanab, 6-4. 2, Devin Jorgensen, North Sevier, 6-4. 3, James Peterson, Manti, 6-4. 4, Wade Nielson, Juab, 6-2. 5, Korby Fraughton, Parowan, 6-2. 6, Robert Nielson, Juab, 6-0. 7, Chris Luckau, Richfield, 6-0. 8, Rocky Pace, North Summit, 6-0.
Class 1-A
Team Scores (through three events)
1, St. Joseph, 23. 2, Bryce Valley, 17. 3, Duchesne, 15. 4, Manila, 14. 5, Panguitch, 11. 6, Wasatch Academy, 10. 7 (tie), Dugway; West Desert, 8. 9 (tie), East Carbon; Escalante, 4.
1,600 meters -- 1, Levi Lefevre, Bryce Valley, 4:20.61 (new 1-A state record. old record: Seth Steed, Monticello, 4:23.47, 2002). 2, Brad Timm, West Desert, 4:30.21. 3, Nick McKay, St. Joseph, 4:36.38. 4, Matt Loffredo, St. Joseph, 4:39.44. 5, Mitch Grant, Duchesne, 4:40.90. 6, Aaron Pitts, Piute, 4:41.49. 7, David Borgeson, St. Joseph, 4:51.87. 8, Asher McKee, Duchesne, 4:55.07.
Discus -- 1, Shane Nemetz, St. Joseph, 124-6. 2, Tony Shultz, Dugway, 120-4. 3, Jeremy Catron, Manila, 113-6. 4, Casey Christensen, Panguitch, 112-3. 5, Tony McFarland, East Carbon, 111-6. 6, Cody Killian, Duchesne, 111-1. 7, Landon Eldredge, Panguitch, 107-11. 8, Robbie McCormick, Bryce Valley, 105-6.
High Jump -- 1, Boian Marinov, Wasatch Academy, 6-2. 1, Jeff Catron, Manila, 6-2. 3, Landon Despain, Duchesne, 6-0. 4 (tie), Jory Twitchell, Bryce Valley; Joel Walter, Panguitch; Chad Cottam, Escalante 5-10. 7, Tye Ramsay, Bryce Valley, 5-10. 8, Nick Karren, Duchesne 5-10.
Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune