Montes makes good on his glorious goal
From the moment he came home from the Arcadia Invitational, all Montes could think about was rewriting the 3A record book in the 800 meters. At the 51st annual Davis Invitational, the Tigers' middle-distance star accomplished that feat.
Montes won the 800 in 1 minute, 52.67 seconds on Saturday. He simultaneously shattered a 20-year-old 3A state record held by Timpview's David Spence and a 26-year-old Davis Invitational mark set by Viewmont's Alan Parker.
There was little question Montes would prevail once the race got going. He pulled further and further ahead on the last lap and finished nearly six seconds ahead of Fremont's Marcus Charlesworth.
"Coming into the last lap of the race, I knew no one was behind me," Montes said. "I could hear them but I just kept going and going. I wasn't even paying attention to the noise and everything. It was just my race."
Montes trimmed more than two seconds off the time he posted at Arcadia, a development certain to boost his top-10 national ranking in that event.
Mountain View distance runner Travis Fuller scored an upset win in the 1,600 after overtaking Skyline's Stephen Clark in the final 100 meters.
"I just felt like I could do it, so I went after it," Fuller said. "Then with 100 to go, I saw he started to die, so I just went for it."
Viewmont sprinter Bailee Whitworth produced another surprising outcome.
Whitworth, a junior, claimed the top spot in the girls 200 meters after finishing in 25.60 seconds — two-tenths of a second ahead of Taylorsville star Dominique Thompson.
The two sprinters went head-to-head earlier in the 100. Thompson won that race with a time of 12.26 seconds, tying a school record previously set by current BYU basketball player Shawnee Slade.
But Whitworth came close enough, with her finish of 12.29 seconds, to feel confident she could prevail in the 200.
"I do a lot better in the 200 because I can just push myself more in the end," said Whitworth, who also won the long jump with a mark of 16 feet, 2 inches.
Davis enjoyed a strong showing in the boys events. Bryce Hall led the way with wins in the discus and shot put, and Taylor Carling added a victory in the 200.
Carling's victory in the 200, with a winning time of 22.10 seconds, came after he ran 10.99 seconds in the 100 and still placed third behind Layton's Shea Kopecky (10.95) and Cottonwood's Marcus Payne (10.98).
The girls competition produced the lone out-of-state winner. Evanston (Wyo.) High's Erin Kirby placed first in the 300 hurdles (44.57).
E-mail: jcoon@desnews.com
Recent comments
Franco is an amazing runner. He will go very far in life, running...
Jacob Barton | April 28, 2008 at 5:59 p.m.
franco will break more records, good job montes.
tiger fan | April 28, 2008 at 8:13 a.m.
