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Midvale Journal

Hillcrest High School Track And Field Team

May 05, 2016 01:50PM ● By Julie Slama

By Julie Slama | [email protected]

Midvale - With the State Competition less than a month away, the Hillcrest High School track and field team is putting in the hard work and dedication needed to find success. 

“The season is going OK so far,” head coach Scott Stuki said. “I think both our boys and girls teams will have a chance to compete at State again this year.” 

Hillcrest has won every home meet they’ve had this year and for past two seasons, the Huskies have claimed the Region 6 championship title.

“We have different strengths, but our girl hurdlers are going to be really strong and I think our boys four-by-100 is going to do well, too,” Stuki said. “We have a couple jumpers that I think are also going to do well.” 

The Huskies have about 140 members making up the track and field team this year, making 2016 the biggest Hillcrest High School team in recent history. 

“We don’t really cut people,” Stuki said. “People cut themselves.” 

While each season begins with a record number of students, 13 years of being head coach has taught Stuki that not all members who come out for the team will commit throughout the entire season.

With Hillcrest’s distance runners practicing twice a day and logging more than 50 miles each week, and other disciplines putting in over 10 hours of practice weekly, committing to the track and field team takes a certain type of dedication, commitment and drive that not all high school student have.

“Though it’s a cultural thing, track and field is also so different,” Stuki said. “The events are so different that we get a lot of different kids.” 

The large team is lead by eight coaches, with each coach overseeing a different discipline of the team. What makes this year unique, too, is that the team has a substantial amount of juniors, which helps improve the overall depth of the group. 

“We’ve got solid talent this year,” Stuki said. “I’ve got a great pole-vaulter on the girl’s side who will probably win State. We just have really solid kids. I know that we have others who will make it to State and make the finals in State, but with the strong competition, they are going to have to work really hard to win.” 

Sending as many members of their team to the State competition on May 20 is an overarching goal for the Huskies. 

“We focus on the same things every year,” Stuki said. “Our first goal is win region, and our second goal is to get as many kids to State and we can. Even the years that we don’t make our goal of winning region, we can still get kids to State.” 

The Huskies are notorious for having a strong showing in the hurdles. Though they graduated the girl’s two-time state champion hurdler last year, Stuki still feels like his hurdling group will be strong contenders in both the region and state competitions. 

“Over the past couple decades, we’ve had a strong tradition of hurdles,” Stuki said. “We try to identify the kids that could be good in hurdles and kind of push them there. That’s our biggest strength.” 

Stuki also has high hopes for several leading members of the distance group, as well as the pole-vaulting and relay groups. And as the Huskies enter the final weeks of their season, they prepare for the tough competitions in the region championships and state meet, like Murray, Skyline, and Olympus. 

“Winning all of our home meets has been good,” Stuki said. “But the highlights always come through the years when we have team success and get kids qualified for state and then hopefully getting to place that trophy in the case. For me though, the biggest things are seeing improvements from kids, kids setting personal records, and then when we start having team success and getting kids to state, that’s always a highlight.”

The Huskies will be attending the State Meet at BYU on May 20-21.