2023 marked the biggest field of athletes that the BYU Invitational has ever seen, since its beginnings in 1911. One hundred and forty-three teams from Utah, Wyoming, Nevada, Alaska and Idaho brought over 3,300 athletes to Provo, Utah to compete in the meet. While a meet this size provided some unfortunate challenges, that the athletes took the brunt of, the Kanab Cowboys put their best foot forward (no pun intended) and turned in some great marks!
Left to right:
Madison Orton soars over the bar earlier in the season. Orton was this years’ 1A-3A High Jump Champion at the 2023 BYU Invitational. Photo courtesy of Samantha LeFevre.
Tyson Brinkerhoff guts out a tough finish in a stacked field of the 3200 meters at the 2023 BYU Invitational. Photo courtesy of MileSplit.
The meet is divided up into a 1A-3A classification and a 4A-6A Classification, and runs for two days. Senior jump star, Madi Orton won the 1A- 3A classification of the high jump with leap of 5’3”, a jump good enough to place her 2nd overall (1A-6A). Madi’s consistency and easy clearance of early heights makes her hard to beat in the high jump. She will try to defend her two-time State Champion status next weekend at the State meet.
Freshman distance sensation, Kenidee Glazier turned in three impressive performances during the weekend. She placed 2nd in the 1600 with a time of 5:09.69, and 4th in the 3200 with a time of 11:07.37. She was the top freshman finisher across all divisions in both races. She was also able to turn in a 5th place finish in the 800 meters with a time of 2:21.19. Considering she is not even 15 years old yet, she is truly a sight to watch compete at the high school level.
Senior sprinter, Travis Stewart had a very busy weekend, making finals in the 100, 200 and 400 meters (all of which happened within one hour of each other). He started out his finals run with the 100 meters, where he took 6th overall with a time of 11.18. More impressively, he was the only 2A athlete in the final, with the rest of the field stemming from the 3A category. He ended 2nd in the 400 meters with a time of 50.08, and was the top Utah finisher. His time of 49.98 in the preliminaries was a seasonal best for Stewart. He then had to recoup and rally to finish the 200 meters in a time of 22.80 which placed him 6th as well, a truly gutsy performance.
Other notable performances came from Emrey Kabonic in the 100 Meter Hurdles who ran a state qualifying time of 17.76, and Nate Stewart who threw a state qualifying mark in the Javelin of 139’ 11.5”.
The Cowboys Region Championships are Wednesday, March 10, at Southern Utah University, then they will be moving on to the UHSAA State Championships in Provo, on May 19-20, 2023.
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