High school football: 5 teams expected to contend for Region 5 title

4A football semifinal, Mountain Crest vs. Highland, at Rice Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Friday, Nov. 9, 2012.

Laura Seitz, Deseret News

It’s quite common to find a league where two or maybe even three teams are expected to be strong contenders for a championship.

But five teams? No way.

That’s the case in Region 5 football this year, however, as all three Cache Valley schools — defending league champion Mountain Crest, along with Logan and Sky View — all figure to be in the hunt, as well as Box Elder and a resurgent Roy High team.

Picking a favorite is like pulling teeth — coaches stammer and squirm at the prospect of trying to decide which one of those five teams will wind up as the top dog in a region that also includes Bonneville and league newcomer Ogden.

“I think it’s loaded,” said Box Elder coach Robbie Gunter, whose team has been picked by some experts as the one to beat. “I think it’s a great region this year. The three Cache Valley schools, who knows which one is the best, but they are all excellent. And Roy is probably as good as they’ve been in a long time with great young kids and they’re competing.

“I don’t know that I’d pick a favorite. I think that they’re all pretty good.

“Mountain Crest has won it the last few years, so you’ve gotta give it to them going into it — you’ve gotta knock them off,” Gunther said. “Just because Mountain Crest has done it so many times (five titles won or shared over the last six seasons), you have to say that they’re the favorite. They always seem to put it together.”

However, Mountain Crest coach Mark Wootton isn’t so sure about his own team's title contention.

Yes, the Mustangs are the defending league champs and were within one play of winning the 4A state championship last November, dropping a dramatic double-overtime heartbreaker to Timpview in the title game.

But he lost a lot of great players off that team, and he claims his young squad might be too inexperienced to take home another title this year.

“There are five or six teams that can win it,” Wootton said. “There’s not any clear-cut favorite. There could be a few teams that are really happy at the end — and a lot that are really disappointed. It’s just that close, and it could be a little disappointing because I think everybody will play everybody else tough.

“I just kinda hope that the tradition keeps our kids playing at a high level. Our expectations for the kids is real high. We’re pushing them very hard, and we coach our kids up to win. When you lose great players and have to fill a lot of spots, you hope that when kids get that opportunity they play real hard and get after it.”

Logan High coach Mike Favero certainly knows a little bit about playing hard, getting after it and bringing home a championship, as his teams have taken four state titles over the last 14 years.

And he sees this year’s Region 5 race as a five-team dogfight.

“Mountain Crest, Box Elder, Roy and Logan are probably very, very similar teams this year, and you can throw Sky View into that group as well,” he said. “Mountain Crest’s younger programs are outstanding and they will be right there — they’ve got too many kids not to (contend). And Sky View’s got a lot of talent coming back.

“Roy’s junior class was probably the strongest in the region. Their biggest thing is, mentally, can you turn the program around? They’re talented but, if the kids haven’t experienced success at a high level, sometimes they can be held back by that. I think the most talented team in the region is Box Elder; they’re tough.

“With those five teams, it’s going to be a very, very, very tight race,” Favero said.

Oliver barrels over hurdles to win title at worlds

MOSCOW — Over 10 hurdles, David Oliver had no trouble.

Stepping past a tiny steel beam jutting from the floor inside Luzhniki Stadium soon after winning a gold medal? Now that proved more difficult.

His trouble began after his nearly flawless 110-meter hurdles Monday night at the world championships. Oliver tripped and tumbled to the ground but quickly picked himself up and rubbed his stinging knee. His comic touch, however, was still intact: At least, he said, his misstep happened after the race.

For years, injuries have halted Oliver in the hurdles. For years, he's struggled to find his rhythm. It all came together when he finished just ahead of teammate Ryan Wilson.

Had it not been for a trip over the final hurdle, defending champion Jason Richardson could have grabbed the last spot on the podium. But his stumble opened the door for Sergey Shubenkov of Russia to slip into the third spot — much to the delight of the Moscow crowd.

"This feels great, man, coming out here and finally performing well again," said Oliver, a former football player at Howard University. "I was tired of being injured. I was tired of failing. I was tired of running like a donkey. It's just not good when you're not winning."

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce wouldn't know anything about that, cruising to the women's 100-meter title. The two-time Olympic champion is just as dominant these days as Jamaican teammate Usain Bolt.

Fraser-Pryce took off out of the blocks and there was simply no catching her. She finished in a world-leading time of 10.71 seconds to beat Murielle Ahoure of the Ivory Coast. Defending champion Carmelita Jeter of the U.S. finished with the bronze.

Wearing pink shoes and matching hair extensions, Fraser-Pryce was hard to miss. And given all her wins, it's hard not to compare her to Bolt.

"I compare myself to nobody," Fraser-Pryce said. "What Usain has, he has. What I have is hard work."

Hard work has been Oliver's calling hard. A calm injury hampered him at Olympic trials last season and prevented him from making the U.S. squad for London.

Oliver decided to do things differently. No more weightlifting for the big and strong hurdler. No practicing on Wednesday, either. And, above all else, no more than four or five reps at anything he does on the track.

"I hit the reset button," Oliver explained. "With all those injuries, a lot of changes had to be made. Now, I can sit back and celebrate being a world champion."

Oliver's already off to a solid start in that department. He celebrated near the track with his mother, a former 400 hurdler who was an aspiring member of the U.S. track team in 1980 when the Americans boycotted the Moscow Olympics.

That made the moment all the more meaningful.

"Every race is always dedicated to my mom," said Oliver, who won Olympic bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games. "She taught me everything I know. For them not to compete in the '80 Games and she's here in the stadium? Nothing better. Love sharing those moments with her."

After lunging across the finish line, Oliver let out a loud scream. All those injuries and all those setbacks seemed gone. Wilson sauntered up to congratulate his teammate. Then Oliver suddenly noticed on the scoreboard that Wilson, not Richardson or Olympic gold medalist Aries Merritt, was on the podium with him.

"He goes, 'Oh, I didn't know it was you.' He was so excited," Wilson recounted. "I couldn't have lost to a better competitor."

In other finals Monday:

—Valerie Adams of New Zealand became the first woman to win four straight individual world titles.

—Christine Ohuruogu of Britain leaned at the line to finish off a great comeback in the 400 and beat defending champion Amantle Montsho of Botswana by .004 seconds.

—Raphael Holzdeppe of Germany captured the pole vault.

—Pawel Fajdek of Poland won the hammer throw.

Unlike Ohuruogu in the 400, there was little drama in the 100 given Fraser-Pryce's fast start. She opened quite a big lead, pumped her arms down the track and then pumped her fists after her finish.

"I was completely in that zone," Fraser-Pryce said. "I didn't let any distractions get in."

The Jamaicans are now 2-0 in the sprint rivalry against the Americans.

With three more medals Monday, the Americans increased their overall lead to six for the championships. It could have possibly been more, with Brad Walker (pole vault), Michelle Carter (shot put), English Gardner (100) and Richardson all finishing fourth.

"I was going so fast that that I turned on the boosters and the jet fuel," Richardson said. "I did whatever it took to try and get back in it. I made a great burst of speed, but my hurdle technique couldn't support it."

Oliver's technique is like this: He attacks hurdles like a football player would, trying to clear them and punish them at the same time. It works. The hurdles almost bow in fear when the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Oliver comes barreling by.

Steel beams? That's something he still has to work on.

Kiplagat denies Straneo to retain marathon title

1 of 7. Edna Ngeringwony Kiplagat of Kenya waves as she celebrates winning the women's marathon during the IAAF World Athletics Championships at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow August 10, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Denis Balibouse

By Justin Palmer

MOSCOW | Sat Aug 10, 2013 9:36am EDT

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Kenyan Edna Kiplagat defied hot and humid conditions and a brave front-running display from Italian Valeria Straneo to become the first woman to retain the world marathon title on Saturday.

Kiplagat, 33, won the first gold of the Moscow world championships after taking control of the race in the shadows of the Luzhniki stadium to win in 2:25:44.

The smooth-striding Kiplagat, who led a Kenyan sweep of the medals in Daegu in 2011, stalked Straneo, 37, until the 40-kilometre mark after the two other leading protagonists - Japan's Kayoko Fukushi and Ethiopian Meselech Melkamu dropped off the pace.

Straneo, who underwent surgery in 2010 to have her spleen and gall bladder removed, was unable to keep tabs on the leader in the shade of the Olympic Park and took silver in 2:25:58. Fukushi secured bronze in 2:27:45.

Kiplagat's victory made up for a disappointing London Olympics last year when she was suffering with flu and trailed home 20th behind Ethiopian Tiki Gelana.

She showed she had regained her form by finishing second in the London marathon in April, but Gelana's poor season continued as she dropped out before the 15-km mark of a race run by the banks of the Moskva river and on a series of loops between the stadium and Red Square.

Gelana also suffered in the London marathon when was knocked to the ground after being struck by a wheelchair athlete mid-race, limping home in 16th place.

(Editing by Alison Wildey)