Central Utah runners take medals in Utah Summer Games last week
6-27-2019
Cedar City may have been unseasonably cold this past weekend, but inside the SUU Eccles Coliseum the track and field competition was blazing hot as several Gunnison Bulldogs and one Manti Templar joined forces with other central Utah runners to make the trip to compete in the Utah Summer Games.
The Summer Games pits athletes from all around Utah and even some who travel from outside the state to compete. Running for Velocitas Track Club in the off season, Bulldogs Annika Liddiard, Jade Wimmer, Sarah Liddiard and Ethan “Ninja” Carter, joined Manti Templar Janna Thompson for the two-day competition.
Coach Carl Wimmer said, “Every one of our athletes came away with either a medal or a new personal best, we had several top five finishes and even some gold medal victories!”
Jade Wimmer took 1st place in both the 200-meter dash and the 400-meter dash; Annika Liddiard took 3rd in both the 200-meter and 400-meter dash; Sarah Liddiard took 3rd in the 800-meter run and Ethan “Ninja” Carter, who just completed an outstanding season for Gunnison, placed in the top five for both the 100-meter and 200-meter dash and came away with a new personal best time in the 100 meter.
A girls 4X100 relay team that included Janna Thompson, Jade Wimmer, Annika Liddiard and a girl from Monroe, Kaizlee Bringhurst took 2nd place.
“We took nine athletes to the games, and honestly, we cleaned house,” said Wimmer. “Central Utah is quickly gaining a reputation as a track and field gold mine. I had several coaches come up to me and ask about our athletes and where our club was located, when I told them we were based out of Sanpete County Utah, they were quite impressed.”
In a personal best performance, Jade Wimmer broke two records at the Utah Summer Games that have stood for almost 30 years. She broke both the 200 meter and 400 meter records that were set in 1992.
“I knew I had broken the records, but the significance did not really hit me until dad told me he was exactly my age in 1992,” Jade said.
In breaking the 200-meter sprint record, Jade ran a personal life-time best of 25.52 which was enough to take the gold and cement her name in the Utah Summer Games Record Book. Jade who will be a senior next school year, runs for Gunnison based Velocitas Track Club when not running for the hometown Bulldogs.
