Arianne Brown is a reporter covering southern Utah communities, with a focus on heart-warming stories and local happenings. She has been a reporter for 14 years.
ST. GEORGE — When Bonneville High School head track coach John Keeffer looked at his watch at the 200-meter mark, he knew Davis DeGroot had a strong chance of reaching an all-around state record in the 400-meter race last week.
"I always clock his 200-meter split to see if he's on pace to hit his goal, and he crossed the 200-meter mark in 21 seconds," Keefer told KSL. "I was like, 'Oh, my gosh!' I mean, that's as fast as he runs an open 200 meters. I was like, 'He might do it!' So, I sprinted to the other side to try and catch him at the finish line."The all-around state track record, including all classes 1-A to 6-A in the 400 meters, was 46.05. Keefer said he knew when he saw DeGroot cross the finish line with the clock still running at 45 seconds, the record had been broken.The final time was 45.46, which bested the old record by 0.59 seconds — and is the fastest time in the country so far in the track season. Not only that, but it was done during his first outdoor meet of the season at the Pine View Invitational in St. George this past weekend."Usually when a record gets broken in sprinting events, it's barely ," Keefer said. "To break a record by half a second in a sprinting event is amazing. Right now, Davis has the fastest time in the U.S. as a high school athlete so far this year."State records aren't new to the 18-year-old senior. In fact, last May, he broke the all-around state record in the long jump, jumping 24 feet, 1½ inches at the Region 5 meet.DeGroot told KSL that, even though it was the season opener, he knew breaking the 400-meter record was within reach, but he wasn't sure it would happen as soon as it did."I was so excited to finally be able to run," DeGroot said. "The last time I ran a 400 was at nationals . I was beyond ready to run, and I was so pumped up and excited to get out and do what's natural. I made a goal with my dad to go 46 low, and I wanted to break into the 45's as an overall season goal."Prior to the track season, DeGroot played on his high school basketball team. He also trained with his club team, Gold Medal Athletics, led by former BYU runner and World Championships gold medalist Sean Maye. According to Maye, athletes like DeGroot don't come along too often, and the race this past weekend is an indicator of better things to come. Bonneville High School senior Davis DeGroot set a new all-around state 400-meter track record by half a
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