Team of The Week: Grace Track And Field

Jody Reeves

Over the past several years Grace track and field has been a program on the rise.  They have seen increased interest and numbers coming all the way down to the jr. high level.  Currently leading the Grizzlies is head coach Jeremy Smith.  Coach Smith came to Grace already with several years of experience in the sport.  Smith has coached everything from USA club teams to junior high and high school.  His last high school coaching job prior to Grace was for Idaho Falls High School where he coached for about a decade.  During his twenty years of coaching Smith has also tried to better educate himself on the sport.  Coach Smith has been certified in a variety of areas including sprints, jumps, hurdles, relays, and endurance.  “I’m a big believer in education.  I give the kids my expertise and then let them do the work and motivate them to see that they're capable of more than maybe they see themselves.  Then help them believe that.”  With the season winding down I asked Coach Smith what his team goals would be to finish off the year?  “You're always wanting kids to end their season on a high note.  Our goal going into districts is to qualify as many kids for state as possible and score as many points as possible to hopefully have us in the conversation for a district trophy.”  

Over the last two seasons the Grace boys team in particular have been very strong at the 1A level, actually winning the state title in 2022.  With the majority of the athletes that have contributed to that success now graduated and gone, I was curious whether Coach Smith was concerned about losing such a strong group.  “It's always hard to see good athletes go particularly from a leadership standpoint.  It is hard to start a season and have a lot of unknowns but I have been pleasantly surprised.  We have a good core group and the great thing about this group is that there's very few seniors.”   Coach Smith went on to say, “I think our team is becoming more diverse with our throwers and jumpers allowing us to have more options as a team.”  With an ever growing number of athletes in such diverse areas Grace has also tried to add a diverse group of coaches to the mix.  TJ Knudson is the lone coach on staff that has been in the Grace program longer than Coach Smith.  TJ helps with the sprint workouts and specializes in the hurdles.  TJ is joined by his wife Sage Knudson who assists in the sprints and works with the triple and long jump athletes as well.  Crystal Peterson, who also coaches gymnastics, works with the high jumpers, pole vaulters and the new event, the javelin.  Rounding out the staff is Rex Westover who is a former collegiate athlete and is passionate about the shot put and discus.  Coach Smith would say, “This is the biggest and probably strongest track coaching staff that Grace has had since I've been here.  Maybe ever I'm not sure but it's a very diverse staff.”

The Grizzlies had a somewhat busy week as they sent several athletes to Preston last Thursday and then turned right around and traveled to the largest meet in southeast Idaho, the Tiger/Grizz meet in Idaho Falls.  With limitations on the number of meets and events that athletes are allowed to participate in, the Grizzlies would split kids between the meets.  At the Preston meet, several athletes earned PR’s.  Toby Barnes PRed in both the 100 and 200 meter sprints.  Carson Welch PRed and placed second in the 200 meters, with Bryant Jensen and Carson Reeves also placing in the top ten.  Jensen also PRed in the 400 meter race, taking home first place followed in third place by Jonah Wilkerson.  Parker Yost earned PR’s in both hurdle races and placed second in the 300m hurdles.  The Carsons, Reeves and Welch placed second and third in the shot put, with Welch earning a PR with his third place throw.  The Lady Grizzlies also saw good performances.  One of the fantastic freshmen for Grace, Bella Eddins, placed second in both the triple and high jump events.  Skyla Cloud finished in the top ten in her first ever discus competition and came in third behind Eddins in the high jump.  Tayler Yost cruised to a first place finish in the 100m hurdles as well as the 200 meter sprint.  Tessica Jorgensen and Breanna Heer PRed in their distance races as well.  Brooklyn Porter added another PR to her tally in the 400 meter race. Kallie Stoddard set a PR in the 100 meters and finished third overall.  In addition to all of that, the girls 4x100 relay team took home the top spot as well.

With limited space and minimum qualifying standards, the Grizzlies took a trimmed down number of athletes to the Tiger/Grizz meet.  Cold, wet temperatures and high level competition made it very difficult for any Grace athlete to PR, let alone place on the podium.  Despite those odds a handful of athletes did earn PR’s in some of the track events.  The best finish for the Grizzlies was the throwers relay who had built a great lead going into the final handoff when disaster struck and a dropped baton dropped the Grizzlies to third place.  The Grace team would earn a lot of experience and some lessons learned as they wrapped up the week.

A final question for Coach Smith was what he wanted people to know about the kids on the team.  His response, “I love how fun they are and how they support each other.  They’re just a hard working group and they're all committed to the team's success.  They are pretty fun to watch.”