Taylor Meeks
Sports Editor
Last year, after traveling through treacherous weather that delayed the Wyoming native’s arrival, the then sophomore athlete ran the girls’ 3200-meter run alone with the exception of the accompaniment of fellow athletes cheering her on to secure a spot in Saturday’s finals. Not expecting to make the trip, missing the qualifying race on Thursday and without proper preparation, the young runner did not plan to break the Simplot Games meet record on Saturday.
But she did just that, circling Holt Arena’s 200-meter banked, wooden track 16 times in only 10:19.05, smashing the 19-year-old record by 13 seconds.
Sydney Thorvaldson, a distance runner from Rawlins, Wyo., was all of the hype at last year’s Games with her spectacular feat. Returning as a junior this year, she continued to be the topic of conversation during Thursday’s qualifying race and into Saturday’s finals.
Thorvaldson raced the 3200 meters alongside 11 other athletes in the 42nd annual Simplot Games qualifier last Thursday evening. From the get-go, the junior gained an impressive lead which she maintained through the entire race. Much to her surprise, as she crossed the finish line and looked up at the clock, she realized she had re-broke the meet record with a new time of 10:11.43.
“After the first mile, I heard my time,” Thorvaldson said. “I was feeling really good, so I went for it.”
Thorvaldson had a full day of rest on Friday and ample warm up time Saturday afternoon before the final race commenced later Saturday evening. At the command of the officiator, she took her mark among 14 others. The loud crack of the gun echoed throughout Holt Arena, and the pounding of footsteps rumbled the track as the final girls’ 3200-meter run got underway.
It didn’t take long before Thorvaldson was lapping the other runners, pushing her two-mile time she set before. The announcer called out her splits each time around, and the crowd roared with encouragement.
Before long, Thorvaldson was crossing the finish line as the reigning Simplot Games champion of the 3200 and having broken her meet record – again. With a new personal-best time of 10 minutes, 6.58 seconds, Thorvaldson shattered her previous time and cemented herself in the Simplot Games record book.
“I have to know how to push myself,” Thorvaldson said afterwards. “I come in just knowing what I have to get done. I love it here; the competitors and the crowd are amazing.”
Since its founding in 1979, the annual Simplot Games has been the nation’s premier indoor track and field event. Inviting over 2,000 athletes from 400 different teams across four different countries to compete inside Idaho State University’s Holt Arena has been a tradition that will be forever ingrained in Pocatello’s community.
Feb. 13-15 was no different as athletes old and new showcased their talents through more than 40 qualifiers and finals. Perhaps as equally as exciting as Thorvaldson’s meet record was Colorado native Mia Manson’s pole vault.
The senior from Erie cleared a height of 13’5.25” to knock off the former record by just a quarter of an inch on her third and final attempt.
“When I saw the meet record was 13’5”, I knew there was a high chance I could do that,” Manson said. “My mom sent that to me, and I’ve been jumping well above that.”
Manson cleared 13’7” a week prior to Simplot Games at the Colorado Mines track and field meet, which currently places her at U.S. number two. Her goal is to beat the Colorado state record of 13’9” and maybe even reach 14’.
Her record returned the family name to the event’s record book; her father Pat set the boys’ record as a high school senior in 1986. His mark of 17’6.25” stood for 32 years. After graduation, Manson will attend and compete at the University of Michigan.
Though the elite performances of athletes from far and wide are the highlight of the meet, the true unsung heroes are the small army of volunteers who dedicate hours and hours of service to make Simplot Games happen. According to meet director Greg Burch, without them, everything would fall apart.
“When I started running this meet years ago, my thing was that we would always be on time,” Burch said. “I’ve got it broken down so that I know what time every heat will run so that we stay on schedule. It’s what makes our meet as good as it is.”
In order to manage the chaos of the 2,042 athletes in attendance this year, 272 volunteers contributed in some capacity this year. But these volunteers aren’t “plain Janes.” At every station — registration, merchandise, timing, gathering results — there were volunteers with over a decade of experience and some had more.
Burch has been the meet director for 25 years. Steven Teeples, one of the meet’s starters, said he’s been volunteering for nearly 30 years.
“It’s a long day, it’s a long weekend,” Teeples said. “But being a part of these kids having this experience is really the gratification that brings me back.”
