Meet Record Broken and Two Champions Crowned at 2020 Simplot Games
Contact: Tori Parks, parktor3@isu.edu
Sydney Thorvaldson breaks 3200 meter mark
Trey Knight and Cheyenne Figueroa win weight throws
Pocatello, Idaho – During a night of preliminary races on the Holt Arena track, no one expected a meet record to fall—least of all Wyoming's Sydney Thorvaldson. Yet Thorvaldson walked away from Thursday's events with a new meet record time of 10:11.43.
Along with Thorvaldson's record run, two winners were crowned in the weight throw. Cheyenne Figueroa, a senior from Rhode Island, won the girls event with a mark of 56'04. Figueroa, the first ever Simplot Games competitor representing Rhode Island, flew to Idaho to compete before returning home for her state championships on Saturday.
Trey Knight, a senior from Ridgefield, Washington, won the boys weight throw with a mark of 84'. Knight's victory was his third Simplot Games weight throw win a row.
Thorvaldson, like Knight, has become a crowd favorite at Simplot Games. Despite her record time, Thorvaldson said she didn't intend to run for the record.
"After the first mile, I heard my time, and I was feeling really good, so I went for it," said Thorvaldson.
After arriving late to Simplot Games last year because of inclement weather, Thorvaldson ran her preliminary race alone without any other athletes on the track. This year, Thorvaldson was glad to have other runners on the track with her.
"It was great," Thorvaldson said. "Last year was totally awkward running by myself."
Thorvaldson will compete in the girls 3200 meters final on Saturday but isn't ready to predict another record.
"I don't know what will happen on Saturday," she said. "I didn't predict this one."
More than 2,200 athletes will come from across the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to participate in the 42nd annual Simplot Games. Simplot Games remains the nation's premier high school indoor track and field event. Sponsored by the J.R. Simplot Company since 1979, the Simplot Games are held at Idaho State University's Holt Arena in Pocatello, Idaho.
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