EVENT LEADER

For once, Case Parker wasn’t in the starting blocks when defending state Class 3A champion East Valley opened the boys track and field season. But he had a good excuse.

The senior sprinter was late starting the spring season because his winter season went into overtime.

A standout Nordic skier, Parker was invited to compete at the 2007 Junior Olympics at Soldier Hollow, site of the biathlon and cross-country events at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

“I competed in my age group in both the classic 10 kilometers and the 10-kilometer skate,” Parker said. “It was pretty incredible to be able to compete in an event like this against some of the top skiers in the country.”

For his first national competition, Parker did well.

“I finished about midway,” he said. “I didn’t keep track of placings or anything like that, but I feel good about how I did.”

It didn’t hurt him as he prepared for the track season, either.

“It wasn’t like he was off playing around somewhere,” EV coach Dave McCarty said. “He was racing just about every day of the week he was there.”

Parker said he likes the way his winter sport prepares him for the track season, where he runs the 200 and 400 meters as well as a leg on the mile relay team.

“I think cross country skiing is a great way to cross train,” he said. “You have your endurance work down. All you have to worry about is doing your speed work.”

That, too, has come easily this season.

Parker was ineligible for the Banana Belt Invitational in Clarkston, the first meet of the season. Instead, he turned in a 50.2-second 400 meters in a three-way meet at West Valley, the second-fastest time in the state thus far this season. Nectaly Barbosa, a senior at Class 2A Prosser, is the only sprinter to run a sub-50 second 400, turning in a 49.32.

Parker is one of several East Valley senior track athletes to be among the state’s leaders in their events. Tim Armstrong owns the state’s best times in both the 110 and 300 hurdles, with Kyle Bowers right on his heels in the 110 hurdles. Scott Bunkelman already has jumped 21 feet in the long jump.

“A lot of us have started the season strong,” Parker said. “And I believe we’ll all continue to get faster as the season goes along.

“I think there was some momentum carrying over from winning state. We have a strong group of guys back from last year, and we all want to get back (to the state meet) and do it again.”

The Knights won the state title last spring without benefit of a single individual state champion – an impressive feat.

“Last year we had two guys with state experience from the year before: Sam Hale and Anthony Laborin,” Parker said. “Their experience really helped the rest of us get ready for what we had to do. We weren’t nervous; we just went out and did our best.”

Parker kicked off the 400-relay effort that cemented the Knights’ championship with a second-place finish.

“I ran the third leg in the prelims and the first leg in the finals,” Parker said. “The mile relay is my favorite event. It’s the last event of the meet and, more often than not, the whole event is decided there.”

The experience of dropping into the starting blocks for the final event of a state meet, with a title on the line, was an unforgettable experience, he said.

“That’s what it’s all about,” he said. “It’s all on the line. That’s why you compete.”

Parker said he learned a great deal competing at the state tournament.

“For most races, I know going in that I have more endurance than anyone else in the race,” he said. “At state, that’s not the case. These are the best in the state at that event. Against them, it’s all about who’s the toughest mentally.”

The 400 meters is a challenging race. It’s too long for most runners to treat it as a sprint, yet too short to be treated like a middle-distance race.

“The way I like to run the 400 is to sprint the first 100 meters, relax and settle into my rhythm for the second 100 meters, kick the next 100 meters and then kick again the final 100 meters,” he said. “I know I’m in better shape and have more endurance than the other guys. But for the most part, the race is all about who’s the most mentally tough. It’s about who isn’t going to quit.”