Big news came out of Taylorsville high school last fall when the boys cross country team won the Class 5A state championship. Building off that successful campaign, the track team has lofty goals and plenty of enthusiasm.

Taylorsville enters the 2025 campaign with talented, experienced athletes who are ready to compete against some of the state’s top squads. The 2024 Taylorsville track team had a strong showing, and the team members and coaching staff believe this season could be even better. 

“We are going into this season with a strong positive mindset,” head coach Chad Farnes said. “Our distance team just finished with a state title and finished ranked in the top 10 nationally. Our sprint team brings back an incredible group of juniors and seniors that have been extremely dedicated to track. And our throwers are enthusiastic about the prospects of this year. Last year was the best finish we had in at least 10 years, and we are bringing back the majority of that team. The team, both boys and girls, is excited to be one of the most competitive in the region and in the state.”

Farnes wants to win as much as the next person. But for him, winning isn’t just about excelling in the sport of track and field. He wants his athletes to succeed in other aspects of life too. He also wants the team members to enjoy competing as they work hard to improve and develop their skills and talents. 

“Our main goal is to ignite success,” he said. “We want athletes, whatever their ability level, to be successful, both on the track and in school. To do that we emphasize three things: working hard, dreaming big and having fun. As long as athletes are doing those three things…it is going to be a successful season.”

Taylorsville has several standout athletes on the track team this season. 

Leading the for the boys are distance runners Cole Jameson (senior), Kai Makowski (senior) and Edward Stout (junior), each of whom helped lead the boys to the top spot in 5A cross country in the fall. Sprinters Chatlin Mills, a senior, and Daniel Campbell, a junior, are eager to prove themselves and lead the team by example. Senior hurdler Lincoln Robinson and senior thrower Jacob Lee are two athletes to watch for the Warriors. 

Farnes also highlighted a pair of standouts on the girls team: senior sprinter and hurdler Sariah Johnson and sophomore sprinter Kaitlyn Sterzer. 

In addition, Farnes likes his team’s depth and thinks the Warrior will be ready to challenge for region and state supremacy this season. 

“We are really strong across the board, both boys and girls,” he said. “We’ve got athletes that are going to compete for the region title in nearly every event. We will also have some athletes that are going to be competing for the state title.”

Farnes has work to do in some areas with the team. He pointed to throwing events for the girls. Still, he’s pleased with the progress and efforts the athletes have made and with the diligent efforts the coaching staff is putting into this group. 

“If there is one place where we can improve, it is probably on the girls’ throw side,” Farnes said. “That is the smallest part of our team. However, we are working hard with some new coaches and hoping that that will turn out some additional athletes. Something else that we are looking to improve is consistency. We want to have every athlete attend practice every day. This year, we have the largest team we’ve ever had (around 150 athletes), which is the largest team in the school. We want to make sure that all athletes know we expect them to be there every day, ready to work and have fun.” 

Coaching this group of athletes is a pleasure for Farnes. He appreciates their zeal for the sport and how committed they are to achieving their goals and doing their best. He’s particularly pleased with the senior class and everything it has given to the program. 

“This group of seniors has been consistent and shown a level of dedication to track that I would argue is unparalleled,” he said. “For example, two years ago Sariah Johnson worked with the coaches at Taylorsville to create a sprint club so that sprint athletes from Taylorsville could continue to run in the off season. It has been wildly successful (we just took 25 athletes to the Simplot Indoor Meet as part of the club). They have shown a love for track and it has been contagious. It has just made for a really fun team.”

Team unity is strong for Taylorsville, and Farnes has come up with some creative ways to foster this camaraderie. 

“One other thing that I am really enjoying about this year is that I had the idea of making Pokemon cards (we call it Warriormon) for every athlete on the team for every year they’ve been on the team,” he said. “We randomly packaged the cards and then hand them out as kids do things well (for example, attend practice every day during the week). Athletes then have to trade with each other to get the cards that they want. It has been really fun to see them excited about the Warriormon cards.”λ