Park City High School track and field team closes season with record-breaking success

Photo: Dave Yocum

PARK CITY, Utah — Park City High School’s track and field team capped off the 2024-2025 season with historic results at the 4A State Championship, including multiple school and state records, and top finishes for both the boys’ and girls’ teams.

The boys’ team, led by head coach Dave Yocum, earned second place overall at the state meet, while the girls, under head coach Ashley Ballew, secured third. The results reflected a season of transformation and high performance across all events, from sprints to middle distance to relays.

Senior Bash Bodily set a new state and school record in the boys’ 400-meter dash with a time of 47.2 seconds. Bodily also anchored two winning relay teams. The 4×200-meter relay team—Bodily, Eli Warner, Owen Osorio and Oliver Timpson—posted both a school and state record-breaking 1:26.6. In the 4×400-meter relay, Bodily joined Leo Gorder, Van Talbott and Trey Hudson to secure first place with a time of 3:20, a school record.

Warner also placed second in the 100-meter dash (10.83), while Bodily earned second in the 200-meter (21.5).

At the Region X Championships earlier this season, the girls’ team took first place overall, with the boys finishing second.

At this year’s Tiger Trails in Orem, the boys’ 4×100-meter relay team—featuring Bodily and Warner—set a school record with a time of 42.42.

Yocum credited the team’s success to a combination of returning talent, key new additions, and a coaching approach focused on collaboration rather than division by gender.

“We don’t coach by girls and boys,” Yocum said. “We coach by discipline. We’ve worked hard over the last decade to go from being known as a distance school to becoming a balanced team—and this year, we may be stronger in sprints.”

Among the team standouts was senior Van Talbott, who served as team captain and qualified for the state meet in both the 400m and 800m, placing third in the 800. Talbott, who signed to run for Western Washington University, was part of a middle-distance group energized by new assistant coach Nikki Dotter.

The team also benefited from offseason preparation during Utah’s unsanctioned indoor season. Yocum, who has led the boys’ program since 2014, said indoor training provided an early indication of the group’s potential, especially after the arrival of athletes like Noah Scherf.

Although the girls’ team dealt with injuries throughout the season—including standout freshman Tatum Flach—their relay squads delivered key wins, breaking broking school records this year in the 4×200 at state and the 4×400 at the PACS-BYU meet. “That’s incredibly hard to do. It was probably the best overall meet we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Yocum said.

Park City’s coaching team includes specialists like Dotter and Ashley Ballew, who works with hurdlers, long jumpers and sprinters. Yocum emphasized the strength of the program’s coaching structure and the spirit of collective leadership.

“It was a magical season,” Yocum said. “Not without challenges, but we had the right kids, competitive athletes, and coaches who gave everything.”