A Track: Another sweep for Corvallis teams

LAUREL – For Corvallis to win a fifth title, somebody had to move up to first fiddle.

Katelyn Frost was just one hidden gem for the Blue Devils the last three years, a sparkplug who declares that her one true love is the pole vault.

But she’s also a sprinter and on Saturday, she shined bright: Victories in the 100 and 200 meter dashes completed a sprint sweep that carried the Blue Devils to another State A title.

Corvallis picked both team championships for the second time in four seasons, with the boys edging Whitefish for 74-70 for that title. The girls’ race wasn’t nearly as close, with the Blue Devils piling up 102 points to 68 for second-place Columbia Falls.

Frost, who provided depth behind the likes of Sadi Henderson, Aiden Eyckoff and Lakyn Connors in years past, came up biggest.

“Well, someone’s got to win,” she said, after scoring 42.25 points for the Blue Devils. “If it’s not Sadi, I want it to be someone on our team. So, me, or one of my teammates.”

Frost could have scored more, though it’s more notable how the Blue Devils surged after she was disqualified from the long jump Friday. That mishap had veteran coach Spencer Huls a little tense, before Hannah Gale, Penny Jessop, Haley Jessop and Frost gave him a boost early Saturday.

“In the morning, after the girls won the four-by-one (relay), I thought, ‘We’re going to win this,’ ” Huls said.

“But then Taylor Sylvester hit the last hurdle in the boys’ 110s and went from first to fourth, and Whitefish went from fourth to first. And I thought, ‘Oooo, this will not be fun.’ And it was a battle the rest of the day.”

The boys’ side had plenty of drama, with Whitefish beginning the day with wins in the short relay, from Luke May on his final throw in the javelin, and Keaton Grove in the 110-meter hurdles.

“We just got 30 points in the first 45 minutes of the meet,” said May, who threw 194 feet, 9 inches to push past Corvallis’ Tyler Olsen, who’d gone 189-11 on his final throw. “We’re hoping for some hardware, here.”

The Bulldogs made a solid run at their second title in three seasons and eighth overall. They entered the final long relay figuring they had to win; Corvallis wasn’t sure a high place would be enough.

At the end Whitefish’s Jed Nagler held off the Blue Devils’ Sylvester by .011, then crashed to the track. Both schools were given times of 3:26.87.

“At that moment we thought the title was on the line,” said Sylvester, a junior who rebounded from his high hurdles stumble to win the 200. “Just coming out here and competing with their really great athletes… made it so much fun. That’s probably the most fun I’ve ever had in this meet.”

“That last 50 you just get kind of overwhelmed by the crowd,” said Nagler, who won the high jump on Friday and the 100 meters on Saturday. “I just pushed it until I could go anymore. I’m glad we got first. That’s cool – both relays.”

The final race was academic because Jesse Sims, before taking off to run the long relay, uncorked a throw of 153-4 to take over the lead in the discus. Then he ran, came back, threw up, and discovered the worst he could do was second (Butte Central’s Marcus Ferriter threw 157-3 to win) in that event.

Corvallis had another title, capping a meet dominated by the western side of the state. After Whitefish, Belgrade was third among the boys’ teams, at 51 points. Glendive’s Carson Oakland was one of the few eastern athletes to win a title. Stevensville’s Jadin Casey added a 300 hurdles title to the 400-meter sprint he won on Friday.

Columbia Falls’ girls surged to second behind Carla Nicosia, who won the triple jump, and Samantha Mundel, who added a 3,200 title to her 1,600 win from Friday. Belgrade’s Pipi Eitel ran 2:20.63 – a personal record by 3 seconds – to edge Mundel in the 800.

Livingston’s Lauren Emter won the girls’ discus, but again Corvallis scored big: Jane Booth, the three-time high jump champion, finished second.

By the end Hamilton had a big enough lead to keep the girls’ third place trophy away from Whitefish. Dillon, which Holly Anderson completing an impressive hurdles sweep – she won 300s by a full 2 seconds – was fifth with 37 points.