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ORDER GAME PHOTOS
May has arrived, and Idaho high school track athletes are peaking at the right time with district and state championship meets right around the corner.
Capital sophomore Christine Huckins did something no Idaho girl has ever done before when she won the girls 200 on May 1 at the Boise City Meet. Her winning time of 24.41 is the first sub-24.50 time on record by an Idaho girl for the 200. She hasn't lost all season in the 100 or 200 and she is also a member of Capital's girls 4x100, which is officially Idaho's fastest on record with a 47.91 from April 27 at the Legends Invite in Walla Walla, Wash. The 4x100 team consisting of Lee Bailey-Dennis, Stella Gray, Kennedy Patterson and Huckins has run 48.04 or better in three consecutive meets.
Bishop Kelly senior and defending 4A boys discus state champion Rakeem Johnson not only achieved a massive personal best with his winning mark of 201-4 from the Boise City Meet on May 1, but he made some history as well. That mark made him the second boy ever in Idaho to surpass 200 feet for discus, joining all-time state record holder Ian Waltz of Post Falls who achieved 203-9 in 1995. Waltz went on to compete for Washington State and made two U.S. Olympic teams: 2004 and 2008. Johnson has now won six meets in discus and five in shot put thus far this season, and his 201-4 is the No. 4 best mark for boys discus in the U.S. this season.
He is not the only Idahoan currently in the top 20 in the U.S. for boys discus. Also ranked is Centennial senior Kai Twaddle-Dunham, who is No. 11 in the U.S. with his personal best 194-3 from April 27 at the Bandanna Invite. Defending 5A state runner-up in both boys shot put and discus, Twaddle-Dunham has won seven meets in shot put and six in discus thus far this spring. His shot put personal best 61-3 from winning Oregon Relays on April 20 is Idaho's only mark of 60 feet or greater this season.
Rigby senior and defending 5A girls pole vault state champion Abbie Scott added yet another 'first' to her lengthy high school track accomplishments over the weekend. Already Rigby's school record holder and eastern Idaho's first girl pole vaulter to clear 12 feet, Scott became the first eastern Idaho girl to clear 13 feet upon winning the girls pole vault title Saturday at the BYU Invitational in Provo. A Utah State signee, Scott is undefeated in pole vault this season and is now the sixth Idaho girl on record to clear 13 feet. This achievement has also moved her up in the U.S. rankings, as several girls pole vaulters are currently tied for No. 19 upon clearing 13-0 this season.
Mountain View's girls 4x200 team of Talia Johnson, Amina Mulendela, Bree Cardon and Quincy Keller ran a winning time of 1:40.93 on May 2 at the Gary Gorrell Twilight Classic to move to No. 1 fastest in Idaho this season and move up the all-time list as well. That time makes them the second on record in Idaho to break 1:41 for the girls 4x200 and puts them at No. 2 all-time fastest on record in Idaho behind Mountain View's 2017 5A state champion team of Jordyn Johnson, Jasmine Devers, Lizza Wallace and Asha Byrd, which ran 1:40.22 eight days before districts.
Ending the Regular Season at BYU
Athletes from 10 Idaho schools competed at the 114th annual BYU Invitational over the weekend at Clarence Robison Track in Provo.
Scott's teammate and fellow senior Chase Campbell also made the podium for Rigby, tying for third place in Friday's boys pole vault upon clearing 13-6.
Sugar-Salem had both its sprint medley relay teams place in Friday's finals. Its girls sprint medley relay finished third in 4:30.64 while its boys sprint medley relay placed fourth in 3:46.92.
Sugar-Salem senior Ryan Bingham earned a medal in Friday's boys discus finals, placing third with a personal best mark of 159-6.
School Records Fall For Prairie
Six school records fell for Prairie on May 2 at the Idaho District 2 Meet of Champions in boys pole vault (Briggs Rambo and Cole Duclos), girls pole vault (Sierra Oliver), girls 1,600 (Sydney Shears), boys 200 (Trenton Lorentz), boys 4x400 (Matthew Wemhoff, Ben Secrest, Dylan Uhlenkott, Lorentz) and boys 4x200 (Uhlenkott, Noah Geis, Secrest, Lorentz). The boys 4x400 team broke a 29 year-old school record upon winning in 3:23.75, which is currently the fastest in Idaho this season for all classifications.
On the Horizon
District championship meets begin today and continue through Saturday around Idaho with qualifying spots for next week's state championship meets up for grabs. At-large bids will be finalized Sunday.
This will be the last weekly Bell Lap notebook of the season. A preview of the state championship meets will publish next week. |