Three athletes, representing a wide range of disciplines in track and field, were named Most Valuable Tuesday, May 3, at the track team’s awards night.
Sophomore Nick Larson and juniors McKenzie Miller and Selah Wright, who Head Coach Nathan Whitfield said represented “two ends of the spectrum – they were both great in their respective areas,” were named the top performers for this season.
Larson qualified for the state championships in three events – the pole vault, which he just took up this year, the 110 Hurdles and the 300 Hurdles.
Whitfield noted that he scored 90 points this season for the boys; the next highest scorer finished with 54.
Miller qualified for state in the 3000, her first chance to run at that level, and finished the season with a 4-second PR to complete a 24-second string of PR’s over the course of three weeks. She was the Huskies’ only girl to qualify for state this year.
Although Wright didn’t make state this year, she was the Huskies’ top performer in the throws, making the podium in all three throwing events at the district meet.
Miller also was named Distance Runner of the Year for the girls, while sophomore Ryker Burr, who competed at state in the 800 and led the team in that event, was the boys’ honoree.
Jumpers of the Year were junior Loralai Mark, just missed state with a PR long jump of 15-11 (a 9½-inch PR) at the district meet, sophomore Kaeson Walker, who was third in district in the triple jump, and Larson.
Kaeson had a pretty eventful year – he went from 32-9 to 40-11,” said Assistant Coach Spencer Hart, who introduced the jumpers. “It was really awesome to watch.
Assistant Coach Ramiro Santana introduced the Sprinters of the Year, sophomore Brooke Elder, Mark, and junior Dillan Davis, who competed at state in the 400 and as a member of both relays.
“The way they work, the way they do things, it doesn’t surprise me,” he said in handing out the awards. “Loralai, from last year, is a different person. I always tell Dillan he doesn’t run hard enough – just the way he runs. He makes it look easy.”
Throwers of the year, introduced by Assistant Coach Randy Whitfield, were sophomore Mailey Brewer, sophomore Gunnar Summers, Wright, and seniors Jack Simmons and Peyton Markell. Randy Whitfield said his team was pushed “harder than we ever have,” with hill runs, box drills, sprints and weight training.
“They were ready to pass out,” Whitfield said, “but I never heard them complain. And they didn’t die,” though he said he wondered sometimes whether his charges would survive.
“They made great gains partially because they were thankful to be there and they had confidence in themselves,” he said.
Simmons placed sixth in the 4A state javelin championship, unleashing his lifetime-best throw of 166-7 on his final attempt at state.
“He’s a snake in the grass,” Whitfield said. “He’s an incredible athlete but he doesn’t know he is.
“Jack is worth all the accolades you can give him. He’s a pretty special kid.”
Summers “did well” at district in the javelin and Brewer placed seventh in the district discus competition with a 14-foot PR of 94-11.
Wright, a top thrower for the Huskies in the shot and javelin, didn’t make it to state, though she placed in every throw at district. But, Whitfield said, “I truly believe this when I say that the book has not been written on Selah.”
Markell, he said, missed state “by inches” in the javelin, finishing third at district with her second-farthest finish of the season.
“I give kids targets to throw at,” Whitfield said, adding that he puts his hat 102 feet from the foul line and has his javelin throwers try to hit it.
“Not only did Peyton throw that far, she hit by hat – for the first time in 25 years. She put a hole in it.
“I’ll wear that hat with pride. She’s one heck of a competitor, and she will work herself to death until she gets it right.”
Newcomer Awards went to freshmen Sydney Dominy and Ean Tackett, sophomore Noel Helfrich and senior Kolton Wilmarth.
Nathan Whitfield said each of them “contributed mightily” to the program this year.
Tackett finished second on the team in the javelin, throwing 128-0 at the district meet and placing seventh with a 7½ -foot PR of 128-0.
Dominy finished second on the girls side in the shot, finishing with a 30-8¼ PR by more than a foot to just miss the podium in ninth place.
“Sydney’s a hard-working girl,” Whitfield said, adding jokingly: “She’s one of those with a red face, and I’m wondering ‘Is she going to die?’”
Distance coach Dave Martin said Helfrich, who is in her first year of track at Sweet Home, improved her 800-meter time by 20 seconds and placed fourth at districts in 2:37.36, a PR which she posted “running by herself.”
The Hustle Award, which Martin said honors those who compete “as hard as they could” at every practice and competition, went to seniors Conner Stevens and Dylan Sharp, sophomore Brooke Elder and freshman Madison Ciullo.
“If you ask the kids who the leaders are, it’s these two,” Martin said of Sharp and Stevens.
He noted that Elder was leading drills as a freshman because of her example to teammates and Ciullo, though not making it to the varsity level, had “massive” PRs in the 800 (33 seconds) in her first year of track.
The Will to Win award went to Miller, Wright, sophomores Gavin Tyler and Ryker Burr, Wilmarth and Dillan Davis.
Nathan Whitfield said Wilmarth entered every competition with the attitude of “if somebody’s in front of me, I’m going to go get him,” which paid off in a five-second PR as anchor of the 4×400 team at state, where he ran a final leg of 49.5 seconds.
Davis, he said, “is the epitome of a competitor” and Wright “wants to beat everyone – on her team or on the other team.”
Miller, after running a four-second PR in the 3000 in her first-ever appearance in a state championship, apologized for not placing high enough, he noted.
Tyler, he said, “is an absolute stud,” who has excelled in the shot despite a disappointing outing in the state shot competition,
Burr was the team’s best 800 runner as a sophomore, finishing second in a personal best 2:02.44 and qualifying for state, where he was 10th. Burr usually took the lead and didn’t give it up in his races during the season.
Coaches Award honorees are selected exclusively by coaches, unlike the others, which are voted on by team members as well as coaches, goes to athletes who “the best way to describe them is they are great human beings,” Nathan Whitfield said.
Honorees were:
Markell, who, noted Nathan Whitfield, who presented the award, received it during all four years of high school – just like her older sister Rylee.
“We need to rename it the Markell Award,” Whitfield joked.
Delainie Pratt who, Whitfield said, is always present when something needs to happen.
“What’s special about Delainie is her attitude,” he said._
Keegan Vogel, who spent most of the season in a walking boot after breaking his leg in wrestling.
“He did not get the season he wanted,” Whitfield said. “The second he got that boot on, the track season was coming on.”
But Vogel came to practice every day and helped coaches in a multitude of ways.
Helfrich, who was a quiet leader – “she doesn’t like to talk a whole lot,” Whitfield noted.
But Helfrich helped people who needed it, did hard workouts without complaining and did what needed to be done when coaches weren’t there.
Simmons, who only tried track for the first time as a junior, but in his senior year displayed “jack of all trades” abilities, moving to the sprints in a time of need after solely concentrating on throwing. He performed so well that he ended up on the short relay for part of the season when the regular team members were injured.
“Jack is one of those kids who do everything,” Whitfield said.
He told the crowd that his team was young, but that Martin had compiled a list of team members currently listed in the school’s top-10 list of performers in each event.
“We had a pretty talented group this year,” he said. “It was not just seniors carrying the team.
“These guys don’t know how to not work. They were doing all the things right and it paid off. We had roughly 45 PR’s at districts.”
Davis, Pratt and Miller are all on the school’s all-time top-10 list, Davis in the 400 (fourth) and the 200 (seventh) and Miller is second in the 3000 with the time she ran at state and ninth in the 1500. Pratt ranks fifth all-time in the pole vault for girls.
Although the district meet “didn’t go quite the way we hoped,” it played out about how Whitfield said he expected it would.
The boys tied for second last year, but “this year No. 3 wasn’t close,” he said.
The girls were fourth with 83 points, well ahead of fifth-place Newport.
He said the Huskies “did a great job at state.”
“A lot of people PR’d that weren’t supposed to. It was a great job all the way around. They overcame some crazy stuff.”
The boys team placed fourth in the 4A Division in the academic rankings, which rate teams based on cumulative GPA. Honored for that achievement were David Anderson, Logan Anderson, Jackson Barringer, Ryker Burr, Dillan Davis, Chase Cameron, Bode Hart, Cannon Klumph, Kasey Kast, Louis Kistner, Evan Knight, Nick Larson, Landon Murry, Conner Pace, Boden Sayer, Elijah Scofield, Dylan Sharp, Case Stevens, Conner Stevens, Ean Tackett, Gavin Tyler, Mason Tyler, Noah Valdez, and Kolton Wilmarth.
Fourth-year varsity letters were awarded to Chase Cameron, Bode Hart, Kasey Kast, Peyton Markell, Emerson Martineau, Beatrice Reeve, Dylan Sharp and Conner Stevens.
“These are the kids, to be honest, who are some of my favorites,” Whitfield said, adding that the reason why he feels that way is because they helped build the team from 35 kids four years ago, coming out of COVID, to over 100 signed up this year.
“They committed to four years of blood, sweat and tears,” he said. “To be honest, this would not be this team without them.”
Third-year letters went to Dillan Davis, Cannon Klumph, McKenzie Miller, Conner Pace, Delainie Pratt, Loralai Mack, Selah Wright and Keegan Vogel – all juniors, as Whitfield noted.
Receiving second-year letters were: Jackson Barringer, Mailey Brewer, Ryker Burr, Brooke Elder, Abygail Foss, Amara Gonzales, Nick Larson, Jayla Moore, Landon Murry, Elisha Scofield, Jack Simmons, Miu Simmons, Sophia Stock, Gavin Tyler, Kaeson Walker and Khloe Wood.
First-year letter winners, which are athletes who were in the top three on the team in their events, qualifying to compete at district, were: David Anderson, Sam Barringer, Sydney Dominy, Grace Gardner, Caden Foley, Noelle Helfrich, Louis Kistner, Evan Knight, Yadira Martinez, Conner Spencer, Case Stevens, Gunnar Summers, Ean Tackett, Mason Tyler, Acen Webber, Emma Whitton and Colton Wilmarth.