High School Sports

At state track, West Valley boys win with a buzzer shot

Two girls who schooled their competitors and a West Valley boys relay team that ruled the day's final event were the big stars at the state track and field championships.

West Valley repeated as the Division I boys state champions with a clutch performance in the 1,600-meter relay Saturday.

Three teams — West Valley, Bartlett and Chugiak — had a shot at the team title going into the final race of the two-day meet at Palmer's Machetanz Field.

By winning the relay, the Wolfpack also won their second straight team championship.

Also earning a big share of the spotlight were Chugiak's Emma Nelson and Delta Junction's Hailey Williams, who both won three individual events.

Nelson, a senior, broke the state record in the high jump on Friday on her way to collecting three individual victories for the Mustangs. She also won the triple jump and long jump.

Nelson was particularly dominant in the high jump, where her record-setting effort of 5 feet, 9 inches, would have placed her third in the Division I boys competition. She went four inches higher than any other girl at the meet.

ADVERTISEMENT

Williams, a sophomore, blew away the competition in the Division II 100, 200 and 400 meters. She won the 100 by six-tenths of a second (12.39), the 200 by 1.3 seconds (25.29) and the 400 by nearly 1.5 seconds (59.49).

In both the 100 and 200, Williams clocked times faster than the winning times in the Division I races.

Nelson was responsible for the meet's only individual state record.

The only other record to fall was in the boys 400 relay, where the Bartlett team of Kevone Henderson, Stephon Haynes, Jaylen Wilson and Treyone Suber ran to victory in 43.24 seconds. That broke the 2015 record of 43.47 set by West Valley.

Going into the 1600 relay, Bartlett owned a slim lead over West Valley, 69-68, with Chugiak right behind with 66 points.

West Valley and Bartlett battled for the lead for most of the race. The Wolfpack team of Camron Herron, Ari Endestad, Lance Joyner and Xavier Simon triumphed in 3:27.88, a win worth 10 points — just enough to slip past Bartlett, which placed third in the relay in 3:30.47.

The Golden Bears picked up six points for their finish and Chugiak, which finished fourth in the relay, scored four points. Bartlett went home with 75 points and the second-place team trophy and Chugiak finished third in the team standings with 70 points.

South captured the Division I girls team title with 88 points. Chugiak was second with 74 and West Valley was third with 60.

In the Division II team races, the Anchorage Christian boys won their sixth straight state title and the Sitka girls won their first state championship.

Runnerup trophies went to the Sitka boys and Homer girls.

ADVERTISEMENT