Haines High School boys’ and girls’ track and field teams each placed fifth among small schools during the recent state championship meet in Fairbanks.
Both team finishes were an improvement over last year’s performances at state and were the best team performances by small schools from Southeast.
The boys’ meet was especially competitive. Haines’ 60 points was only 24.5 points behind first-place Seward.
Coach Jeremy Strong said Haines teams competed well on a day where temperatures neared 80, and the sun reflecting off metal bleachers made the track feel like an oven. “It was scorching up there.”
“For competing against schools, some that are almost four times bigger than ours, our kids did really well. They were competitive,” Strong said.
Senior Nathan Piper again led the boys, with impressive finishes in four events. He won the long jump (19’11.5’’), placed second in discus (140 feet), second in the 100 meter (11.45) and third in shot put (43’.75’).
In the discus and shot put, Piper topped marks set by older brother Jesse Piper last year. “Nathan’s had a great season. He didn’t let up,” Strong said.
Haines girls finished with 42 points, compared to 142 for first-place Grace Christian. Leading the Glacier Bear girls were senior Abby Jones’ second-place in discus (97’10″), freshman Serena Badgley’s second in triple jump (30’8.75″) and a second-place finish by the 4-by-400 relay team (juniors Teolani Lynch, Jackie St. Clair, and Marnie Rasmussen and senior Jolene Lemieux, 4:26.02).
The girls’ 4-by-200 relay team (Lemieux, Rasmussen, Lynch and Badgley) placed 3rd (1:55.93) and Jones placed 5th in shot put (29’3″).
Top relay performances by the Haines boys squad included a third in the 4-by-100 relay (sophomore Caullen Taylor, junior Austin Badger, and freshmen Isaac Wing and Devin Light, 46.96), and fourth place in the 4-by-200 relay (Taylor, Badger, Light and junior Devin Braaten, 1:38.33).
Other high finishes for the boys were Braaten in the 110 hurdles (4th, 16.57) and the 300-meter hurdles (5th, 44.0), senior Blake Hamilton in the 3,200-meter-run (5th, 10:38.10), and the 4-by-800 relay team (freshman Dalton Tuohy, sophomores Brad Wilson and Corey Piper and senior Hamilton, 9:29.02).