A year after late-season snowfall canceled Haines High School’s annual home track and field meet, the Glacier Bears had another opportunity to host Southeast Alaska opponents, this time under clear skies.
“The weather, if anything, was boiling,” said head coach Jim Stanford.
The May 9-10 meet drew entrants from Juneau-Douglas, Thunder Mountain and Sitka. Haines athletes won about one-third of the events, according to unofficial results posted at http://www.athletic.net. Team scoring was unavailable.
“It was a good practice meet, and I found stuff I can work on for regionals,” said senior Serena Badgley, who won the girls’ 100-meter dash and finished second in the triple jump and third in the 200 meters. ‘I think it was nice for people to have another chance to compete before it really counts.”
Badgley also was part of the victorious 4×100-meter relay team, with senior Grace Jones, junior Jennie Humphrey, and sophomore Bailey Stuart.
The Glacier Bear boys’ 4×100-meter relay team of seniors Chevy Fowler, Devin Light and Isaac Wing and freshman Mori Hays also placed first.
Other first-place finishes for Haines included Light in the 100 meters and 200 meters; Fowler in the long jump and 110-meter hurdles; Hays in the triple jump; Humphrey in the 400 meters; and Stuart in the discus.
Team newcomer Hays said he was “surprised’ to win the triple jump.
“We practice a lot of form, so it’s fun when you actually feel like you’ve achieved the motion,” he said.
Junior Elliot Wilde was among the runners-up for Haines, in the 110-meter hurdles, along with Wing in the 100 meters, Light in the high jump and senior Kai Sato-Franks in the 400 meters.
Third-place finishers included sophomore Autumn Gross in the girls’ shot put and Jones in the discus.
“We owe a lot to our core group of seniors,” coach Stanford said.
He said the Haines coaches “couldn’t be happier” with the Glacier Bears’ performance against schools with much larger enrollments. About 100 students traveled to Haines for the competition.
“It was just a great meet,” Stanford said. “We appreciate all our volunteers, timers and people who helped set the track up.”
Haines will compete at the Region V meet in Juneau this weekend, with top finishers advancing to the state meet.