Four Haines High School athletes will compete at the state track and field championship this weekend at Dimond High School in Anchorage.
Glacier Bear qualifiers, all juniors, include Casey Bradford in the boys’ 200 meters, 400 meters and discus; Matthew Green in the boys’ shot put and discus; Autumn Gross in the girls’ shot put; and Bailey Stuart in the girls’ discus.
State berths go to regional champions and then are divvied up statewide to those with the four next-best times or marks.
Last year, a Venturer Scouts trip to Australia led to dwindled state participation for Haines. This year, with the state meet falling more than a week after high school graduation, several Glacier Bears will miss the competition due to family vacations, said coach Jim Stanford. “It’s a bummer.”
The group missing state includes senior star Keegan Sundberg, who won the 300-meter hurdles (43.28) and 400-meter run (52.88) for small schools (Class 1A, 2A and 3A) at the Region V championship last weekend at Thunder Mountain High School.
Bradford’s third-place time of 55.08 in the 400 meters still was good enough to land a state berth. He also was third in the 200 meters (24.77) and fifth in the discus (113-09).
“He’s a heck of an all-around athlete,” Stanford said. “We knew he was.”
Bradford said his regional results were a bit of a surprise. “I honestly didn’t think I would be able to go (to state) for three events,” he said.
Bradford said the discus is his favorite event, while the grueling 400 meters “feels like death.”
“The 400 is definitely a tough one,” he said. “It’s just a lot of work, but it’s a lot of fun.”
Fellow thrower Green also qualified for state, in the discus with a fourth-place heave of 115-09 and in the shot put with a fifth-place toss of 38-02.
Stanford said Haines throwers look especially strong for 2016. “Everybody that’s above these guys, Casey and Matthew, they’re all seniors.”
The Glacier Bear girls will be represented at state solely in the throwing events. Stuart is the Region V discus champion (80-08) and Gross was runner-up in the shot put (30-03).
Senior Jennie Humphrey, who along with Sundberg finished her Glacier Bear career at the regional meet due to travel plans, finished second in the girls’ 400 meters (1:04.87) and fifth in the 200 meters (31.16).
Overall, the Haines boys’ and girls’ squads each finished third at the regional meet among small schools. Petersburg was the boys’ champion and Sitka was second. Sitka took top honors for the girls, followed by Petersburg.