Grace Boys Win Districts

The Grace boys and girls track and field teams traveled to Idaho Falls last week to participate in the district championships at Thunder Ridge High School.  During the duration of the meet, the Grizzly athletes were involved in a variety of dramatic ups and downs.  The meet took place over a two day period.  Day one of the meet featured the majority of the field events along with the 3200 meter race and the medley relay races.  In the field events, the Grizzlies saw a range of success as several athletes would set PR’s with a few qualifying for the state meet.  The boys team had Carson Reeves PR in the shot put, Jack Eddins in the high jump, and Kaylum Balczewski in the triple jump.  Additionally, Jonah Wilkerson set a PR and qualified for state in the triple jump along with teammate Jack Eddins who did the same.  In the running events, on day one Brock Johnson was the lone state qualifier for the boys as he placed third in the 3200 meter race.  The Lady Grizzlies also set some PR’s and qualified some athletes for state.  Setting PR’s were Alexis Bitton in the discus and Skyla Cloud in the triple jump.  The lone state qualifier in field events on day one was Bella Eddins who placed third in the high jump.  The girls also qualified some runners on day one.  Lilly Gilbert kicked things off with setting a season record and placing third in the 3200 meter race.  In the final event of the day, the sprint medley relay the Lady Grizzlies came into the race ranked second behind the favorite Rockland by a full three seconds.  The Grizzlies then took on the challenge of the top ranked Bulldogs.  The race was tight throughout, with Rockland having the lead through most of the final 400 meters.  With just about 50 meters left Brooklyn Porter hit another gear and snatched the victory for Grace away from top seeded Rockland. 

In day two of the meet, the Grizzlies fed off of the momentum of the win by the Grace girls the evening before.  The field events wrapped up first before the running began.  The boys qualified Jonah Wilkerson in the long jump with a PR.  Jack Eddins also PRed in the long jump while Carter Kimball set a PR in the pole vault and Bryant Jensen set a season record in the pole vault.  The girls did not add any state qualifiers in field events, but Skyla Cloud PRed and set a new school record in the pole vault.  

As the running finals kicked off, both the boys and the girls teams saw a number of athletes qualify for state.  The boys had great success in the sprints.  Braden Kimball and Trevor Mathews will make it to state in the 100 meter race and Kimball will also compete in the 200 meters.  Every sprinter for the boys team that competed in the preliminaries or the finals set a PR in one of their races totaling seven different athletes.  Adrian Mejia did very well in the mid distance races, qualifying in the 400, 800, and 1600 meters.  The hurdle races were another area of success for the Grizzlies as Landon Moss, Jonah Wilkerson, and Parker Yost all qualified for state with several teammates also setting PR’s.  

And finally, the Grace men dominated the short sprint relays winning both the 4x100 and 4x200 races.  The Lady Grizzlies also had a successful day, with several girls earning PR’s.  Brooklyn Porter would qualify in her mid distance races the 800 and 1600 meters.  Bella Eddins, Kallie Stoddard, and Tayler Yost all qualified in one of the hurdle races.  The girls had to settle for second place in the 4x200 and 4x400 relays, but their 4x400 time proved good enough to qualify that team for a wildcard berth to state.  

With the meet winding down, the PA announcer listed the team scores before the final event of the meet.  The Grace boys trailed Butte County by a mere 1 ½ points for the district title.  With just five teams entered in the event, the Grizzlies needed to place two spots higher than Butte to claim the district title.  Neither team was favored in the event, with the top two competitors being Rockland and Challis, making it a battle for third.  The fifth team involved in the event was the North Gem Cowboys, Grace’s neighbor in Caribou County.  The Grizzlies knew they would need to place third and cheer their county rivals on to fourth place.  The Grace team did their job finishing in third place.  With the final two teams still on the track every Grace fan was now a North Gem fan yelling for the Cowboys to beat out the Pirates.  Fortune would smile on the Grizzlies as that is how it would finish with North Gem sealing the victory for Grace and earning the Grizzlies the team title by just ½ a point.  The Grizzlies would celebrate and take a victory lap with their newly awarded trophy.  A full list of state qualifiers are listed below.  Those qualifiers will compete this Friday and Saturday in Middleton at the state meet.