by Scott Sacry
The Corvallis track & field teams are back on top. Both the boys and girls teams won the 2023 Class A State Track & Field Championship in Laurel on May 25-27. This is the eighth State track title for the Corvallis girls – the last coming in 2016. This is the seventh State track title for the Corvallis boys – the last coming in 2018. Both teams also won the titles in the same year in 2012 and 2015.
Spencer Huls, Corvallis’s head coach of 20 years, credits the continuity of his staff for Corvallis’s continued success. “Our coaches are amazing and we’re all on the same page,” said Huls. “We have high standards and expectations for the kids and we hold them accountable, and they have responded.”
The race for the 2023 State title for both the boys and the girls came down to the final event of the meet, the 4x400m relays. And in both cases Corvallis prevailed. In the final tally for the team scores, the Corvallis girls edged Whitefish 84-83, and the Corvallis boys scored 63 points to Hamilton’s 62 and Dillon’s 61.
“It was really remarkable how tight the team races were this year,” said Huls. “To have both races come down to the wire was remarkable.”
When asked what will stand out about this year’s teams, Huls said, “I’m going to remember the joy. The final races were so tight, so when we won there was just this explosion of joy. In years past, there had been a sense of relief when we won, but this year, at the end, everyone was just so hyped up and pumped up.”
Corvallis boys results
On the boys side, it also came down to the final event of the day, the 4x400m relay. Going into the race, Corvallis had 62 points, Hamilton had 54, and Beaverhead had 51 points. Dillon and Hamilton were the two favorites in the race. Any number of things could have happened. In the end, Dillon won the relay, giving them 61 points, Hamilton took 2nd giving them 62 points, and Corvallis held on to 6th place, giving them one point to hit 63 points and earn the State title.
The boys didn’t have an individual State title winner, but had a great overall team performance to get the win.
“All over the field the boys were stepping up,” said Huls. “As a coaching staff we preach a team-first mentality. The boys were out there not for personal glory, but to get points for the team.”
The following are the Corvallis boys who placed at State. Wyatt Miles took 2nd in the shot put (53-07.75). Levi Reynoso took 2nd in the javelin (178-06). Lucas Powell took 2nd in the triple jump (44-01.25). Derek Criddle took 2nd in the high jump (6-02.00) and 4th in the 400m (50.50). Aiden Read took 3rd in the 300m hurdles (41.18) and 4th in the 110m hurdles (15.52). Hunter Loesch took 3rd in the javelin (176-08). Solomon Morgan took 4th in the 100m (11.14). Gideon Boswell took 5th in the 200m (22.82) and 6th in the 400m (50.78). Isaac Stoker took 5th in the Discus (145-08). The 4x100m relay team of Aiden Read, Derek Criddle, Logan Avery, Solomon Morgan took 6th (44.08). And the 4x400m relay team of Aiden Read, Logan Avery, Derek Criddle, Gavin Hagberg took 6th (3:30.04).
Corvallis girls results
On the girls side, the champion was going to be either Corvallis or Whitefish. The final event of the meet, the 4×400 team relays, would decide the champion. Going into the final race, Corvallis led Whitefish 76-73. In the 4×400 relay, Whitefish was the heavy favorite, a win giving them 10 points, making their total 83 points. So Corvallis needed to finish 2nd in the relay to get the 8 points needed to reach 84 points and claim the State title – a 3rd place finish left them one point short.
As the race unfolded, it was clear Whitefish would win the relay leaving Corvallis needing to place 2nd for the team title. After three legs of the race, with one lap to go, Corvallis was in 8th place. But they had an ace in the hole. That ace being Olivia Lewis, the fastest girl’s 400m runner in the state.
“Generally, I don’t like to have our fastest runner take the last leg of that relay,” said Huls. “But sometimes you just have to give your best athlete the baton and let them go do their thing.”
Lewis got the baton and quickly passed three runners in the first 50 meters. In the backstretch, she passed another runner to get into 4th place. With 200m to go, she jetted past another runner. Then with 100 meters to go, in front of a raucous crowd, she passed the final runner to give Corvallis 2nd place and the 8 points needed to claim the title.
Lewis had a historic State meet. “She is fearless,” said coach Huls. “She is super strong mentally and physically and had an outstanding year.” Besides the relays, she won the State title in the 100m hurdles (14.86), 300m hurdles (43.37) and the 400m (56.30). She set the Class A State record in the 300m hurdles. At year’s end, Lewis had the fastest times in the state of Montana for all three of those events (source: athletic.net).
Corvallis’s Alana Auch also had a great meet, winning the State championship in the Discus with a personal best throw of 132-02.
The following are the Corvallis girls who placed at State. Rylee Herbstritt took 2nd in the 110m hurdles (15.86) and 3rd in the 300m hurdles (46.96). Laurie Davidson took 2nd in the 3200m (11:46.88) and 5th in the 1600m (5:19.73). Amara Auch took 4th in the 3200m (11:55.21) and 6th in the 1600m (5:21.40). The 4x100m relay team of Ella Varner, Olivia Lewis, Rylee Herbstritt, and Farah Wyche took 4th (50.21). The 4x400m relay team of Rylee Herbstritt, Shaylee Weidow, Olivia Lewis, and Farah Wyche took 2nd (4:07.10). Meredith Buhler took 6th in the shot put (35-06.00). Farah Wyche took 6th in the 100m (13.00). And Jillian Huls took 6th in the long jump (16-01.50).