Spring track season begins

by Scott Sacry

Corvallis was set to host roughly 20 local high school track teams at their annual Blue Devil Invitational on Saturday, March 22, but mother nature had other plans as an early morning spring snow storm crashed the party and the meet was moved to Tuesday, March 25. The valley track teams will also be in Frenchtown on Saturday, March 29 for the Frenchtown Invite.

All six Bitterroot Valley high schools have boys and girls track and field teams. The Corvallis boys and girls are both the two-time defending Class A state champions and they look strong again this year. Hamilton has a deep group of track and field athletes, so they will also be in the mix for a state title. And Stevensville, Florence, Darby and Victor all have athletes who will contend for individual state titles this year. 

Track athletes to watch in 2025

For Hamilton, Annalise Lewis is the defending state champion in the 800m and 1600m and took 6th in the 400m. Aleigha Child is the defending state champion in the 3200m. Evan Bennett, who signed with Northwest Nazarene University to run track and cross country, took second place at state in the 400m and 800m. Aubrey Korst took 4th at state in the pole vault.

For Corvallis, Ella Varner is the defending state champion in the long jump and the triple jump. Hunter Loesch took 2nd at state in the javelin. Ledge Conner took 4th at state in the high jump. Jack Davidson took 4th at state in the 3200m. 

For Stevensville, Sophia Hutchison took 2nd at state in the long jump and 6th in the triple jump. 

For Florence, Isaac Bates, who signed with Colorado State University-Pueblo for track, is the defending state champion at 400m and took 2nd in the 100m and 4th in the 200m. Madigan Hurlbert took 4th at state last year in the 100m hurdles and looks to be near the top in the 100m and 300m hurdles. Boys distance runners Kyler Harris, who will run cross country for the University of Providence next year, and CJ Pijanowski, who signed to run cross country with Alfred University, will both be in the mix in the distance races. 

For Darby, distance runner Lily Adair and hurdler Natalie Anderson will be contenders for the girls. McCoy Townsend qualified for state last year and should be in the mix this year for the boys.