Rocky Mountain runs table at 5A state track and field meet

Many members of the Rocky Mountain High boys track and field team already knew what it felt like to win a state championship.

On Saturday, the Grizzlies helped introduce their female counterparts to the club.

The Grizzlies won the boys and girls team titles at Dona Larsen Park, becoming the first 5A school to sweep both since Eagle in 2010.

The boys totaled 132.5 points, beating defending champion Capital (87) and Mountain View (80).

The girls led by 6.5 points with two events remaining, but strong finishes in the 200 meters and 4x400 relay resulted in 111.5 points, enough to beat Mountain View (88), Eagle (66) and Borah (58).

It was a somewhat expected outcome for the boys — who won for the fifth time in six seasons — but the Rocky girls had never won state and finished second at last week’s district meet to Mountain View by more than 15 points.

“We knew we had a good shot after districts. It was just a couple adjustments in the relays that we thought, ‘You know what? We trust that these girls can compete up and make up the difference.’ And they did,” Rocky Mountain coach Brad Abbott said. “They showed up.”

Rocky Mountain qualified 25 boys and 16 girls for state and picked up victories in 11 events.

Senior Michael Slagowski led all Grizzlies with three wins, repeating in the 800 meters (1:49.36, meet record), 1,600 (4:16.76) and 3,200 (9:36.86).

Jake Roper, Austin Lane, Carter Kuehl and Josh Kraft wheeled Rocky to a win in the 4x100 relay, crossing the line in 42.25 to eclipse Centennial’s all-classification record of 42.44 that stood since 1989.

Lane added a win in the 100 (10.86), and junior Daniel Owen won the pole vault in a jumpoff Friday.

Rocky Mountain added victories on the girls side in the 200 (Bailey Boerner, 25.63), 400 (Kaylee Oyler, 56.96), pole vault (Taylen Langin, 11-6) and 4x100 and 4x800 relays.

“Talking to other teams, I haven’t heard of a team that’s closer than us, girls and boys wise together,” said Oyler, a senior who also won the 400 as a freshman. “We’re all best friends. We all eat with each other at lunch, and do everything outside of school together.

“I think that also contributed to a lot of our win. We are a tight-knit team.”

▪ Capital senior Sam Brixey repeated in the boys 110 (14.21) and 300 hurdles (38.01) and surprised himself with wins in the long jump (22-4) and triple jump (46-8.25). “I’m still shocked. It still hasn’t sunk in that I won four,” he said.

▪ Borah senior Sara Christianson followed her record run in the girls 3,200 (10:36) on Friday by running the fastest 1,600 in any state meet in 4:53.86. “It’s awesome. It’s just an honor, I guess,” Christianson said. “I owe a lot to my (distance) coach Tim Severa.”

▪ A day after suffering his first long jump loss in more than two seasons, Capital junior Britt Ipsen dominated the high jump. He won with a height of 6-8 to beat Rocky Mountain’s Colten Roe by six inches.

▪ The rest of the state’s 5A girls hurdlers can be grateful Centennial’s Tatyana Jones is a senior. She won the 300 hurdles for the third straight year in a time of 44.98.

▪ Eagle senior Luke Leonnig, who will be a walk-on this fall for the Oregon State football team, broke through for his first state championship with a discus throw of 187-0. It was Leonnig’s second medal of the weekend, adding to a second-place finish in the shot put.

▪ Borah’s Katelyn Powell, Amanda Chipman, Kiana Corpus and Malia Vineyard teamed to win the girls 4x200 relay (1:43.15) and 4x400 (3:57.45).

▪ The Capital girls got individual victories from juniors Emma Cole (100 hurdles, 14.93) and Kari Taylor (800, 2:14.04).

▪ Eagle senior Kendra Noneman won the girls discus with a throw of 122-4. It was as big improvement for Noneman, who did not qualify for state last season.

2A: Nampa Christian boys victorious

The Trojans won their first championship since 2009 by 4.5 points over Declo. Nampa Christian took first in six events, led by Peyton Brothers’ sweep of the 800 (2:00.79) and 1,600 (4:37.86).

1A: Liberty Charter girls return to top

The Patriots won their second title in three seasons despite registering only one victory — the 800 sprint medley in 1:55.82.

This story was originally published May 21, 2016 at 11:33 PM with the headline "Rocky Mountain runs table at 5A state track and field meet."