Summit track takes district titles

Published 5:00 am Sunday, May 20, 2012

How high can Bradley Laubacher go?

Summit’s senior high jumper set another personal best Saturday, clearing 6 feet, 10 inches to win the Class 5A Special District 1 state-qualifying meet at Bend High.

The Storm rolled to victory in both the boys and girls team standings at the two-day meet. The Summit boys scored 152 points to runner-up Bend’s 99. Mountain View’s boys team placed third (97 points) and was followed by Eagle Point (76) and Ashland (36).

The Storm girls, who are the five-time defending Class 5A state champions, doubled up second-place Mountain View, 220-108. Bend High was third with 50 points, Ashland ended the day in fourth with 37 points, and Eagle Point scored 24 points to place fifth.

“This sets us up well for a title run,” said Summit coach Dave Turnbull, whose program pulled off the boys and girls state track and field title sweep in 2011.

The 5A state championships are at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field in Eugene on Friday and Saturday.

Laubacher, who entered this season with a PR of 6 feet in the high jump, shined the brightest for the Storm on a day when Summit secured 36 state berths. His mark Saturday tied him for the best height in the state this season, regardless of classification, and put him among elite company nationally. According to the track and field website Athletic.net, only 23 high school athletes in the entire United States have gone 6-10 or higher this spring, and none have gone over 7-0.

“He’s putting it together at the right time,” said Turnbull, himself a former 7-foot high jumper. “He’ll be a 7-footer next week at state, and 7-2 is not out of the question.”

While Laubacher turned heads with his exploits in the high jump alone, Mountain View’s Mitch Modin, Bend High’s J.C. Grim and Eagle Point’s Tyrone Holmes all showcased their versatility. Modin, a junior, advanced to state in four events, winning the 200 in 22.3 seconds and placing second in the high jump Saturday behind Laubacher with a mark of 6-06. Modin, who won the long jump on Friday, also led off the Cougars’ second-place 1,600-meter relay squad.

Grim qualified for state in three events Saturday as he won the triple jump (44-01 3⁄4), took second in the javelin, finished fifth in the high jump but hit the automatic state-qualifying mark of 6-3, and helped the Bears’ 400-meter relay team to a runner-up finish. And Holmes, who has committed to play defensive line for the University of Montana in the fall, on Friday won the shot put and took second in the discus before placing first in the 110-meter hurdles Saturday.

The Summit boys won both the short and long relays Saturday. Bend placed second in the 400 relay, and Mountain View was the runner-up in the 1,600 relay.

University of Oregon-bound Ashley Maton paced the Summit girls during the second and final day of state qualifying, successfully pulling off the 800 and 1,500 double by winning both events. The Storm went 1-2-3 in both races. In the 1,500, Maton (4:43.95), Megan Fristoe (4:46.64) and Kira Kelly (4:47.90) all qualified for state, as Kelly just barely hit the automatic-qualifying time of 4:47.96.

While the Storm were deep — 12 different girls earned individual state berths for Summit — Special District 1 runner-up Mountain View rode the performances of a handful of key athletes. Cougar junior Krysta Kroeger is headed to Hayward in the 100 (second), in the 200 (first) and in both relays. Macaulay Wilson won the 400 and raced on both state-qualifying Mountain View relays. Shaina Zollman earned runner-up honors in both the long jump and the triple jump.

Pole vaulter Tesla Wright and hurdler Alexa Evert were the only Bend High girls to earn state berths. Wright won the pole vault by clearing 11-2, a mark that tied her PR. Evert, a freshman, took second in the 100 hurdles behind Summit junior Josie Kinney.

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