Summit’s girls will seek their 12th consecutive Class 5A track and field team championship this season, an unprecedented run of dominance in the state of Oregon.

Meanwhile, the Storm boys will be vying for their second straight team title, and their fifth in the last eight seasons.

Hoping to not be outshone by their female counterparts, the boys have set lofty goals for Summit’s last season in 5A before moving up to 6A — along with crosstown rivals Bend High and Mountain View — next school year. They not only plan to win the state title, they have set a point-total goal for the state championship, according to Summit coach Dave Turnbull, who is not divulging that number.

“They work so hard and the girls get most of the glory,” says Turnbull of his boys team. “So I think that’s the challenge this year, is they want to leave their mark as well. Which is why they set a point total out there. They want to do some things, not to be compared against the girls … but they definitely have some big goals. But there’s lots of competition in this town. The IMC is one of the best conferences in the state of Oregon for 5A for sure.”

The Summit boys return a strong supply of veteran talent, including five seniors who all placed at state last season. One of those seniors, Ryan Tennant, won a state title in the long jump and was third in the discus.

Other top seniors include 800 runners Jett Ballantyne and Chad Ford, discus thrower Noah Turnbull, and hurdler Mitchell Burton.

“I’m very, very excited about where we’re at right now,” Dave Turnbull says of his returning boys. “We’ve got a lot of returning athletes. We did graduate a great senior class. And those boys helped us win a state title. And now, we’re looking at trying to reload a little bit, but we’re OK. We’ve got some guys who have been there before.”

Other athletes Turnbull expects to lead the Summit boys include Jack Norman in the high jump and long jump and junior Ty Zuber in the hurdles and sprints.

Turnbull says he met with his boys team last week to discuss this season’s goals.

“Another state title and … I’m talking to them about a point total (for state), but I don’t want that (number) out yet, we just want to get out there and see what we can do,” the veteran coach says. “The workouts are great. We’re working the kids probably harder than we ever have …”

That includes the vaunted Summit girls squad, which has four athletes who finished second at state last year in different events and will be vying for state titles this time around: sophomore Fiona Max in the 1,500 and 3,000, sophomore Isabel Max in the 800, senior Quin Fraley in the 300 hurdles, and junior Emma Brooks in the triple jump. Senior Haley Smith won a state championship in the discus last year and was third in the javelin.

Turnbull calls it the most balanced girls team he has ever had in his 17 seasons at Summit, so naturally, the goals are high: not just a 12th consecutive state title but point-scorers in every event.

“We want to get somebody to state in every single event, multiples if we can,” Turnbull says. “They are working their tails off right now, so we will see.”

Summit boasts 40 seniors (boys and girls combined) this season, the biggest senior class the Storm has ever fielded, according to Turnbull. That makes for a bright outlook for 2018, but come 2019, when Summit starts competing in Class 6A, those 40 seniors will leave some big holes to fill.

“That’s a challenge, but we’ll step up, I’m sure we will,” Turnbull says of the upcoming OSAA reclassification that will put Summit, Bend and Mountain View in a 6A league with five Salem-area schools. “We’re excited to go 6A. I know the Salem schools don’t want to come here, but we’re excited. We want to do that.”

Turnbull says that he and his athletes frequently check the times and marks of 6A athletes and know they will need to improve some to continue winning state championships at that higher level. They are already planning this year for next year’s move up.

“One of the boys came up to me and said, ‘Hey, why am I running the 100? I’m not a 100-meter runner,’” Turnbull says. “I just looked at him and said, ‘Because we’re going 6A next year, we’ve got to build up our troops.’ We’re not just planning for this year, we’re planning for next year. We have no idea. We’ve got to fill all those holes.”

But first, the Storm will seek more titles for both the boys and girls teams in their last year in Class 5A.

—Reporter: 541-383-0318,

mmorical@bendbulletin.com