The Region V track and field meet took place last weekend at Esther Shea Field and saw several Kayhi athletes earn top three finishes, notch PRs and qualify for the state meet.
The three Rhoads siblings, Jenae, Josh and Jared all secured first place finishes, as well as collecting several more top three places.
Jenae Rhoads won the discus and shot put events, throwing 99’4 in the discus and 30’1 in the shot put, Rhoads out-threw her closest competition by just under 30’ combined. Josh dominated the men’s discus event with a first place finish (116’0) and placed third in the shot put (35’5). Both will be headed to the state meet in Anchorage, Jenae for the shot put and discus events, and Josh for the 4x200 relay and discus.
After his discus win, Josh Rhoads remarked that he “didn’t really expect anyone [else] to get close,” but also said he could have thrown further. Overall though, Rhoads said it was a fun event and it felt good to get the win.
His younger brother Jared Rhoads won the 110m hurdles (18.58) and high jump (5’8), and placed third in the long jump (18’7 PR), all of which he will be competing in at state, along with the triple jump.
Jared said he hadn’t had time to practice his high jump in the leadup to the meet, because his time was taken up by working on hurdles. He was unable to clear his PR of 5’10 that he set at the Capital City Invite in Juneau, but still won the event for Division I. Petersburg High School senior Michael Durkin was able to clear 5’10, which won the event for Division II.
Jared also placed fourth in the triple jump, an event he won handily in Juneau. He attributed the low finish to a tweak of his hamstring during run-throughs for the event, but was able to recover in time to win the 110m hurdles later that day.
Kayhi senior Ada Odden continued her dominance of the women’s 100m hurdles event, winning the 100m (15.80) by a wide margin and placing second in the 300m hurdles (49.23). She also finished second with a PR in the 200m dash (27.64).
Speaking after her 100m hurdles win, Odden thought she did well in the event and hoped to place within the top three or four at state. Odden qualified for state in the 100m hurdles, 300m hurdles, 200m dash and the 4x200 relay.
Kayhi’s final first place finish of the meet came in the 4x200 relay and featured Odden, her freshman sister Clara Odden, senior Laura Olson and sophomore Linnea Loretan. The team ran a 1:55.10 and qualified for state.
One of the most thrilling races of Day II was the Division I men’s 800 meter run.
Thunder Mountain’s Matthew Johns broke to an early lead in the two-lap race, trailed by Kayhi senior Brent Capps and freshman Casey Styles. Soon it was just Styles within striking distance of Johns, and the Kings’ runner gradually closed the gap before catching the TMHS senior in the final turn and passing him in the straight. Johns’ finishing kick in the final meters proved the difference, though, and Johns crossed the line in 2:11.37 for the win ahead of Styles’s personal record time of 2:11.72.
After catching his breath somewhat, Styles talked with family members who were in attendance, and was still smiling when he recounted the run later with the Daily News.
“It was a great race,” he said.
In the Division I men’s 4x400 relay, the Kayhi team of Capps, Josh Rhoads, Styles and Phoenix Boles battled back and forth for the lead with the Juneau-Douglas foursome before a strong JDHS finish put the Crimson Bears across the line in 3:40.38. Kayhi finished a close second in 3:41.47 — which was quick enough to qualify for the state tournament.
Over at the long jump pit, it was a good day for the top five finishers in the Division I men’s competition. Each of the top five athletes recorded personal records in the event, with Thunder Mountain’s Chase Darbonne setting the standard at 19’8, followed by Jared Rhoads with an 18’7 jump that qualified the Kayhi sophomore for the state meet.
In the Division I women’s 4x800m, the Kayhi team of Jenna Walker, Carol Frey, Trisha Capps and Malia King kept within range of the Juneau-Douglas team to finish second in the long-distance race with a state-qualifying time of 11:02.90.
In addition to the wins, several Kayhi athletes set new PRs and qualified for state in the process. Freshman Carol Frey was among them, running a 2:38.32 PR and placing in the 800m run, while senior Jenna Walker ran a 2:39.29 PR and placed third in the same event.
In the overall team scoring, the Kayhi women placed second with 59 points, behind Juneau-Douglas’ 79, while the Kayhi men came in third with 46 points behind both Juneau-Douglas and Thunder Mountain.
On Day I, Kayhi head coach Alex Pennino explained that his team’s smaller size makes it harder for them to compete when it comes to overall points.
“We’re scoring points where we thought we would, but we’re missing out on some points in some areas,” Pennino said. “My team is so small, we can’t do that if we want a chance to win, we need to maximize our point value in every race. You get points for first through fourth place, even if it’s just that fourth place, I told the kids that’s so important. It’s not just gaining points, it’s taking a point away from the other team.”
“I think we’ve got 10 boys on our team, Thunder Mountain and Juneau-Douglas are coming down with over 50 kids — that’s boys and girls combined — but my team’s probably got about 23, so we’re at a huge disadvantage, our numbers are down this year,” he continued. “The girls team can really hold their own with them, we’re kind of short in the sprinters but we beat them up in some of the other events.”
Speaking after the meet on Tuesday afternoon, Pennino said he was happy with how the events went. He explained that some of his most-winning athletes didn’t get the finishes they wanted at regions, but he hopes they can make up for it at state. He said he’d like to see them rebound by setting new PRs.
Pennino knows the competition in Anchorage will be even tougher than what his team faced at regions.
“It’s tough, we’re the small school in the big school division,” Pennino said. “We’re going up against Diamond, Bartlett, West Anchorage and West Valley, all these traditional track powerhouses. But I think it’s cool, because that’s how track should be, just the best against the best. When I was a kid, there were no divisions, so whoever made it, made it and you just raced against them and that’s how it went.”
Overall, the Kayhi head coach is glad that so many of his athletes qualified for state. Kayhi will be sending 15 competitors — over half the team — to Anchorage this week, including five freshmen.
“I’m happy with the way things turned out,” Pennino said. “The season started and they were like, ‘How many tickets do you need for state?’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t know, six or seven?’ and I ended up with 15 so I’m pretty stoked about it.”
The ASAA/First National Bank Track and Field State Championship meet will take place from May 27-28 at Diamond High School. Field events will start at 9 a.m., and track events will begin at 11 a.m.
*This article was originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News*
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