Still the best: Polk girls claim another WHC track and field championship

June 4, 2021

Polk County’s track and field program bid farewell Thursday to its Western Highlands Conference rivals – and took home some hardware on its way out the door.

The Wolverine girls captured the WHC championship on their home ground at G.M. Tennant Stadium. Polk County dominated the field events to outdistance Owen and Avery and claim a third consecutive conference crown, with senior Alana Jergenson named the most valuable field athlete.

The Polk boys team also had a successful day, placing third behind Owen and Avery.

The Wolverine girls won four of the six field events, but also used depth in each to accumulate valuable team points:

Lauren Dotson led a 1-2-3 finish in the pole vault with a mark of 7-6, also qualifying her for the 1A West Regional.
Jergenson won the shot put, with Rachael Davis placing fourth, and the two finished third and fifth, respectively, in the discus.
Olivia Overholt’s long jump of 16-3 1/2 won the event by almost three feet over Owen’s Sarah Kahill, with Polk’s Tori Thompson and Mckenna Hill placing third and fourth.
Emma Brunell won the triple jump, with Dotson placing second.

Polk also had success on the track, though Overholt’s win in the 800 meters proved the Wolverines’ lone victory. Madison Geddings and Thompson had a 2-3 finish in the 400, Brunell placed fourth in the 800, Overholt took second in the 1600, Dotson had top-five finishes in both the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles and the Polk girls took second in both the 4×200-meter relay and 4×400-meter relay.

Wolverine head coach Alan Peoples said before the meet he thought Polk could win the team title by 30 points. The Wolverines did so by 32 points, totalling 150 points to Owen’s 118.

Braxton Edwards had the lone victory for the Polk boys, taking top honors in the pole vault with a mark of 10-6. Harrison Waddell placed second to Mountain Heritage’s Jesse Shelton in both the shot and discus, with Gage McSwain adding a second in the 200-meter dash and helping Polk’s 4×100-meter relay team finish second.

Mountain Heritage’s Lynlee Johnson was named the top female track athlete, with Shelton the top male field athlete and Avery’s Ty Smith the top male track athlete.

Polk County’s Gage McSwain, left, takes a handoff from Vincent Twitty to begin the final leg of the 4×100-meter relay during Thursday’s meet

Women 100 Meter Dash Finals
1, Jill Pittman, Mitchell, 14.05. 2, Nevaeh Perkins, Owen, 14.19. 3, Nevaeh Rice, Madison, 14.27. 4, Regan Hughes, Avery County, 14.33. 5, Sarah Kahlil, Owen, 14.38. 6, Key Abrams, Polk County, 14.91.

Women 200 Meter Dash Finals
1, Jill Pittman, Mitchell, 28.73. 2, Nevaeh Perkins, Owen, 29.18. 3, Laila Burk, Owen, 30.08. 4, Nevaeh Rice, Madison, 30.69. 5, Carly Hancock, Owen, 31.01. 6, Renn Hurdkloz, Avery County, 31.09.

Women 400 Meter Dash Finals
1, Laila Burk, Owen, 1:06.01. 2, Madison Geddings, Polk County, 1:08.59. 3, Tori Thompson, Polk County, 1:10.97. 4, Ocala Aerni, Madison, 1:12.58. 5, Cora Hollifield, Avery County, 1:13.73. 6, Luna Gonzalez, Polk County, 1:14.95.

Women 800 Meter Run
1, Olivia Overholt, Polk County, 2:24.51. 2, Lynlee Johnson, Mtn Heritage, 2:26.62. 3, Hannah Larios, Owen, 2:37.67. 4, Emma Brunell, Polk County, 2:40.53. 5, Lily Fender, Mtn Heritage, 2:47.62. 6, Brook Cheuvront, Avery County, 2:52.65. 7, Maddie Swanson, Owen, 2:53.30.

Women 1600 Meter Run
1, Lynlee Johnson, Mtn Heritage, 5:22.57. 2, Olivia Overholt, Polk County, 5:46.75. 3, Brook Cheuvront, Avery County, 6:04.51. 4, Maddie Swannson, Owen, 6:13.52. 5, Piper Berry, Owen, 6:41.86.

Women 3200 Meter Run
1, Lynlee Johnson, Mtn Heritage, 13:05.13. 2, Brook Cheuvront, Avery County, 13:19.52. 3, Piper Berry, Owen, 14:47.23. 4, Hannah Larios, Owen, 14:47.52.

Women 100 Meter Hurdles
1, Lillie Ward, Avery County, 19.50. 2, Cami Jo Ray, Mtn Heritage, 19.92. 3, Lauren Dotson, Polk County, 20.34. 4, Leilani Stella, Mtn Heritage, 20.88. 5, Abriella Carter, Owen, 21.94.

Women 300 Meter Hurdles
1, Sarah Kahlil, Owen, 52.77. 2, Lillie Ward, Avery County, 52.88. 3, Cami Jo Ray, Mtn Heritage, 58.00. 4, Lauren Dotson, Polk County, 59.18. 5, Leilani Stella, Mtn Heritage, 59.22. –, Abriella Carter, Owen, DQ.

Women 4×100 Meter Relay
1, Mountain Heritage (2 A) 55.62. 2, Madison (2 A) 56.76. 3, Avery County (1 A) 59.43. 4, Charles D. Owen (2 A) 59.90. 5, Polk County (1 A) 1:04.75.

Women 4×200 Meter Relay
1, Avery County (1 A) 1:56.56. 2, Polk County (1 A) 2:09.45.

Women 4×400 Meter Relay
1, Charles D. Owen (2 A) 4:30.30. 2, Polk County (1 A) 4:35.23. 3, Avery County (1 A) 4:37.06. 4, Mountain Heritage (2 A) 5:07.90.

Women 4×800 Meter Relay
1, Charles D. Owen (2 A) 10:59.52. 2, Avery County (1 A) 14:39.89.

Women High Jump
1, Marisol Guzman, Avery County, 4-06. 2, Carter Peterson, Avery County, 4-04. 3, Trisha Penland, Mtn Heritage, 4-02. 4, Katie Profit, Mtn Heritage, 4-00. –, Ocala Aerni, Madison, NH.

Women Pole Vault
1, Lauren Dotson, Polk County, 7-06. 2, Madison Geddings, Polk County, 7-00. 3, Tori Thompson, Polk County, J6-06. 4, Cayden Waters, Avery County, J6-06. 5, Cora Hollifield, Avery County, 6-00.

Women Long Jump
1, Olivia Overholt, Polk County, 16-03.50. 2, Sarah Kahlil, Owen, 13-06.50. 3, Tori Thompson, Polk County, 13-03. 4, Mckenna Hill, Polk County, 13-02.25. 5, Emree Hoilman, Avery County, 13-00.75. 6, Alexandria Shelton, Mtn Heritage, J12-01.50. 7, Regan Hughes, Avery County, J12-01.50. 8, Ocala Aerni, Madison, 11-05. –, Anna Capps, Madison, ND.

Women Triple Jump
1, Emma Brunell, Polk County, 28-03.50. 2, Lauren Dotson, Polk County, 27-05. 3, Alexandria Shelton, Mtn Heritage, 26-03.50. –, Katie Profit, Mtn Heritage, ND.

Women Shot Put (4 KG)
1, Alanna Jergensen, Polk County, 32-05. 2, Ella Capps, Madison, 30-07. 3, Bailey Beam, Mtn Heritage, 27-05. 4, Rachael Davis, Polk County, 26-06. 5, Maesyn Gardner, Owen, 25-00. 6, Alexandria Shelton, Mtn Heritage, 24-06.50. 7, Jadyn Hensley, Owen, 23-09. 8, Zoey Einheser, Madison, 23-08. 9, Trisha Penland, Mtn Heritage, 22-01.50. 10, Laci Buckner, Madison, 22-01. 11, Emmalee Carver, Avery County, 20-09. 12, Ashley Brown, Madison, x20-07. 13, Lindsey Dotson, Polk County, 18-08. 14, Adison Miller, Mtn Heritage, x18-07. 15, Isabell Ball, Mtn Heritage, x15-09.

Women Discus Throw (1 KG)
1, Maesyn Gardner, Owen, 85-08. 2, Ella Capps, Madison, 77-11. 3, Alanna Jergensen, Polk County, 76-09. 4, Jadyn Hensley, Owen, 73-04. 5, Rachael Davis, Polk County, 70-03. 6, Zoey Einheser, Madison, 64-08. 7, Bailey Beam, Mtn Heritage, 59-11. 8, Lindsey Dotson, Polk County, 58-01. 9, Alexandria Shelton, Mtn Heritage, 56-10. 10, Mckenna Hill, Polk County, x56-02. 11, Adison Miller, Mtn Heritage, 51-10. 12, Emma Wiseman, Mtn Heritage, x51-07. 13, Emmalee Carver, Avery County, 50-04. 14, Ashley Brown, Madison, 47-06. 15, Laci Buckner, Madison, x43-06.

Madison Geddings took second in the 400-meter run

Men 100 Meter Dash Finals
1, Zander Fender, Madison, 11.53. 2, Ty Smith, Avery County, 11.81. 3, Harrison Horney, Mitchell, 11.83. 4, Dequan Boyce, Owen, 11.87. 5, Gage McSwain, Polk County, 11.97. 6, Jakob McCool, Mtn Heritage, 12.02.

Men 200 Meter Dash Finals
1, Shavoy Harding, Owen, 23.69. 2, Gage McSwain, Polk County, 24.05. 3, Zander Fender, Madison, 24.06. 4, Harrison Horney, Mitchell, 24.21. 5, Colby Capps, Mtn Heritage, 24.26. 6, Jerry Dodd, Madison, 25.03.

Men 400 Meter Dash Finals
1, David McCollum, Avery County, 51.84. 2, Ty Smith, Avery County, 52.22. 3, Braxton Edwards, Polk County, 52.48. 4, Colby Capps, Mtn Heritage, 53.32. 5, Jace Burleson, Mtn Heritage, 55.79. 6, Jackson Sawyer, Madison, 56.89.

Men 800 Meter Run
1, Jaheem Ohara, Owen, 2:08.11. 2, Elijah Jones, Owen, 2:09.57. 3, Ben Wessinger, Mitchell, 2:11.40. 4, Bray Guest, Avery County, 2:24.62. 5, Steve Garcia, Owen, 2:29.39. 6, Brayden Pate, Mtn Heritage, 2:29.79. 7, Braxton Edwards, Polk County, 2:30.19. 8, Jalyn Thomas, Polk County, 2:31.40. 9, Noah Lewkowicz, Owen, x2:31.73. 10, Jack Morrow, Madison, 2:32.76. 11, Cade Bright, Polk County, 2:34.23. 12, Nehemiah Barnette, Madison, 2:35.86. 13, Ryan Edmunds-Ingham, Avery County, 2:36.13. 14, Grove Davis, Owen, x2:37.37. 15, McClain Koistinen, Polk County, x2:50.82. 16, Carter White, Avery County, 2:52.24.

Men 1600 Meter Run
1, Jaheem Ohara, Owen, 4:42.20. 2, Elijah Jones, Owen, 4:47.53. 3, Ben Wessinger, Mitchell, 4:58.46. 4, Noah Lehman, Owen, 5:02.70. 5, Nolan Little, Madison, 5:15.33. 6, Matias Akers, Polk County, 5:22.77. 7, Leo Parmenter, Owen, x5:25.64. 8, Ryan Edmunds-Ingham, Avery County, 5:32.14. 9, Steve Garcia, Owen, x5:33.06. 10, Brayden Pate, Mtn Heritage, 5:36.68. 11, Adison Broyles, Polk County, 5:37.59.

Men 3200 Meter Run
1, Trevor Nail, Owen, 10:55.31. 2, Gabriel Coll-Bettencourt, Owen, 11:31.05. 3, Noah Lehman, Owen, 11:43.00. 4, Leo Parmenter, Owen, x11:51.83. 5, Nolan Little, Madison, 12:00.20. 6, Harrison Ashworth, Polk County, 12:08.81. 7, Kyle Tilstra, Owen, x12:23.80. 8, Adison Broyles, Polk County, 13:01.66. 9, Tristan Devine, Polk County, 13:27.24.

Men 110 Meter Hurdles
1, Caden Hilemon, Madison, 17.60. 2, Jakob McCool, Mtn Heritage, 18.62. 3, Tyler Staley, Polk County, 18.96. 4, Shaquan Wingo, Polk County, 20.64. 5, Roman Lytle, Owen, 20.95. 6, Hunter Inabinett, Owen, 21.24. 7, Jack Crenshaw, Avery County, 21.92. 8, Vincent Twitty, Polk County, 23.86.

Men 300 Meter Hurdles
1, Jakob McCool, Mtn Heritage, 45.38. 2, Jack Crenshaw, Avery County, 45.58. 3, Roman Lytle, Owen, 47.94. 4, Hunter Inabinett, Owen, 48.08. 5, Tyler Staley, Polk County, 48.94. 6, Shaquan Wingo, Polk County, 49.56. 7, Landon Ingham, Avery County, 52.31. 8, Vincent Twitty, Polk County, 53.07. 9, Couper Dale, Mtn Heritage, 1:05.39.

Men 4×100 Meter Relay
1, Madison (2 A) 45.59. 2, Polk County (1 A) 45.76. 3, Avery County (1 A) 46.94. 4, Mitchell (1 A) 48.87.

Men 4×200 Meter Relay
1, Avery County (1 A) 1:37.26. 2, Mitchell (1 A) 1:38.39. 3, Madison (2 A) 1:43.79. 4, Mountain Heritage (2 A) 1:46.24. 5, Polk County (1 A) 2:04.59.

Men 4×400 Meter Relay
1, Avery County (1 A) 3:33.82. 2, Charles D. Owen (2 A) 3:42.90. 3, Polk County (1 A) 3:44.01. 4, Madison (2 A) 4:01.87. 5, Mountain Heritage (2 A) 4:08.90.

Men 4×800 Meter Relay
1, Charles D. Owen (2 A) 9:33.99. 2, Avery County (1 A) 9:59.88. 3, Polk County (1 A) 10:28.32.

Men High Jump
1, Caden Hilemon, Madison, J5-08. 2, Landon Ingham, Avery County, J5-08. 3, Adam Ledford, Mtn Heritage, 5-04. 4, Jack Crenshaw, Avery County, J5-02. 5, Nehemiah Barnette, Madison, J5-02. 6, Hunter Inabinett, Owen, J5-00. 7, Carson Street, Mtn Heritage, J5-00.

Men Pole Vault
1, Braxton Edwards, Polk County, 10-06. 2, Chandler Berry, Avery County, J10-06. 3, Colby Capps, Mtn Heritage, 10-00. 4, Henry Peterson, Avery County, 8-06. 5, Adison Broyles, Polk County, 7-00.

Men Long Jump
1, Dequan Boyce, Owen, 20-02. 2, Caden Hilemon, Madison, 19-07. 3, Hunter Inabinett, Owen, 19-00.25. 4, Nate Henderson, Polk County, 18-09.25. 5, Colby Capps, Mtn Heritage, 18-08. 6, Jerry Dodd, Madison, 18-06.25. 7, Rainer Hveff, Madison, 17-06. 8, Carson Street, Mtn Heritage, 17-02.50. 9, Jakob McCool, Mtn Heritage, 16-07.75. 10, Carter Hoyle, Mitchell, 16-06.50. 11, Adam Ledford, Mtn Heritage, x16-01. 12, Jericho Nunley, Avery County, 13-10.50.

Men Triple Jump
1, Ty Smith, Avery County, 40-10.50. 2, Dequan Boyce, Owen, 39-11.50. 3, Carson Street, Mtn Heritage, 37-06. 4, Landon Ingham, Avery County, 36-04. 5, Matias Akers, Polk County, 36-00.50. 6, Tyler Staley, Polk County, 34-04. –, Shavoy Harding, Owen, ND.

Men Shot Put (12 pound)
1, Jesse Shelton, Mtn Heritage, 45-08. 2, Harrison Waddell, Polk County, 44-10.50. 3, Charlie Hurt, Owen, 40-07.50. 4, Colton Lane Hoilman, Avery County, 37-04.50. 5, Logan Melton, Owen, 36-00.50. 6, Kanye Staley, Polk County, 33-01. 7, J’Leyn Hoilman, Avery County, 32-06. 8, Justin Sprinkle, Madison, 32-01.50. 9, Obed Najera, Polk County, 31-09. 10, Lucas Barilovits, Madison, 31-06.50. 11, Bryson Owen, Polk County, x30-04. 12, Chandler Horney, Mitchell, 30-00. 13, Jared Searcy, Polk County, x29-05.50. 14, Dillion Dison, Madison, 28-03. 15, Yacid Garcia, Mtn Heritage, 24-00. 16, Caleb Debjurl, Madison, x22-05. 17, Damien Vargas, Mtn Heritage, 21-10.50.

Men Discus Throw (1.6 KG)
1, Jesse Shelton, Mtn Heritage, 130-11. 2, Harrison Waddell, Polk County, 129-11. 3, Charlie Hurt, Owen, 126-01. 4, Logan Melton, Owen, 125-08. 5, Colton Lane Hoilman, Avery County, 102-03. 6, Chandler Horney, Mitchell, 95-10. 7, Justin Sprinkle, Madison, 89-07. 8, J’Leyn Hoilman, Avery County, 86-07. 9, Rainer Hveff, Madison, 83-09. 10, Michael Simoncic, Polk County, 78-11. 11, Kanye Staley, Polk County, 78-02. 12, Dillion Dison, Madison, 76-08. 13, Obed Najera, Polk County, x74-01. 14, Damien Vargas, Mtn Heritage, 69-07. 15, Caleb Debjurl, Madison, x60-05. 16, Yacid Garcia, Mtn Heritage, 56-11. 17, Jared Searcy, Polk County, x54-00.