There are new additions to Idaho's all-time best track and field performances after the weekend's 5A/4A state championships at Boise's Dona Larsen Park.

Emmett senior Landon Helms cleared 15 feet to win his third consecutive Class 4A pole vault title, broke one of Idaho's oldest overall state meet records with his 13.69 to win his third consecutive 110-meter hurdles title, won the long jump with a distance of 23-1 and ran 38.15 to win the 300 hurdles final. While he told media members Friday that he had hoped to break the overall state meet record of 16-6 for pole vault set in 2003 by Eagle's Donovan Kilmartin, he did match Kilmartin's accomplishment of winning three consecutive pole vault and 110 hurdles titles, in spite of the 2020 cancellations. 

Strong winds Friday put a damper on his bid for Kilmartin's record.

"That's not very good for pole vault because you want to be nice up and springy so that when you take off, you take off up and are able to swing up," Helms said to media members on Friday in an interview that was posted to the SBLive Sports YouTube channel. "When you're trying to cut through the wind straight, you plant and then you end up just going back out. You don't really have the ability to rock back."

The Texas A&M demonstrated versatility not seen in Idaho since Kilmartin, a legendary high school decathlete. Helms has cleared 17-2 this spring in the pole vault and is the first Idahoan to break 14 seconds in the 110 hurdles. Saturday's 4A final was the sixth time he dipped below 14 seconds this spring as he has dislodged a 1985 record of 14.08 set by Capital's Darrin Harris. 

The long jump win was also impressive considering he had to rely on an at-large bid to reach the state meet after placing seventh the week prior at the 4A District 3 championships, the only meet this season he did not win long jump. 

Skyline sophomore Nelah Roberts broke two 4A records and a state meet record on back-to-back days. With her 10:30.63 to repeat as 3,200 meters state champion Friday, she broke Mountain View grad Lexy Halladay's meet record from the 2017 5A state meet. On Saturday, Roberts dipped below the 5-minute barrier for the second time in her career with 4:58.06 to defend her 1,600 meters state title and take down the previous 4A state meet record of 5:00.18 by Century's Bethany McInturff in 2008. 

Roberts, the only eastern Idaho girl to own both a sub-10:45 3,200 time and a sub-5:00 1,600 time, was unaware she broke Halladay's record until she received her medal Friday. She and her coaches had previously discussed going for the 4A standard. 

Halladay is a runner Roberts not only looks up to but competes for her dream school, BYU.

"It's just crazy to think about how my mentality has changed with running overall," Roberts said Sunday. "In middle school, my dad mentioned, 'You could maybe be as fast as (2021 Skyline graduate and two-time 4A cross country state runner-up) Sariah Harrison.' I was like, 'No way.' Now that I'm getting to Lexy Halladay's level it is something I never would have imagined."

Roberts, who competed in four events and contributed 22 points to Skyline's second-place team finish, plans to compete in the 3,200 at the Nike Outdoor Nationals in June at Hayward Field. She said she is aiming to lower her personal best to 10:20.

The sophomore has competed at Eastbay Nationals, Nike Indoor Nationals and the Arcadia Invitational since December and said she has moments where the reality of where she has been and what she has done sinks in for her.

"It's crazy to look back at the year I've had and all the places I've been able to go to," Roberts said. "I owe it to so many other people. My mom is emphaszing that you always represent more than yourself. I'm representing me, my family, Skyline, the city of Idaho Falls and Idaho."

Not to be outdone, 5A athletes shined as well. Boise senior Logan Smith won the 5A girls 800 title in 2:09.07 to take down former teammate Maggie Liebich's state meet record of 2:11.26 from 2018. Smith entered Saturday's finals having broken 2:12 twice ths spring. 

Fittingly, Liebich, a 2019 Boise grad and current student athlete at Princeton, was present Saturday to witness it.

"She came up to us before the 800," Boise coach Aaron Olswanger said. "She was rooting for Logan all the way. Logan has had that in her all year. We knew her fitness. It was a matter of complete race together. The last 300 sealed it for her. She was flying down the home stretch."

The girls pole vault record exchanged hands twice Saturday. After Emmett's Tatum Richards cleared 13 feet to give the Huskies a sweep of the event, Centennial's Eva Lowder cleared 13-9 to win 5A girls pole vault, taking down Julene Bailey's all-time state best from 2003.

Boise senior and Dartmouth commit Liam Murray won the 5A boys 400 in 47.50 to smash another all-time state best. Josh Wallin of Rock Mountain ran 47.54 in 2013. Murray helped break the 4x200 meet record of 1:27.29 by Mountain View in 2017 as he and teammates Mason Lawyer, Porter Coffield and Cooper Smith won the final in 1:26.97. Lawyer, Coffield, Murray and Tucker Briggs also won the 4x400 in 3:22.67.

Lawyer won the 100 meters in 10.46 and 200 in 21.62, while teammate Murray was second in the 200 in 21.87.

Olswanger said prior to this season, Murray and Lawyer, a Washington State signee, did not train together. That changed this spring as coaches created workouts for Lawyer to train with the distance group to improve his closing speed and for Murray to train with the sprinters to improve his top end speed.

"We really balanced it this year with those two," Olswanger said.

Rocky Mountain accumulated 105 points to win its sixth consecutive 5A boys track title and 10th title in 12 years. The Grizzlies got individual titles from Tyler Sainsbury in the 1,600 (4:14.60) and Trent Wigod in the 3,200 (9:20.41) and also won the 4x100 (42.28) and 4x800 (7:50.70).

"Rocky has been the standard for the last decade plus," Olswanger said. "That 5A boys team race was so fun. Liam and Mason and Porter, those three were unbelievable."

Meridian senior Eli Lawrence, the son of 1992 Olympic triple jumper Wendell Lawrence of the Bahamas, won his third consecutive 5A state title in triple jump (49-5) to conclude back-to-back undefeated seasons in the event. He has five marks of 49 feet or better, including a personal best 49-9.25. 

The Boise girls, who won by 106 points last year, repeated as champions 121-90 over Timberline. The Brave were without sophomore Samantha Smith, who has not run in four weeks and opted to try to get healthy for next year, and sophomore Allie Bruce, who competed after battling illness the week prior. The team spread out the points with Logan Smith, Jamie Hamlin, Sophia Clark, Lydia Nance and Bruce competing in four events each, earning medals in all of them.

Hamlin, a mid distance and distance runner as a sophomore and junior, returned to hurdles in mid-April after a three-year hiatus and medaled in both hurdles finals. 

Hamlin will run for Oregon State, Annika Zuschlag will run for UMass and Smith will play soccer at Stanford.

"These seniors have won six state titles (combined for cross country and track) in the last four years," Olswanger said. "That's including a spring off in 2020. It's incredible what they've done."

Post Falls senior Samantha Wood, who entered state with a personal best 4:53 1600, won the 5A 3,200 in 10:39.46 and ran 4:54.25 to lead a 1-2 finish with teammate Annastasia Peters in 1,600.

Rigby junior Abby Hancock won the 5A girls 100 in 12.03 (one hundredth of a second from tying the all-time wind-legal best of 12.02 set by Capital's Megan Rose last year), the 200 in 24.85, the long jump with 18-4.50 and was part of a third-place 4x100 finish in 49.27.

Timberline's Lauren McCall won four golds, claiming the 5A girls 300 hurdles in 44.11, the 400 in 56.00 and contributng to the winning 4x100 (48.39) and 4x200 (1:42.79). 

After two days of teams changing order in the standings, Pocatello claimed the 4A girls title 84-68 over Skyline for its first girls track title since 1996. Six-time defending 4A state champion Bishop Kelly took fifth place with 52 points. 

Pocatello got big contributions from sophomore Matejah Mangum, who won the 200 in 25.08, placed second in the 100 and was part of a second-place 4x100 finish and 4x200 win in 1:43.70. The Thunder also got indvidual wins from Hailey Renzello in the 800 (2:15.15) and Hallie Pearson in long jump (16-9.5). 

Scoring 30 points for Skyline and winning four medals for the second year in a row was Roberts's teammate Claire Petersen. A junior who will make her second appearance at Nike Outdoor Nationals next month, Petersen won two gold medals, one bronze and one fourth place medal over the weekend after claiming four golds a year ago. She defended her 4A girls 100 title with a time of 12.03 to match Hancock's 5A winning time, repeated as 300 hurdles champion in 45.14, placed fourth in the 100 hurdles in 15.87 in a wild finish and was part of Skyline's third-place 4x100 in 50.05.

In all the podium photos of Petersen from the weekend, her right shin is heavily wrapped. During the 100 hurdles finals, her first of four finals Saturday, Petersen and Burley's Lynzey Searle were leading the race when Petersen's trail leg caught the eighth hurdle. She collided with the ninth hurdle, avoided falling and somehow finished the race in fourth place with a sub-16 time. She entered the race having never lost in the 100 hurdles. 

Petersen said she has no idea how she kept her balance.

"I ran into hurdle nine and took a good chunk of skin off my shin," Petersen said. "I thought I was going to faceplant. It is literally a miracle I didn't fall. I saw the video and the hurdle was literally wrapped around my ankle."

Petersen said she felt no pain in the initial impact perhaps due to adrenaline, and she spent ample time in the medical tent before returning to the track with a bandaged shin and encouragement from one of her coaches. On Sunday, Petersen said her leg 'looks worse than it feels' and her experience of coming back from the collision with the hurdle gave her new perspective and motivation.

"It was a really great chance for me to show where I am mentally, to show others and show myself," Petersen said. "A lot of it has been showing people what I can do physically but that kinda shook me, especially being the first race of the day. My coach came up to me after I got done at the medical tent and said, 'You've still got a chance to turn it around. Then I went and ran my other races."

Bishop Kelly won its fifth 4A boys team title in seven years, finishing atop the standings 132-67 over Blackfoot. Senior and Arizona commit James Onanubosi broke his own 4A meet record in the 100 with  10.51 in prelims and won the final in 10.54, won the 200 (21.96), and was part of the 4x100 win in a meet record time of 42.16, and third place 4x200 finish. His 4x100 teammate Cole Miller won triple jump (45-11), placed fourth in the 100 and fifth in long jump, while Patrick Monahan won high jump (6-4), placed second in long jump and fourth in triple jump. Austin Clough placed fourth in the 800, fourth in the 1,600 and third in the 3,200. 

The top three placers in the 4A boys 400 final all dipped below the previous 4A state meet record of 49.05 by Ridgevue's Kade Linder in 2017, led by winner Daulton Monkress of Twin Falls in 48.60. Bishop Kelly's Jacoba Luteyn swept the 4A girls throws, winning the shot put with a meet record 44-3.25 and discus wth 144-0.

Blackfoot junior Matt Thomas won the 4A boys 1,600 in 4:15.29 and the 3,200 in 9:14.78.

 

 

Sugar-Salem produced the highest point total of the weekend as it won the 3A boys team title with 141 points. It is the seventh 3A boys track title in 10 years for the Diggers, and it gave head coach Brett Hill a milestone.

In 28 years as a high school coach in Idaho, Hill has 50 combined titles in cross country and track at Firth and Sugar-Salem High Schools.

Among those titles are ones he shared with his five children, who all ran for him.

"I'm a very blessed man," said Hill, who is originally from Samaria, Idaho, and competed at Utah State. "Every year, it's a different group, different personalties and camaraderie and dynamics within your team. My family has been a rock and allowed me to work with the kids. It's not anything I've done special in knowing how to coach. It's been more the rapport I have with the kids. I love them and I have a passion for the sport."

The Thursday before state, Hill said he and his boys team discussed what would be necessary to beat defending state champion Kimberly and talented brothers Jaxon and Gatlin Bair. The Diggers knew the Bairs would rack up points in all their events, so depth would be important. The Diggers won the championship by 33 points.

"We scored in every event but the triple jump," Hill said. "At the end of day one, we had 68 points. I looked at my other coach and said, 'How did we score 68 points?'"

Boyd Sorensen swept the throws with 163-9 in discus and 53-3 in shot put, and also placed third in long jump. Porter Holt won the 800 in 1:58.34, placed third in the 400 and was part of second-place finishes in the medley and 4x400 relays. The Diggers also placed second in the 4x200 and won the 4x100 in 43.61.

The Bairs did combine for 76 points and three meet records. Jaxon, an Arkansas signee, broke the 3A 110 hurdles record of 14.41 set in 2019 by older brother and Missisippi State athlete Peyton Bair with his win in 14.29 on Saturday. Jaxon also won long jump (24-0.75 to break Peyton's state meet record of 23-8.5), pole vault (14-0) and took second in the 400. Younger brother Gatlin, a sophomore who has football offers from the likes of Oregon, Stanford, BYU, Washington State, Boise State and Utah, won the 100 (10.72 to break a 23 year-old meet record), 200 (21.54 after running 21.41 in prelims to break a 23 year-old state meet record). triple jump (45-7) and was part of the second place 4x100. Jaxon went undefeated in long jump this season,  while Gatlin went undefeated in the 100, 200 and triple jump. 

Snake River's  Rylan Anderson won the 300 hurdles (40.80), the 400 (48.80) and was part of the winning medley relay (3:37.99). Teammate Keegan McCraw won the 1,600 (4:38.29) and 3,200 (9:54.98).

Fruitland won its first girls track title with a handful of athletes, 83-78, over Kimberly in a team race where six points separated first place from third. Kimberly took second by one point over Sugar-Salem. 

Fruitland senior and Utah State signee Emma Hillam swept 3A girls distance titles, claiming the 800 in 2:15.72, the 1,600 in 5:11.89 and concluded an undefeated season in the 3,200 (11:15.43). She was also  part of the winning medley relay (1:52.61). Teammate Lydia Lindsey won the 100 (12.52), 200 (25.92), was part of the winning 4x100 (49.94) and took second in high jump. 

Bonners Ferry's Asha Abubakari swept 3A girls throws, winning discus by two inches with 120-2 and shot put with 38-11.5. Kimberly's Kloie Ward won high jump (5-6), the 400 (59.56) and was part of the winning 4x200 (1:47.48). Payette's Sydney Denison won long jump (17-11.5) and triple jump (36-10.50).

In 2A, the Melba girls won their fourth consecutive title with 106 points while the boys won their first title with 98 points. Joe Reiber won the 100 (11.16), 200 (22.26), took second in high jump (6-10) and was part of the winning 4x100 (44.46). McKoy Richardson won the 110 hurdles (14.99) and broke an 18-year-old meet record in the 300 (38.67), the 400 (49.79) and was part of the winning 4x400 (3:28.25). For the Mustang girls, Kendall Clark won triple jump (36-1.75), placed second in high jump, fourth in 100 hurdles and was part of the winning 4x200 (1:46.23). Her 4x200 teammate Meya Young won the 100 (12.86), placed third in long jump and was part of the second place medley relay. 

The 2A boys distance races were a showdown beween two athletes who broke the 15-minute barrier last fall during cross country season. Nampa Christian senior and Utah State signee Grady Mylander defended his 800  (1:57.37) and 1,600 (4:17.75) titles to conclude an undefeated season in the 1,600 and was part of the winning medley relay (3:35.62). Salmon sophomore Danny Simmons won the 3,200 in 9:05.04, the fastest time of the weekend, to break Mylander's meet record and dip below 9:07 for the third time this year.

Bear Lake's Christian Bush and Reiber both made 6-10 in an exciting high jump competition, but Bush won on fewer misses at lower heights. Soda Springs' Jinettie Garbett won the 200 (25.88) and repeated as champion in the 400 (58.59) and as part of the medley relay (1:50.91). Valley's Kyle Christensen repeated as long jump and triple jump champion with marks of 21-8 and 43-9. 

Raft River won its fourth consecutive 1A girls title 86.16-68.16 over district rival Oakley thanks to several returning athletes from last year. Libby Boden won the 100 (12.57), long jump (17-5), was part of the winning 4x200 (1:46.61) and placed second in the 200. Heidi Harper won the 400 (56.32) and was part of the winning medley (1:51.23) and second place 4x400. The medley and 4x200 times were new meet records, and Harper's 400 time broke a 27 year-old meet record. 

Grace won its first boys track title since 1958 by half a point, 71-70.5, over Lighthouse Christian. Joshua Smith won 110 hurdles (15.50) and 300 hurdles (41.22), while Cole Wilkerson swept the distance titles and was part of the winning medley relay (3:37.77). 

Lighthouse Christian's Walker Goettle won the 100 (11.26), 200 (22.67) and 400 (51.25). Two additional meet records fell in the girls 4x100 (Carey in 51.19) and the pole vault (Addie Mitton of Oakley at 10-7).

 

Class 5A - Rocky Mountain boys 105 points, Boise girls 121 points - RESULTS

Class 4A - Bishop Kelly boys 132 points, Pocatello girls 84 points - RESULTS

Class 3A - Sugar-Salem boys 141 points, Fruitland girls 83 points - RESULTS

Class 2A - Melba boys 98 points, Melba girls 106 points - RESULTS

Class 1A - Grace boys 71 points, Raft River girls 86.16 points - RESULTS