Coquille girls win another state title

EUGENE — When senior Callie Millet hyperextended the toes on her left foot a week ago, Coquille’s chances for a third straight state title appeared in jeopardy.

But Millet fought through the pain to score in three events and the Red Devils won six individual titles and brought home the blue trophy again.

Millet was an inspiration to her teammates, who rose to the occasion over the two days at Hayward Field.

“She was our MVP,” Coquille coach Jake Cochran said.

Millet repeated as state champion in the javelin on Thursday and also placed sixth in the discus.

After that, she vowed she would do her best in the pole vault, even though every attempt appeared painful.

“I’m doing what I can for the team,” she said Thursday.

On Friday, that ultimately meant taking 18 painful runs down the pole vault runway. But each height she cleared — eight in all — brought the Red Devils closer to the team crown.

By the end of the night, the final score wasn’t that close because Coquille had added state titles by Reagan Krantz, the only pole vaulter to finish ahead of Millet, and by Holli Vigue in the shot put and Callie’s younger sister, Ada, in the 300 hurdles.

Vigue also won the discus on Thursday and Melanie Lambson won the long jump. Lambson added a fourth-place finish in the triple jump Friday, with Emelia Wirebaugh sixth.

Coquille ultimately amassed 84.5 points, while Catlin Gabel scored 66 and Banks 53.

The Red Devils started the day just in front of Catlin Gabel, but scored big in the pole vault.

Ada Millet placed sixth, clearing her first two heights without a miss, ultimately clearing 8 feet, 9 ¾ inches.

Callie Millet, meanwhile, missed her first attempt at both the first two heights (and two more later), but kept moving up. When she cleared 10-2 ¾ on her second attempt, she and Krantz were the only two vaulters left.

Millet ultimately got over one more height — 10 5 ½ — basically matching her personal best set earlier in the season.

Throughout the competition Friday, her approaches on the runway got faster and stronger, even as she was clearly in pain walking back after each attempt.

“I was forcing myself to run on it a little more,” she said. “And I wasn’t going out after 9-3.”

Krantz said she was impressed by Millet’s ability to compete through the pain.

“She was able to jump her PR on an injured foot,” Krantz said.

Krantz, meanwhile, easily repeated as champion of the event. She didn’t enter until 9-6 ½ and cleared her first six heights without a miss.

She did have a miss at 11-7, but got over it cleanly on her second attempt, celebrating audibly as she fell to the mat. The height was an inch better than her previous best as she improved her school record.

“It was my last high school meet,” Krantz said. “I just wanted to have fun.”

Lambson and Wirebaugh both competed well in a strong triple jump field, with Lambson leaping 34-10 ¼ and Wirebaugh exactly one foot shorter. They added to Coquille’s lead and then Vigue put Coquille far enough ahead to win with a sensational series in the shot put.

The junior had the five biggest throws in the competition (her other attempt was a scratch) and re-set her own personal best several times with her top mark of 37-8 ¾ coming on her final throw.

“I’m really happy,” she said. “After last year, I feel like I redeemed myself a little bit.”

Vigue was one of the top-ranked throwers in the shot put in Class 3A last year, but had a poor showing at the district meet and failed to advance to state. She won the discus last year and both throws this year.

Ada Millet later added one more win for Coquille in the 300-meter hurdles, scoring Coquille’s only points on the track in the process.

Millet, who has only focused on the event a few weeks, posted the top time in the preliminaries Thursday, but trailed North Valley’s Lainie Wheeler most of the way Friday. The Coquille sophomore started catching up over the last 100 meters and caught Wheeler just before the finish, and just as Wheeler fell to the ground surging for the line.

Millet’s time was 47.10, a new best. She said she fed off the energy of the Hayward Field crowd.

“Everyone started cheering and I was thinking I have to catch her,” she said.

After competing at state in the 800 and 1,500 as a freshman, she has found a new favorite event.

“I have a lot of work to do on my form,” Millet said. “I know I can improve a lot.”

Ada said she was thrilled with how her injured sister performed, and was rewarded with good places.

“I’m so proud of her,” Ada said. “She’s put in so much work.”

Ada said she also wasn’t surprised.

“Any pain, she will push through it for her team,” she said.

Ultimately, Coquille scored in every field event and competed well across the board.

“I’m just ecstatic how the kids performed,” Cochran said. “They did awesome.”

That included the runners who didn’t place.

Bryleigh Mead was 11th (5:11.96) and Faith Gerner 13th (5:24.48) in the 1,500.

And the group of Synthia Salazar, Matti Nelson, Gertner and Ada Millet won its heat in the 4x400 relay in a season-best 4:18.61, just missing a spot on the podium when the seventh- and eighth-place teams in the second heat were less than a second faster than Coquille’s time.

The Red Devils did what they needed to do for a third straight title, Cochran said.

“It’s just a really special group of kids,” he said. “I can’t say enough about them.”

Coquille’s only boy in the meet, Jerico Jones, placed fourth in the discus with a best throw of 135-7 on his final throw, which moved him two spots up the standings.

Siuslaw’s boys were in the running for the team title until the final event, but ultimately finished third.

Valley Catholic won the relay with a new meet record time of 3:23.49 and Vale was second while the Vikings finished fourth in 3:28.51. That left Valley Catholic in first place with 74 points, Vale in second (69) and Siuslaw in third (68) in the final standings.

Siuslaw did win a pair of titles Friday. Kale Jenson took the high jump, clearing 6-0 ¾. And the quartet of Will Johnson, Wesley Nicholls, Derrick Vanduch and Raymundo Brito Xilot won the 4x100 relay in 43.84.

Vanduch (40.80) and Jensen (41.01) were fifth and sixth in the 300 hurdles and Jensen also was seventh in the 110 hurdles (16.63). Nicholls was sixth in the 400 (52.43) and Johnson was sixth in the triple jump (41-10).

Siuslaw’s girls got second- and sixth-place finishes by sisters Jane and Danin Lacouture in the shot put, with marks of 35-4 and 34-1 ¼, respectively. Maya Wells was eighth in the 1,500 (5:07.10). The Vikings finished 16th in the girls team race.