Coquille girls earn third straight title

When senior Callie Millet hyperextended the toes on her left foot a week before the state track championships, Coquille’s chances for a third straight team title appeared in jeopardy.

But Millet fought through the pain to repeat as javelin champion and place in two other and the Red Devils won six individual titles in all and brought home the blue trophy again.

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

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, when she had the three biggest throws, including her first one when she took only a short approach on the runway. Her best mark was 125 feet, 10 inches.

“I was hoping to PR, but with my foot the way it was, that wasn’t realistic,” said Millet, who had a season best of 135-7.

Later Thursday, she placed sixth in the discus and then turned her focus to Friday’s pole vault and helping Coquille win another title.

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

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.

Utlimately, the final score wasn’t too close because of all Coquille’s wins. Reagan Krantz repeated as pole vault champion and Holli Vigue won the discus for the second year in a row and added the shot put title. Melanie Lambson won the long jump and Ada Millet, Callie’s younger sister, was champion in the 300-meter hurdles.

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.”

Vigue was dominant in both the discus and shot put. Every legal throw she had (she had one scratch in the shot put) was better than the second-place finisher in both events, partly fueled by her missing the final in the javelin when she threw poorly in that event to start the meet.

“I hate to lose,” she said.

She improved her own school record in the discus, her best mark Thursday 131-4. Callie Millet’s mark of 100-9 was good for sixth place in the event as she placed in it for the second straight year as well.

“I’m really happy,” Vigue said of the discus. “I just want to make (coach Brandon) Bowen and my dad happy.”

She did that again Friday in the shot put, re-setting her own personal best several times in the process with her best throw 37-8 ¾ on her final attempt.

“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.

Ultimately, Coquille scored in all seven field events, including the long jump title by Lambson.

Lambson was far from her best in her best event, the long jump, scratching on four of her six attempts.

But her jump of 16-10 in the fifth round was good enough to pass Catlin Gabel’s Caroline Mauro and give the Red Devils their third title.

“I was hoping for a PR, but I like first place better,” said Lambson, adding that she was a little nervous with her scratches. The big jump that put her in the lead was a relief.

“I’m just so excited,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting to win.”

Mauro came in as the top seed, and her teammate Ella Bulkley was third as Catlin Gabel kept the pressure on Coquille in the team race. The Eagles also got big points in the high jump, but Coquille also scored in the event.

Mauro cleared 5-7 ¾ to win the high jump and teammate Abby Greenspan was second (5-2 ¼) for 18 points for Catlin Gabel.

Coquille’s Emelia Wirebaugh was part of a four-way tie for fifth place at 4-8 ¾, scoring 2.5 points for the Red Devils.

Lambson and Wirebaugh both competed well in a strong triple jump field Friday, with Lambson leaping 34-10 ¼ and Wirebaugh exactly one foot shorter.

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.

Coquille 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.

Freshman Bryleigh Mead was ninth in the 3,000 on Thursday (11:53.51). On Friday, she 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. He was ninth in the shot put Thursday (41-5 ¾).

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).

On Thursday, Kale Jensen was second (21-0 ¾) and Johnson fourth (20-9 ¼) in the long jump. In the pole vault, Justin Allen was fourth, Dylan Jensen fifth and Johnson sixth, all clearing 12-7 ¼. Maximus Reynolds was sixth in the shot put (42-11).

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). On the opening day, Jane Lacouture was fifth in the javelin (109-3) and Allison Hughes was seventh in the 3,000 (11:28.07).

The Vikings finished 16th in the girls team race.