Homer Girls Track and Field Team wins State

By Dayten Van Ostrand
Special to the Homer Independent Press

The Homer Lady Mariners track and field team hold the state trophy and an ASAA banner. (Photo courtesy of ASAA facebook page)

The Homer High School Lady Mariners track and field team won the Division II State Championships last weekend in Anchorage, marking the second year in a row they have won the big prize.

The Homer boys finished third in the 32-team field. The girls and boys teams set five new school records during the weekend.

The Homer girls finished with 157 points, ahead of Seward with 69 and Grace Christian with 56.

The Homer boys finished behind Sitka, in first place, and Mountain City Christian Academy.

The state championship, held at Dimond High School, featured teams from Anderson, Bethel, Birchwood Christian, Cook Inlet Academy, Craig, Delta Junction, Dillingham, Glennallen, Grace Christian, Gustavus, Haines, Holy Rosary Academy, Homer, Houston, Hutchison, Kenai Central, Lumen Christi, Monroe Catholic, Mountain City Christian Academy, Nenana, Ninilchik, Nome-Beltz, Petersburg, Redington, Seward, Sitka, Skagway, Su Valley, Tri-Valley, Unalakleet, Valdez and Wrangell.

The Homer girls 4×100 meter relay team, consisting of Immi Im, Jaelynn Kennon, Maddy Miotke and Molly Evans, finished first while also setting a new school record with a combined time of 49.84 seconds. The old record was set just last week by the same team at the regional meet.

The girls 4×800 meter relay team, consisting of Claira Booz, Ariela Garvey, Morgan Harness, and Etta Bynagle, also beat the school record with a combined time of 9:45.74 minutes. The previous record was held last year by Vera Bates, Claira Booz, Beatrix McDonough and Etta Bynagle with a time of 10:04.19 minutes.

Caleb Bunker, Tait Ostrom, Landon Tinsley, and Johannes Bynagle competed in the boys 4×800 relay and beat the school record with a combined time of 8:18.68 minutes. The previous record was set in 2018 with a time of 8:20.63 minutes.

Homer’s Tait Ostrom finished first in the 300m hurdles with a new school record of 40.76 seconds. The previous record was set in 1990 with a time of 41.5 seconds.

Jaelynn Kennon, from Homer, beat the long jump school record with a distance of 17’ 3.00”. The previous record was from 1978 with a distance of 16’ 8”.

Other first place finishers on the girls’ and boys’ teams include the girls 4x100m relay team and the boys 4x800m relay team.