Superior girls medal at state
Shelby Cooper soars in the long jump at the Divisional Track Meet in Missoula. Cooper placed in the event and will be moving onto the state meet in Laurel.
The Superior girls were seeing a lot of success as the track season was rolling to a close. They came in second at divisionals and had a group headed to state in numerous events. Yet only two girls took medals at the state track meet that was held this last weekend in Laurel. And it was in the long jump and the triple jump where the two girls shined.
In the long jump, Nicole Stroot finished in third place. She jumped 15-11.25 in the event for her third place finish on Friday. Assistant coach Jamie Toivonen said that Stroot went into the finals in ninth place and then moved into a final third place finish. Stroot scratched her first two jumps as she missed her mark, but luckily her third jump was long enough to propel her into the finals.
Stroot said that it was "nerve-wracking and scary" competing at state this year as it was her first as she is only a freshman.
"My teammates helped me out a lot since the coaches couldn't be out there and they helped me get on my mark," Stroot said.
Stroot said that she was shocked to make it to a third place finish.
"I couldn't believe I'm a freshman and I was standing up there with seniors," Stroot said. "It was a lot of fun. I'm glad I made it."
Stroot said that next year she's looking forward to being with her teammates again and said that now that she has had the state experience she hopes to be more confident next year.
On Saturday, senior Shelby Cooper also netted a third place state finish. She medaled in the triple jump with a distance of 33-6.5. Cooper also competed in this event last year at state.
Toivonen said that although Cooper missed the finals for the 100 and 200 meter dashes, as there were a lot of fast girls, she felt Cooper had a good weekend.
"She jumped a personal best," Toivonen said, "reaching 33-6 and took a seventh in the long jump."
The girls 1,600 relay team with Rhandy Cox, Kaitlynn Koke, Ashley Blaylock and Stroot took home a seventh place finish. The girls' 4x100 with Koke, Cooper, Stroot and Blaylock won a sixth place finish.
The boys' 4x400 which was made up by Bajin Smith, Matt Campbell, RJ Frederick and Garrett Stephens broke the 30 year old school record and place seventh at the meet. The record was 3:34 and they ran the race in 3:33.1.
Toivonen said that the pole vaulters, Christofer Ericksson and Campbell, had a difficult time because of weather conditions. Ericksson, who broke the school record by jumping 12-8, only cleared 11-6 at the meet.
The team is losing four seniors-Shelby Cooper, Bajin Smith, Garrett Stephens and Jessica Taylor-all of whom Toivonen said have been solid for the team. Toivonen suspects, however, that the team has a great future, especially now that some of the students have experience at the state level.
"There was a lot of competition and a lot of people watching," Toivonen said. "The expectation was high and that can be tough if you've never experienced that before. They'll all be fine next year. But they competed as hard as they possibly could."