Warriors end their run at state meet

BUTTE — Arlee senior Wyatt O’Neill was the sole Warrior to place in the class C state track meet this past week with a sixth place finish in the triple jump. He has jumped a couple inches further, but enjoyed the meet just the same.

“It went pretty good. I didn’t do as well as I hoped, but that’s the way it goes. You got to run with it,” O’Neill said.

O’Neill was joined by three fellow seniors and a freshman. He said the small squad that remained went a long way since the beginning of the year.

“We made leaps and bounds since the beginning of the season when we started running,” he said.

The team’s highlight was in the relays.

In the 400-meter relay the Warriors, starting with senior Ethan Willoughby, freshman Zach Carver and Cubby Pierre and anchored by O’Neill, made it into the finals by finishing in fifth place in their trial heat by a hair.

Arlee head coach Sue Carney had her doubts as they waited for the final say from the timekeepers.

“Wyatt said, ‘Carney, don’t doubt me, we’re there.’ And he was right,” she said.

“Wyatt did a good job holding him off (the runner-up), so we got to go to the big dance the next day,” Carney said.

In the finals the team placed eighth.

The team’s long relay had a rough break. That group was made up of Pierre, Carver, senior Jacob Trujillo and O’Neill.

Running their best start in the timed finals and in a position to snag third and fourth – which would have put them near the top six or seven overall, Carney estimated – Trujillo was bumped off the track by another team’s runner as he prepared to make the final hand-off to O’Neill.

They finished their hand-off and ran it out, after a nearly 10-second delay.

The tenacity impressed Carney, who said many teams would have just walked off the track after such a mishap.

“Those boys knew it was pretty much done and over with but they didn’t quit,” she said. “They finished it off in style.”

Trujillo competed in both the 1,600 and 3,200, but was unable to place in either race.

“I was just so excited to see him make both races and compete as a senior,” Carney said.

He finished within 10 seconds of his best time in each race.

“I can’t complain about his performance at all,” Carney said. “He was a fighter when he came out on the field.”

O’Neill was bothered by shin splints during the meet and fell short on his other event, the high jump. And Carver had the flu throughout the weekend.

With both persevering, they set a good example, as did the other Arlee Warriors who attended state, Carney said.

“Those kids that went to state are not complainers,” she said.

Carney looks to Carver to lead next year with his experience and will miss her departing seniors.

“It’s hard to see the end of the era for those senior boys. They were a lot of fun,” she said. “They knew when to be serious but they knew when to have fun. I’m going to miss the camaraderie of those seniors.”

O’Neill said he and Trujillo talked before their last relay. It was something to remember – their last high school race.

“I guess that’s what you work all year for,” he said.