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South girls cruise to district title Photo by Daniel Beraldo for the Mail Tribune South Medford's Heather Frigaard pulls away from the pack to win the 100-meter hurdles in 15.34 seconds. Knutson's big day in the 100 and 200 meters headlines the Panthers' extraordinary run By DON HUNT Mail Tribune The South Medford High girls track team was well on its way to winning the Southern Oregon Conference district championship Saturday at Bowerman Field when its human rocket booster kicked in, just to make sure. Freshman sprinter Kaylyn Knutson upset North Medford's Emily Dunn to win the 100 meters and then stunned the Black Tornado's Brittany Hodges to claim the 200, adding a couple of exclamation points to the Panthers' extraordinary day. The South girls won six events Saturday and finished second in five others as they piled up 159 points to seize their first district title in four years. Roseburg finished a distant second with 135.5 points, followed by North Medford (114.8), Klamath Union (65.5), Grants Pass (57), Eagle Point (49), Crater (47.7) and Ashland (31.5). Knutson ran strong during Thursday's qualifying rounds but admitted she surprised herself by beating the North Medford sprinters. "I had a lot of confidence coming into today, but those girls (Dunn and Hodges) have a lot of experience in big meets, and I really didn't expect to beat them," said Knutson, who blazed to lifetime bests of 12.51 in the 100 and 25.55 in the 200, setting a freshman school record in the latter event. "But the races were so intense." Knutson edged Hodges by just 3/100ths of a second in the 200. South Medford coach Bill Rowan told Knutson she wouldn't beat Hodges unless she tore out of the blocks and ran the first half of the race as if she were shot out of a cannon. "I told her to trust her training, to be brave and go out hard," Rowan said, "and she listened." "Kaylyn's a freshman who's just discovering what she's capable of," the South coach added. Heather Frigaard and Teri Silva also had big days for the Panthers. Frigaard won the 110-meter hurdles in 15.34 and took second in the 300 hurdles in a season's best time of 45.95, while Silva won the high jump with a season's best effort of 5-4 and claimed second in the triple jump at 35-113/4. South Medford's other victories came from Hope Berkey, who launched the shot put 38-6, and from Noi Hilgendorf, who used a strong finishing kick to win the 800 in 2:23.94. The Panthers' triple jumpers got them off to a strong start early in the day. Roseburg's Jennifer Lint, the defending state champion, triumphed at 36-91/2, but Silva finished second, Whitney Grant fourth (34-71/2) and Mallory Carlton sixth (32-8), giving South a 17-point bonanza in the event. "We figured Roseburg would outscore us in that event, but we turned the tables on them," said Rowan, whose team qualified nine competitors in 12 events to next week's Class 4A state meet in Eugene. "Grant jumped about 2 feet farther than she has all year, and Carlton PR'd." South Medford carried that momentum into the high jump pit, where Silva won and Carlton took fourth. Hilgendorf, meanwhile, found herself boxed in during the opening lap of the 800 but broke free over the second lap and had no trouble dusting the rest of the field. Her time was well under her lifetime best of 2:15.94 that she ran at last year's state meet but, after a season filled with foot injuries, she's thrilled to be running at all. "It feels great just to be out there, and really great to be a district champion," she said. In other events Saturday: North Medford's Rosana Medina , who awoke Saturday morning feeling ill, sped to a lifetime best of 45.18 to win the 300 hurdles. "That was a gutsy effort," North Medford coach Mark Hodges said. "She was throwing up earlier today, and we didn't know what kind of fuel she would have in the tank. "But she's a tough kid who wanted to get to the state meet." North Medford's 4x100 relay team won in a season's best time of 49.1, and its triumphant 4x400 squad set a school record of 4:00.84. As usual, Medina and Brittany Hodges ran strong legs in the latter event, but the keys to achieving the school record were the 1:01.3 leadoff leg by Dunn and the 1:03.8 second split by Jenna Siebenlist, coach Hodges said. "Those were both PRs," he said. "That's a good sign for next week." Saturday marked the third straight year in which the Tornado girls have won both relay events. Roseburg's Melis Garner outdueled Klamath Union's Katie Leary to win the 1,500 in 4:53.64, adding that blue ribbon to the one she took home Thursday in the 3,000. Eagle Point's Aubrey Harrington cleared 10-4 to win the pole vault. Defending champion Jenna Fay of Klamath Union managed only 9-4, well under her best of 10-6, but finished second and grabbed the other state berth. GIRLS TEAM SCORES - 1, South Medford 159; 2, Roseburg 135.5; 3, North Medford 114.83; 4, Klamath Union 65.5; 5, Grants Pass 57; 6, Eagle Point 49; 7, Crater 47.67; 8, Ashland 31.5. SHOT PUT - 1, Hope Berkey, SM, 38-61/2; 2, Katrina Anderson, EP, 38-21/2; 3, Taylor Jones, R, 37-03/4; 4, Carly Morris-Picknell, R, 35-11; 5, Crystal Worthington, NM, 34-41/2; 6, Stevie Dunton, KU, 34-31/2; 7, Rachel Munyon, NM, 33-101/4; 8, Brandy Bocchi, KU, 33-9. HIGH JUMP - 1, Teri Silva, SM, 5-4; 2, Erin Kinney, C, 5-3; 3, Kristen Bitter, R, 5-0; 4, Mallory Carlton, SM, 5-0; 5, Amy Christy, NM, 4-10; 5, Erike Boehnke, A, 4-10; 7, Morgan Smith, R, 4-10; 8, Bethany Deblander, KU, 4-10. TRIPLE JUMP - 1, Jennifer Lint, R, 36-91/2; 2, Teri Silva, SM, 35-113/4; 3, Patina Taylor, GP, 35-81/4; 4, Whitney Grant, SM, 34-71/2; 5, Claire Edwards, KU, 33-11; 6, Mallory Carlton, SM, 32-8; 7, Jenna Siebenlist, NM, 32-71/2; 8, Kristina Bateman, EP, 32-61/2. POLE VAULT - 1, Aubrey Harrington, EP, 10-4; 2, Jenna Fay, KU, 9-4; 3, Katie Stephens, R, 9-0; 3, Dana Henry, KU, 9-0; 5, Mary Wright, R, 9-0; 6, Stacy Thomsen, R, 8-6; 7, Tasha Sauer, GP, 8-6; 8, Lisa Louie, NM, 8-0; 8, Erin Kinney, C, 8-0; 8, Becky Stone, C, 8-0. 100-METER HURDLES - 1, Heather Frigaard, SM, 15.34; 2, Jori Grady, R, 15.71; 3, Erin Kinney, C, 16.11; 4, Dana Henry, KU, 16.61; 5, Erika Boehnke, A, 16.84; 6, Heather Hodnett, NM, 16.88; 7, Shayli Minor, NM, 17.18; 8, Korissa Mecham, R, 17.24. 300-METER HURDLES - 1, Rosana Medina, NM, 45.18; 2, Heather Frigaard, SM, 45.95; 3, Megan Confer, C, 47.69; 4, Jori Grady, R, 47.75; 5, Jessica Stoner, C, 48.99; 6, Natalie Kailey, GP, 49.42; 7, Kellianne Kleeman, KU, 49.92; 8, Katie Singler, SM, 50.36. 100 METERS - 1, Kaylyn Knutson, SM, 12.51; 2, Emily Dunn, NM, 12.64; 3, Amber Stevens, SM, 12.84; 4, Claire Edwards, KU, 12.87; 5, Alli Wayrynen, C, 12.94; 6, Danielle Rouhier, EP, 13.01; 7, Erin Wittler, GP, 13.17; 8, Ashley Black, A, 13.81. 200 METERS - 1, Kaylyn Knutson, SM, 25.55; 2, Brittany Hodges, NM, 25.58; 3, EmilyDunn, NM, 26.08; 4, Danielle Rouhier, EP, 26.38; 5, Lindsy Bartholomew, R, 26.82; 6, Amber Stevens, SM, 26.85; 7, Jennifer Lint, R, 26.88; 8, Corey Stewart, GP, 26.92. 400 METERS - 1, Brittany Hodges, NM, 57.01; 2, Natasha Wright, SM, 1:00.69; 3, Katelyn VanBrunt, GP, 1:00.95; 4, Kelley Whitten, SM, 1:02.89; 5, Corey Stewart, GP, 1:02.95; 6, Lindsy Bartholomew, R, 1:02.84; 7, Melis Garner, 1:02.34; 8, Cassondra McDonnell, KU, 1:03.45. 800 METERS - 1, Noi Hilgendorf, SM, 2:23.94; Kendall Clark, A, 2:25.54; 3, Alison Klingel, GP, 2:26.68; 4, Rihana Patterson, A, 2:27.61; 5, Jenna Bilden, EP, 2:28.18; 6, Allison Nunnemaker, GP, 2:28.48; 7, Jenna Siebenlist, NM, 2:30.61; 8, Heidi Meador, 2:32.65. 1,500 METERS - 1, Melis Garner, R, 4:53.64; 2, Katie Leary, KU, 4:54.57; 3, Kendall Clark, A, 4:58.31; 4, Heidi Meador, SM, 5:01.08; 5, Allison Nunnemaker, GP, 5:03.21; 6, Briane Hwang, NM, 5:07.85; 7, Adrienne Cesena, KU, 5:12.86; 8, Kendel Nelson, C, 5:14.73. 4X100-METER RELAY - 1, North Medford (Jamie Meager, Rosana Medina, Brittany Hodges, Emily Dunn) 49.10; 2, South Medford (Whitney Grant, Heather Frigaard, Kaylyn Knutson, Amber Stevens) 50.24; 3, Grants Pass 50.77; 4, Roseburg 51.14; 5, Klamath Union 51.41; 6, Crater 51.47; Eagle Point DQ. 4X400-METER RELAY - 1, North Medford (Emily Dunn, Jenna Siebenlist, Rosana Medina, Brittany Hodges) 4:00.84; 2, South Medford (Heather Frigaard, Kelley Whitten, Noi Hilgendorf, Natash Wright) 4:05.77; 3, Roseburg 4:10.31; 4, Grants Pass 4:14.45; 5, Crater 4:15.25; 6, Eagle Point 4:17.45; 7, Klamath Union 4:18.65; 8, Ashland 4:34.04. 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