Tatum wins gold at state tourney

Alexandra Tatum brought home the gold at the 4A State Track and Field Championship at Dona Larson Park in Boise over the weekend.

The Mountain Home sophomore was the big point-getter for Mountain Home. Her triple jump of 37 feet, three inches was good enough to win the event on Friday, which also set a new Mountain Home High School record.

On Saturday, she had a long jump of 16 feet, 11.75 inches for a second place in that event. Saturday also saw her finish seventh in the finals of the 100-meter dash.

She also anchored the 4 x 100 meter relay team, which included Whitney Sandberg, Yuridia Ayala and Keyondra White, which finished eighth in state.

Overall, Mountain Home tied for 12th in the 4A girls competition with 21 points. Sable Lohmeier also competed in both the shot put and discus throw but failed to place, finishing ninth in the shot put and 10th in the discus throw.

Rachel Johnson also qualified for state in the high jump but didn't place.

Mountain Home finished 18th in the 4A boys competition with seven points. Dallin Dearing had a sixth-place finish in the discus throw. He also competed in the shot put. Eric Reetz finished sixth in the 300-meter hurdles, and Nolan Pasqualetti placed eighth in the high jump.

Mountain Home track coach Rich Urquidi was pleased with the efforts of the Mountain Home athletes at the state finals.

"Alexandra had a great meet," the coach said. "Anytime you can win a state championship is awesome, but the way she did it truly shows the competitor she is -- to overcome the weather and starting off with a scratch, then coming back with that monster jump.

"All the coaches were talking about how she put all three different phases of that jump together," the coach added. "It was a great way to top off a great year. I think all the returning athletes are looking forward to next year.

Having the team's seniors earn medals for three or four years of hard work is always special, Urquidi added.

"We had a couple of senior girls that fell short of a medal, which is always hard," he added. "It really shows how important handoffs are in relays at this level. It is a difference of being in the medals or not. They both (Whitney Sandberg and Yuridia Ayala) worked so hard for us for the past four years. Both will be missed."