WORDEN — It was quite the year of athletics for the Huntley Project girls.
The Red Devils had pair of third-place finishes in cross country and basketball, a state championship in volleyball back in November, Gretchen Donally's wrestling crown, then capped the year with a state track and field title in Laurel this past weekend, their first since the Jennifer Walter era of 2007.
“It's been a lot of fun. It's great to see all the sports escalating their level and winning a whole bunch of big trophies. It's cool to see everybody get to do it," Huntley Project's Brynn Wandle said.
Sometimes championships can come on the backs of one or two athletes having a monster weekend. This wasn’t the case for Project. The Red Devils had multiple athletes find their way to the podium over the weekend, and by the time the 1,600-meter relay came around the title was already in the bag.
“It was just really relieving to know that we didn't have to go out and win it to get the team trophy. We could go out and relax and do our best and everything would be good," Project sophomore Avery Gerdes said.
“It just helped you relax and it took a huge weight off of all of our shoulders that no matter what we do we have it in the bag," junior Maddison Akins said.
Project entered Saturday knowing they’d need to amass as many points as possible to hold off Missoula Loyola. It was certainly a good omen then when Wandle broke the state pole vault record in the morning to set the tone for a championship performance.
“I feel like it brought a lot of adrenaline and a lot more excitement to the team. I felt like it just motivated us for the rest of the day," Wandle said.
“It boosted everyone's spirits. It makes everyone think that we got this, we can do this. If she can do it, let's go do it, too," Akins said.
That’s the fifth State B girls track title for Project, all of which have come since 2004.
