Huntly family article (OR)

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Huntly family article (OR)

Unread postby rainbowgirl28 » Tue Apr 11, 2006 9:14 am

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All in the (track) family
West Salem cousins follow on success of Olympic medalist aunt

BILL POEHLER
Statesman Journal
April 11, 2006

To most kids in Oregon, Joni Huntley is just a name.

A name that is printed so many times in dusty track and field record books that it takes on mythic stature.

To three kids on the track team at West Salem High School, she is Aunt Joni.

Ian Huntley and his twin first cousins, Chase and Kyley Sexton -- think Luke and Leia of Star Wars-- all have contributed significantly to the Titans' successes in multiple sports.

"They're just my nieces and nephews, but I'm real proud of them and it's really fun that they like track," Joni Huntley said. "I'm real proud of them, especially with Chase being so good in the discus."

Joni Huntley grew up in Sheridan, along with her siblings Jerry and Sandy. They were always participating in one sport or another.

Jerry won the state pole vault championship in 1973 and was high-point scorer of the meet. Sandy won the state long jump in 1976 and shot put in 1978. She also was a standout volleyball player for Sheridan's state championship teams and went on to play at Oregon State.

Joni also was a standout at volleyball in high school -- winning a state championship before the Oregon School Activities Association sanctioned the sport -- but track and field is where she made her name.

At Sheridan High School in the early Title IX days, Joni was a three-time state champion in the high jump and also won state championships in the 100-meter hurdles, 100-yard dash and the long jump.

In her senior year, 1974, she won three events at the state meet and scored all 38 of Sheridan's points as the school tied for the state title.

Joni still owns the state's all-time record in the high jump, 6-1/2 set in 1974.

After graduating from Sheridan, Joni won multiple NCAA championships in track at Oregon State and Long Beach State. She also won eight national championships -- four indoor and four outdoor.

Joni was among the best in the world in the high jump and twice competed in the ultimate arena: the Olympic Games.

In 1976 in Montreal she placed fifth in the high jump. After the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics she returned in 1984 in Los Angeles and jumped a personal best 6-5 1/2 to win the bronze medal.

She retired from competition in 1987. In the nearly two decades since, her records and accomplishments have grown to near-mythic stature.

"Anybody that wins a bronze medal in the Olympics and lives in Oregon ... that's pretty cool," said West Salem track coach Erich Herber.

Joni settled in Portland where she is a teacher. She has two daughters, Sheridan and Courtney.

Ian is Jerry Huntley's son. Chase and Kyley are Sandy's children.

Track the unifying sport

Track is where these three come together.

"I wouldn't say track is our big sport," Chase said. "We have a lot of different sports. I guess we're just really athletic and our whole family does a lot of different sports."

The three have found their own events in which to star.

Ian, a senior, specializes in the pole vault.

"I used to high jump, but I didn't really like it all that much," said Ian, "so I stuck with pole vault and really worked on that by getting different lessons from a guy named Paul Wilson (of the Vertical Vault Club)."

Ian was the district runner-up in the Valley League last year, but no-heighted at the state meet. He has a best of 13 feet.

His challenge, though, is that at 6-foot-2, he is tall for a pole vaulter.

"Ian is a good-sized pole vaulter, but he's managed," said Herber, husband of Sprague volleyball coach Katie Herber and first cousin of McKay softball coach Heidi Herber.

"He's (using) a new pole this year, a 180-pound pole, a little bit bigger pole and that should get him a little bit higher."

Ian also was a reserve on West Salem's Valley League champion basketball team. He's the only one of the three who doesn't participate in three sports.

"Ian has his music. He's a good guitar player," Joni said. "That's his third sport, I think."

Chase, a sophomore, also was a key reserve on the basketball team and started at running back for the football team. Football is his favorite sport, but track is where he shines the brightest.

As a freshman he won the Valley League championship in the discus and went on to place sixth at state. He had a season-best mark of 150-9, 10 feet farther than the next best freshman.

Such achievements usually are reserved for 300-pound juniors and seniors.

"I remember going to the state competition and all the guys were really big compared to me. I was a little freshman and they were all seniors," Chase said. "They all looked like linemen compared to me.

"I think it's all about technique instead of how big (and strong) you are. I know a lot of people are probably stronger than me that do discus. You just got to get the right flight on it."

A natural

Chase is the rare thrower who also competes in running races. He ran the second leg on West Salem's 400-meter relay team last year.

"Chase is so good. He's just such a natural," Joni said.

Kyley, also a sophomore, is the only one of this generation of athletes in the family to compete in the high jump.

She finished third in the Valley League last season with a best of 5-1. She also reached the state meet in the 400 relay.

But she never has received instruction in the high jump from Aunt Joni, who has taught the event since her retirement from competition.

"We kind of live in our own worlds," said Kyley, who also runs both relays. "She's in Portland; we're here. So it's kind of a distance type of thing."

Kyley, a reserve for West Salem's Valley League champion girls basketball team, stands out most in volleyball.

She led West Salem's volleyball team to its first trophy finish, placing sixth in the state last fall. Kyley, an outside hitter, was a first-team all-league, a second-team all-state tournament and a third-team all-state selection.

"She's definitely Sandy's daughter with the love of volleyball," Joni said.

There may soon be another high jumper in the generation.

Joni's daughter Courtney, a junior at Lincoln High School, has competed in the pole vault and in the past week showed a desire to try the high jump.

"The other day she goes, 'Mom do you think you could teach me how to high jump?' " Joni said. "I go, 'Oh sure,' "

"Maybe I'll have to have her try it. That daughter is such a natural athlete. She just wants to do things at her own pace and her own way."

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