Scott Swanson
Of The New Era
The weather was wicked for much of the state 3A and 4A state championships Friday and Saturday at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field, but it was still a great track meet.
The Marist girls 4×400 relay team beat Henley in a photo finish to take the girls team title with 68 points to Henley’s 64. Cascade was fourth, with 46 points, Sisters was eighth, while Sweet Home tied with Molalla and Mcloughlin for 31st place with three points, all scored by Hannah Swanson in the 100 hurdles.
In the boys competition, Wilsonville took the team title with 66 points, with Molalla second at 51 points. Sisters and Stayton tied at 12th with 22 points.
But for the six Huskies who ended up qualifying, it was a chance to test themselves against the best.
The qualifiers were Ole Bond, a late addition to the boys 100, Alex Brown in the boys javelin, Jess Keys in the boys high jump, Cassandra Schumacher in girls 3000, Hannah Swanson in the 100 hurdles and Brandon Weist in the triple jump.
Bond, who was added to the field in the 100 on May 22, after Molalla’s Hallister Stephenson decided to focus on the 200 and 400 at state, finished 11th in the prelims Friday, out of a field of 17, running 11.87.
Bond said he didn’t run his best, but said the experience was worth it. His PR is an 11.68 set at this year’s districts.
“It’s been a really great way to end my senior year,” he said. “It wasn’t really that different than other races. If I had focused on the people in the stands, maybe, but I just focused on the race.”
Snow said Bond achieved one goal, beating Drew Church of Stayton, who had qualified ahead of him at districts. Bond finished 11th after being seeded 17th.
Brown finished 10th in the javelin, throwing 161-7, well below his season best of 172-06, set several weeks ago. Brown missed the finals by 10 inches, throwing 157-7 and 161-7 before scratching.
“A lot more was on the line in this meet,” Brown said. “I had to leave it all here.
Snow noted that Brown would have finished well into the medals had he gotten close to his PR.
“His nerves got to him or semething,” the coach said. “He was disappointed. He was looking for better than that.”
Keys, who beat Weist in the high jump at districts to qualify for state, had a tough day in wet and windy weather Friday afternoon. He and five other competitors failed to clear the opening height of 5-8, though the other 12 did and eventually Matt Frosland of Marist won the event with a leap of 6-0. Martin Martinez of Cascade, the other Capital Conference entrant, met the same fate.
Keys said treacherous footing made it difficult to compete.
“I was scared of falling,” he said after his flight had all failed to clear the bar and had left the field. Officials then took a broom and scraper and swept water away from the take-off area.
“It was way too slippery,” said Keys, a junior. “I was just laughing out there, having a jolly good time. Martin felt the same way.”
Snow said all the high jumpers, both 3A and 4A, had problems.
“They never turned the mats around,” he said of the jump area. “They left them so the kids had to jump into the wind. The 4A was won at 6-4, the 3A at 6-0. It was lousy conditions for even the best of the jumpers.”
In the girls 3000, Schumacher battled some jitters but managed to place 11th in a field of 16 won by freshman Taylor Wallace of Henley in 10:07.03. Schumacher ran 11:26.13, almost 20 seconds off her personal-best time of 11:08.09 set the previous weekend in the Capitol Conference district race. Lauren Loutzenhiser of Molalla was the conference’s top placer in the event at state, taking eighth in 10:59.94.
Schumacher, who ran in the state cross-country meet in November, said this race was a “lot different” with the large crowd and the general atmosphere at Hayward Field.
She said her big performance was the previous week, when she surprised prognosticators by taking second in the district.
“I had a really, really big PR,” she said of the district race. “I was ranked number four (going into the race) and I got to number two.”
She noted that her time at the state meet was her third best of the year. She said she’s got plans for 2007.
“I want to place at state next year in the 3000 and 1500,” she said.
Snow said he thought Schumacher had a good day, considering the pressures of running at state and the weather conditions.
“Cassandra said she never quite felt comfortable,” he said. “Her legs just didn’t respond. It was still her third-fastest time.”
Swanson ended her high school career with a sixth-place finish in the 100 hurdles, an event won for the second year in a row by Sisters’ Jenny Boswell, who ran 15.29. Swanson finished in 16.98, after clipping the last hurdle, dropping her from third or fourth to sixth, Snow said.
“Hannah has done well in the last four weeks of the season,” said sprints coach Aaron Cloud. “On Friday you could see it.”
Weist, a junior as are Keys and Schumacher, finished 12th in the triple jump, leaping 40-10, a P-R by approximately 10 inches over his second-place finish at districts.
“Brandon went 40-6, 40-10 and was only four or five inches short of getting to the finals,” Snow said.
“Our goal for all the kids was just to go out there and PR and see what happens. Brandon was good in three events this year (the high jump, long jump and triple jump). He just missed the finals.”