The Capital Conference District Track meet was held Friday and Saturday at Molalla high School under mild weather conditions.
We had a good weekend as a team and qualified eight athletes for the state meet next weekend in Eugene. That’s probably more than we had pegged but along the way we still had a couple of heartbreaks which is typical of a District Track meet. Going in, we had different goals for our girls squad and the boys squad.
Girls Results
According to the forms charts, we had our girls pegged at fifth place. Although we closed the gap on the eventual fourth place team, we were caught by North Marion and ended up sixth overall.
Final team scores were: Cascade, 178; Sisters, 157.5; Stayton, 92; Molalla, 86.5; North Marion, 61.5; Sweet Home, 56.5; Central, 27.
Friday Results
The girls had a good first day in most areas. In the sprints we just missed out of the scoring (top eight places score).
In the 100M, Ashley Smith just missed the finals with a ninth place PR of 13.71a. Stephanie Kragness had a PR 14.11a and Becky Wilson was just ahead of her at 14.08a.
Becky came back to run a PR in the 200M at 29.11a but again we just missed out on the finals there too.
The story was the same for Kari McGuyre in the 400M where her 66.46a time was only good enough for ninth place.
In the 800M, Elissa McCartin was the unfortunate recipient of being caught in a slow but tactical race and her time of 2.46.50a was just out of the finals. Alisha Basham ran a good race and season PR at 2:52.33a.
Our only girl to move through the prelim round was Lisa Brocard in the high hurdles where her time of 17.76a was a season PR and was the fifth fastest in the prelims. Nicki Emmert had a non qualifying PR of 19.47a in her hurdle race.
In the 300M hurdles, Nicki Emmert (58.44a), Andrea Martin (59.00a), and Kim Lovik (62.01a) ran tough but were slightly off their season best and did not move on to the finals.
In the 3000M, we had hoped to pick up a point or two but it was a faster race than the paper showed and it was not to be.
Anne Helfrich was our top finisher at 12.38.00a with Megan Snow (13.20.90a) and Chika Suzuki (13,48.43a) behind her.
In the field, we got our first girl qualifier to state in two years when Nicole Burnside ended up second in the shot put at 35-03. It was great to see Nicole make it because she missed state twice her junior year by one place.
Rachel Gaskey was seventh in the shot at 32-02 and frosh Krystle Streight had a non scoring put of 28-01.5
In the long jump, Lisa Brocard and Ashley Smith both jumped well with both girls getting season bests. Ashley ended up third at 15-07 and Lisa was sixth at 15-02.75. Ashley’s mark puts her #4 on the sophomore list and Lisa’s mark puts her #8 on the sophomore list.
Finally, in the javelin, Nicole Burnside had a lifetime PR of 111-07 but it only got her fourth today. Her mark puts her #9 in school history. Frosh Michelle Fields had a big PR of 102-05 which earned her sixth place overall and puts her as the #2 frosh in school history. Rachel Gaskey had a best of the day at 81-09.
Saturday Results
The lack of depth on the track and the fact that our league is stacked with sprinters right now form other schools hampered our ability to get points on day two. However, we did have some good times on the track.
The foursome of Ashley Smith, Lisa Brocard, Becky Wilson, and Stephanie Kragness ran a season PR and had some great handoffs in the 4 X 100M relay to go fifth in 53.89a. With three of the four girls back, we should be OK in that event next year.
In the 1500M, our girls ran tough but again, the race was tougher than it showed on paper. Anne Helfrich was our top finisher at 5.42.42a for 10th with Chika Suzuki (5.57.22a) and Megan Snow (6.00.12a) behind her.
Lisa Brocard ended up sixth in the high hurdles with a time of 18.41a, a bit off her season best. However, Lisa just picked this event up this year and our next goal is to get to three stepping the hurdles which will help drop the time.
Our four girls in the 4 X 400M relay ran a great race to finish our met on a real positive note. Elissa McCartin (68.9), Alisha Basham (72.6), Stephanie Kragness (68,5), and Kari McGuyre (64.8) all had season PR splits. They ran a 4.34.76a time for a season PR and 5th place. These girls ran this despite not have one of fastest girls running today and makes their effort all that more impressive. And best of all. it was done by three freshmen and a sophomore.
In the field we qualified our second girl to state when Rachel Gaskey made it in the discus. Rachel barley made it into the finals, qualifying for the finals in the last and ninth spot. But on her next to the last throw, Rachel finally got her big throw, going 111-04 and moved in to second place and hung on from there.
It was a big time throw and step for Rachel and is a great culmination for all the work Rachel has put in the last two years. Her mark is also good enough for #9 on the all time SHHS list. Nicole Burnside ended up eighth at 93-00 and frosh Krystle Streight finished just behind at 88-04.
In the triple jump, Ashley Smith and Lisa Brocard battled with their steps a bit and ended up fifth and sixth. Lisa went 31-00.5 for fifth place and Ashley was sixth at 30-04.
Finally, in the high jump, Kari McGuyre placed when she wasn’t supposed to according to the form charts. Kari went 4-06 with no misses and some the girls in front of her faltered and cost them. Kari ended up tied for sixth overall.
Boys Results
Coming in, we had our boys pegged at third on paper with a distant shot at second on a good day and some teams right behind us.
We didn’t have any one or two big guns but instead had people in every event capable of scoring and thatís what they did. This is the first time in several years that we had a scorer in every event and the depth really paid off. The guys, as a whole, were on and scored 17 more points than we had them pegged at.
Along with some faltering from the teams in the front, our guys took second and I almost feel that if the meet had gone one more day we would have caught the first place team. We really got whipped by Cascade up at their place and to come in and catch a quality team like that is a credit to our guys effort.
Final team scores were: Molalla, 140; Sweet Home, 109; Cascade, 99; North Marion, 94; Central, 77; Sisters, 69.5; Stayton, 68.5.
Friday Results
On the track, we really had a good day one, getting every one through to the finals who were supposed to according to the form charts.
In the 100M, Ricky Stock had a great run to make finals with an 11.68a. Mike Severns (12.17a) just missed out on the finals, and Kellen Petersen ran 12.48a.
In the 200M, Ricky Stock ran a big race to get to finals when the form charts said he wouldn’t Ricky ran 23.94a with Mauro Angulo right behind him at 24.01a, putting both guys in the finals.
Mauro’s time puts him 10 on the junior list. This was a boost to us because we were only expecting one point in the 200.
Mauro also made finals in the 400M, running a season PR of 54.15a. This time puts him 10th on the junior list for this event as well. Brett Badgett had a PR in the 400M as well at 58.37a.
In the 800M, both our guys moved on with Ryan Garrett (2.07.27a) and Chris Burford (2.09.78a) moving on.
In the hurdles, Jeremy Fisher moved on in the highs with a time of 18.45a.
In the 300M hurdles, we moved all three of our guys to the finals, with Jared leading the way at 42.28a.
Casey Baarson (44.82a) and Jeremy Fisher (45.36a) both had PRs in moving to the finals.
In the only finals race of the day, John Lovik rolled the dice and came up huge.
John was ranked second coming in but the field was really bunched in terms of times. The race really could have gone to any of the runners. Favorite David Palisol of Molalla took and early lead but faded after three laps.
Hector Martinez of Cascade took the lead and John followed the rest of the way. There was a lot of bumping and elbowing going on but John ran smart and kept out of trouble. Coming off the last corner, Martinez had the lead but John came on with a good kick. John caught Hector at the line, winning the race by less than a second and moving on to state as the district champion.
In the field, we had a couple of stumbles where we were hoping for something different. In the discus, Matt Slauson struggled a bit and was off his season best of 140 with a best today of 126-01. It was good enough for fifth place but Matt had his sights set on state in this event. Brad Seiber popped a PR 199-03 throw for a sixth place finish. Robert Rice finished out of the placings at 82-01.
In the pole vault, we had our second heartbreak when only one of our two vaulters got through to state.
We knew this was perhaps the toughest event at districts on the guys side but knew both Keegan and Robert were capable of winning this event.
Five vaulters cleared 13-00 with both Robert and Keegan still in. But at 13-04, every vaulter missed except the last one who finally cleared it on his final attempt after everyone had gone out.
That meant the places came down to misses and that put Keegan in second and a trip to state and Robert in third. It is unfortunate that the auto mark (13-08) for state is so high right now because Robert is a better vaulter than half the field that qualified and has beaten many of them in other meets this year.
Still, Robert improved by two feet this year and has another year to come back and do it right.
Jared Allen provided a huge gain in points when he went third in the high jump. Based on entry marks, Jared could maybe get eighth place. Jared negotiated a PR height of 5-09 with no misses and nearly had 5-11.
That proved huge when places were figured. Some of the favorites in front of Jared faltered and had misses at lower heights or did not jumped well and when all was done we were up six points in this event.
In the long jump, the tandem of Ricky Stock and Randy Nicholson jumped well and each had a PR on the day.
Neither guy was scheduled to score and when the dust had settled, Ricky ended up in sixth with a best of 19-02.5 and Randy was right behind in seventh at 18-08.5.
Thanks to them, we walked away from the event with five more points we were not scheduled to get.
Saturday Results
We opened on the track with the short relay and just as the girls did, we ran a season PR and ended up fifth. The foursome of Mike Severns, Mauro Angulo, Casey Baarson, and Ricky Stock finished with a time of 46.24a.
In the 1500M, John Lovik and Aaron Lovik looked a bit tired still from the previous day’s race. Both ran just short of their season bests and John ended up 8th at 4.29.75a and Aaron 14th at 5.02.23a.
In the sprints, Ricky, along with the entire rest of the field, was slower in the finals than the prelims. Ricky ended up seventh overall at 12.16a.
In the 400M, Mauro was hampered by some monster blisters and peeled skin on his feet and ran seventh at 54.62a.
In the 200M, the story for the field was similar to the 100M with all the competitors off from the prelims. Ricky ran another good race and finished fifth in 24.40a and Mauro was eighth at 24.97a.
In the 800M, Ryan Garrett became our third male state qualifier when he finished second behind Matt Wood of Molalla.
Ryan ran a smart race and his time of 2.04.34a is a frosh class record for Sweet Home. Chris Burford ran well and came through in fifth place with a time of 2.09.81a. Chris has been such a surprise for us with his speed and running this year and has really added to the depth of our team.
In the high hurdles, frosh Jeremy Fisher ran a time (18.49a) nearly identical to his prelims (18.45a) and it was good enough for fifth place overall. Some of the favorites ahead of Jeremy faltered and one was disqualified.
Jeremy showed a lot of maturity and has helped fill an open event for us in the high hurdles this year.
The intermediate hurdles figured all along to be a big scoring event for us and the threesome of Jared Allen, Casey Baarson, and Jeremy Fisher came through.
Jared had a great lane assignment in lane three and coming off the corner made a move to surge into second place.
His last three hurdles were good and his final time of 41.82a was good for second place and a trip to the state meet. Casey Baarson ran a near season PR of 44.96a and was fifth with Jeremy seventh at 45.84a.
Casey is a first year hurdler and has really stepped up and become a force in the league. With another year of technique work, Casey could be fighting for one of the spots to state next year.
In the last running event, the 4 X 400M team of Ryan Garrett, Casey Baarson, Chris Burford and Jared Allen ran a near season PR of 3.42.82a to place 5ht there. Jared had a season PR split of 53.4 which is impressive given the hurdle race just before this event.
In the field, we had two state qualifiers. Matt Slauson came back in the shot put to earn a trip to state. Matt threw a near PR of 46-10 to take second to Spencer Little of Central.
That’s a big step for Matt and it was great to see him come back strong after the previous day’s heartbreak. Rob martin finished out of the money in 14th with a best put of 37-07 and Brad Seiber struggled with scratches and ended up without a legal mark.
In the triple jump, Randy Nicholson came up big with a foot and a half PR at 40-02 and ended up winning the event by nearly two feet. Randy had a better jump on his first jump but stepped back as he exited the pit and lost his mark. Randy’s mark is #9 on the all time school list. Kellen Peterson hit 36-03 and ended up eighth. This is impressive because it is only Kellen’s third attempt at the triple jump.
Mike Severns was just out of the placing with a best on the day of 35-08.5. This event proved big for the team because last year, we had no one entered in this at the district meet.
In the javelin, our throwers finished just out of the places. Mike Severns led the crew with a best of 129-06 for 11th place. Malcolm Brown (123-08) was 13th and Rob Martin (122-09) was 14th overall.
As coaches, we want to congratulate this group of guys. They really came together as a team and came from back in the pack to finish second this year. That is a huge improvement form a year ago and overall, we are a young team.
The state meet is set for Friday May 24 and Saturday, May 25 at Hayward Field in Eugene. Cost is $6 for adults and $4 for students. We are taking a pretty big contingent with eight athletes but in no event are we near the top. We’ll go down and compete hard with our goal to make the finals and then see what happens from there.