Ken Roberts
Sports Writer
The Capital Conference district track meet went true to form as the two schools that were expected to win did so easily, Cascade by a huge margin in the girls competition and Molalla by 35 points on the boys side.
In the face of a strong headwind on the second day, the rest of the schools then scrambled for second place. By the narrowest of margins, the Huskies ended up fifth in the boys race, but only nine and a half points behind second place Stayton. Injuries to Seth Graves and Skyler Brown ended up being difference makers. Graves was unable to pick up points in the discus and scored lower in the javelin while Skyler Brown pulled up in his first race, the high hurdles, in Friday’s preliminaries.
The girls, on the other hand, picked up a few points here and there to finish in third place less than 10 points in back of Sisters. As expected, they picked up most of their points in the field events.
“It was the most normal day that I’ve ever seen for a district meet,” said Snow, who had charted out the form based on marks going into the meet. “Cascade was the biggest variation in the boys by just seven points.”
Nothing unexpected happened either good or bad. The seven Husky athletes who will move on to the state meet were all expected to do so. Perhaps the only unexpected occurrence happened in the boys 3000 meters with John Lovik, who had set a personal record nearly 10 seconds under the automatic qualifying time just the week before. The race was run on Friday, when the wind wasn’t as much of a factor. Lovik, who was expected to take third, fell just three seconds short, coming in about 10 seconds over his best time.
The Huskies had four athletes seeded first going into the meet and three came away as champions. Mike Severns, throwing directly into the headwind, still managed a first place mark of 171-4. Based on district marks, Severns will be rated fourth, but that is deceiving because his best throw is only a few feet in back of the best throw in the state.
“You can’t worry about anything but what you can control,” said Severns of the wind conditions. “This is my last year, and I’m going to have fun and give it everything I’ve got. I plan on winning though.”
Like Severns, Rachel Gaskey will also head back to state, her third straight appearance, after winning the discus with a personal best of 119-8. She will be accompanied in that event by Krystle Streight, who finished second with a throw of 109 feet.
“I’ve been working all year on my spin and staying low,” said Gaskey, whose best meets have all been in recent weeks. “It was really windy so I worked on throwing it even lower.”
Gaskey felt more relaxed last year than her sophomore year and feels it will be even betterthis year. She is currently ranked second in the state but knows that other girls have thrown a few feet farther than she has throughout the year. Streight, ranked eighth, will be counting on Gaskey for advice.
“If I hit my PR, it will move me toward fourth,” said Streight, just a junior, who has the luxury of just watching and relaxing on Friday before competing on Saturday.
In his only season of track, Ricky Howe enters the state competition with high aspirations after winning the triple jump with his best mark of the year, 42-9, and taking second in the 400 meters, having set his personal best of 51.54 in Friday’s preliminaries when he didn’t have to conquer the wind. His district marks put him in the middle of the state pack in both events.
“I wish I would have started track earlier,” said Howe, who is now trying to overcome a back injury in an unrelated accident on Monday. “I think I can run faster and still aim to jump farther. My main goal is to take second in the triple.”
The triple jumpers all had great days as they were the main ones who benefited from the wind. All six jumpers set personal bests and Lisa Brocard shattered her own school record by nine inches at 35-8, her second jump of the competition. Unfortunately, Kelsey Kahle of North Marion, who had beat out Brocard the previous day in the long jump, rose to the occasion with a jump over 36 feet right after that.
“You can almost feel it when the wind is helping you,” said Brocard, who wasn’t sure just how much help it was. “I just felt I had a good day too. You can’t really tell.”
Brocard, who just missed going to state last year when she took third in four events, feels ready to break 17 feet in the long jump and 36 feet in the triple.
“I’m pretty excited; it’s my time,” Brocard emphasized. “I just have higher standards. If I break 17 feet, I’ll be in the top two probably. I’ll work on my form in the triple. If I get that step up, then I can easily go 36.”
Likewise, pole vaulter Mike Barnes has a particular mark in mind, 13 feet, a mark he has cleared before. If he can reach that, he too could gain points in the state meet. Though he took second in the meet when he was ranked first, he still was happy he reached one of his year’s goals.
“I was a little disappointed in my performance,” said Barnes, who vaulted 12-8, “but I got through to state and that’s where I can improve.”
Sophomore Hannah Swanson will be the youngest Husky going to state after upsetting Jenny Boswell of Sisters to take second place in the high hurdles with a time of 16.74, just a second and a half behind her personal best despite running directly into the wind. With three hurdles to go, Swanson used a flawless technical performance to easily pull away from Boswell.
“She’s the one who kicked me in our last race and caused me to have to get stitches,” said Swanson of Boswell, whom she lost to earlier in the year. “I wanted to make her feel some pain this time.”
Coach Snow thinks every Husky has the possibility to get into the finals and earn points. The two day meet begins on Friday at 10:30 at the University of Oregon, though none of the Husky athletes will be competing until slightly after one o’clock. Saturday’s events will begin at 10 A.M.
Howe and Swanson will run qualifying heats on Friday. For the field events, Lisa Brocard willcompete in the long jump on Friday and both she and Howe will compete in the triple jump on Saturday. The girls discus, the boys javelin, and the boys pole vault will all be on Saturday.