Mason Lopez finished 14th in a field of 25 competitors Friday and Saturday, March 31 and April 1, at the Summit Decathlon/Heptathlon hosted by Summit High School.
Lopez, a senior competing in his first decathlon, which includes 10 events representing the gamut of track and field, was second overall in his specialty, the javelin, throwing 154-2¾, well off his season-best of 166-7, posted the week before at Central Linn.
He finished with 3,743 points, which are calculated based on how well a competitor performs in each of the 10 events.
Lopez was 18th in the 100 (12.62), 15th in the 400 (59.79), 25th in the 1500 (6:06.85), 17th in the 110 high hurdles (20.70), 18th in the shot (30-2½), 15th in the discus (70-8), 15th in the high jump (4-9¾, 18th in the pole vault (8-0) and 22nd in the long jump (16-3¾).
Coach Nathan Whitfield said the conditions were less than ideal: “cold, snowy, windy and miserable.”
Temperatures were in the 30-degree range, he said.
Whitfield said Lopez “did really well,” given the conditions and the fact that it was his first-ever high school competition in the 1500, shot, discus, and all three jumps.
Senior Jeremiah Schwartz of Ridgeview was first among the boys with a score of 5,533 points.
Philomath’s Micah Matthews, who looks to be one of the Oregon West Conference’s top performers in the jumps, was second, with 5,361 points.
On the girls side, in the seven-event heptathlon, junior Kensey Gault of Ridgeview was the top finisher, with 3,684 points, in a field of 16 competitors.
Ivakai Heiges of Crook County was the only 4A competitor, finishing fourth with 2,976.
Sweet Home’s full team will be back in action this Saturday, April 8, at the Philomath Invite, which will feature all of the Oregon West Conference schools, plus others.
“We’ll see where we’re stacking up so far,” Whitfield said.