Track teams entering heart of season

The month of May is championship season for track-and-field, and Head Coach Jonathan Kelly feels good about his team's prospects after two meets last week.

"The team is doing well," he said. "Many of the younger or more inexperienced athletes are making steady improvement, especially in the jumps and throws. We've also started to hone in on where we can be most competitive and score the most points at the district meet."

On Wednesday, April 26 the Outlaws traveled to Ridgeview for a meet with the Ravens along with Mountain View and Cascades Academy.

The meet was a "train through" for some of the varsity athletes, but gave all members of the team another competition and valuable experience.

A number of Outlaws came away victorious at Ridgeview, including Hayden Roth in the 800 meters (2:12.44), Corbin Fredland in the 300-meter hurdles, Taine Martin, high jump (5 feet, 6 inches) and Nic Dye, who set a lifetime best in the triple jump at 37 feet, 5.5 inches.

Fredland soared 18 feet, 7 inches in the long jump to take second place, Martin picked up second in the pole vault at 11 feet even. Freshman Charlie Moen continued his improvement in the javelin with a toss of 106 feet, 11 inches.

Ridgeview won the meet with 59.5 points, followed by Mountain View, 48.5; Sisters, 25; and Cascades Academy, 3.

For the girls, Mae Roth notched her first-ever win in the pole vault with a personal best of 9 feet, 2 inches. Kathryn Buller won the long jump (15 feet, 7 inches), Gracie Vohs the high jump (4 feet, 6 inches), and Lilly Sundstrom the 100 hurdles (17.65).

Brooke Duey and Ella Bartlett battled it out for the top two spots in the 800 meters, and Duey prevailed, 2:30.88 to 2:31.73.

Vohs stepped into the blocks for the 200 meters and set a personal best of 27.22 on her way to second place while freshman Kate Singleton set personal records in both the 100 (14.19) and the 200 (30.36). Singleton's classmate Teagen Welsh scored points with personal bests in the 100 hurdles (19.88) and the 300 hurdles (56.93).

Mountain View topped the girls' team race with 60 points, followed by Sisters (40), Ridgeview (30), and Cascades Academy (11).

Eight girls and one boy made the trek to Beaverton on Friday, April 28 for the prestigious Nike/Jesuit Twilight Relays that featured some of the top track-and-field athletes in the West.

With temperatures in the upper 80s, most of the Outlaws found the going tough in the running events. In fact, meet organizers moved the premier distance races until after sunset in order to give athletes a chance to run fast times - which they did. Twelve high school boys ran under 4:12 for the mile, with the winner crossing the line in 4:05.

For the Outlaws runners it was a meet to chock up to experience. Ella Bartlett completed the 3,000 in the heat of the day in 11:50.63, almost a minute slower than her best time, and the 4x400 relay team ran 30 seconds slower than normal (4:49.15).

Things went a bit better for the jumpers on the team. Pole vaulters Mae Roth (8 feet, 6 inches) and Taine Martin (11 feet, 6 inches) neared their lifetime bests, while Kathryn Buller cleared 4 feet, 8 inches, just two inches shy of her best.

"It's a neat opportunity for the kids to be in a big meet like Jesuit, but the kids had done four meets in the past week and a half and the heat was a real challenge," said Assistant Coach Dennis Dempsey.

Kelly added a meet to the team's schedule, on May 3 at Redmond, to allow some of the less experienced members of the team to get another competition in since the high-level Summit Invitational on Saturday allows only limited entries.

"District is less than three weeks away and our younger athletes needed another chance to compete since not all of them will be able to go to Summit or the Wally Ciochetti meet the following week," he said.

District is scheduled for Thursday and Friday, May 18-19 at Siuslaw High School in Florence.