Track teams get underway at Marist

Last updated 3/20/2007 at Noon

The competitive track season got underway on a positive note for the Sisters Outlaws at the Marist Icebreaker Invitational held March 15 in Eugene.

"I was very pleased with the way the kids competed, especially for the very first meet of the season," said head coach Bob Johnson.

The girls won the four-way meet with 95.5 points against the host Spartans (77), Junction City (47.5) and Sweet Home (41), while the boys came up second to Marist, 79-90. Sweet Home (51) edged Junction City (48) for third.

Highlights of the boys' meet included a very fast first meet time of 44.5 by the 400-meter relay of Travis Myrick, Cory McCaffery, Carroll Gryder and Eli Callan. Stefan Redfield battled to second place in the 1,500 and came back for the victory in the 800 in 2:07.0, and McCaffery got nipped by a couple of inches in the long jump (20 feet 2.5 inches) but charged back for an electrifying win in the 200 over Bryan Harper of Junction City.

Eli Callan matched McCaffery's winning ways, claiming first in the 300 intermediate hurdles (42.2), and Lucas Glick edged his teammate Benton Urquhart in the 3,000 meter in 9:57. McCaffery completed the running events by pulling his team from 25 meters down in the anchor of the 1,600-meter relay to win the event in 3:36.

In the field, Jeff Sampson posted second place finishes in both the shot (42 feet 8 inches) and the discus (128 feet).

On the girls' side, Johnson felt a real bright spot was seeing McKenzie Williams match her personal best of 62.4 in the 400 meter for the win.

"It's great when kids start a new season at the point of their best from the previous season," he said.

Tara Hermens hurled a career best in the javelin (104 feet) to win, and other winners included Emi Conrads in the 800 (2:34.3), Karah Herr in the 300 hurdles (52.5), Susan Ruettgers in the 100 hurdles (18.4), Lani Ulmer pole vault (8 feet) and Kelsey Neilson in the high jump (4 feet 10 inches). Conrads also contributed a second place in the 1,500 (5:29.6) as did Herr in the 800 (2:35.6).

"The attitude, focus and organization of the team in its first meet was incredible," said Johnson. "I can see that these kids know how to compete and be a class act. We had a lot of fun and all of the coaches are quite pleased."

The Outlaws will not compete again until after spring break when they return to action at the 14-team Sisters Rotary Invitational scheduled for Saturday, April 7. Johnson believes that it will be one of the finest quality fields to come together in Central Oregon in 2007.

"If people want to see a fine track meet, they don't want to miss the Rotary meet," he said.