Crater meet produces top track marks

The long trip to Eagle Point for the annual Crater Rotary Classic Track and Field Invitational was worth it for the Sisters boys and girls teams as a number of individuals recorded season’s bests in the highly competitive meet.

Sisters joined a total of 22 3A and 4A teams for the meet that produced some of the state’s best marks of the year.

Jenny Boswell came up with the only first-place medal for the Outlaws, in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles (47.05), and she snagged second in the 100-meter hurdles (16.15), but a number of her teammates took advantage of the strong competition to improve on their bests.

“Jenny Boswell is the type of athlete who spans the 3A-4A ranks,” said Ross Kennedy. “We have come to expect the best of our athletes and she certainly exemplifies that every meet,” he said.

Molly Van Acker leaped 33-feet-5.5 inches to claim second place in the triple jump, six inches under her all time best from last year.

“That’s a big improvement on the season for Molly,” said jumps coach Alex Cretsinger. “Its a good breakthrough to have at mid-season.”

Jena Rickards ran to her best time of the year in the 1,500 meters (5:35) and Kaitlin McAlister got closer to her all time best in the 3,000 (12:04.3) MacKenzie Williams overcame shinsplit pain to run 1:04.8 in the 400 meters and Iris Powell (2:33.8) and Audrey Tehan (2:40) ran their best times of the year in the 800.

In the high jump, Kelsey Neilson tied for eighth place with a mark of 4-feet-10-inches. Tara Hermens chucked her spear 78-plus feet and had two other throws over 90 feet in the javelin. The girls finished ninth among 23 teams and third among the 3A teams.

On the boys side jumpers did all the scoring, but many runners turned in best times for the season.

Daniel Holloman had the best series of jumps of his career in the broad jump with four marks over 20 feet and finished fifth with a mark of 20 feet 7.25 inches. He finished second in the high jump at six feet two inches.

Morgan Mansker cleared 13 feet to finish third in the pole vault and is poised to take on greater heights in coming weeks as he switches to a longer, stiffer pole, according to his coach, Jim Anderson.

Stefan Redfield ran a pair of personal bests in the middle distances races. He ran 4:31.8 for the 1,500 and came back with a two-second best in the 800 at 2:09.09.

Jeff O’Brien led the way in the 3,000 meters for Sisters, finishing in 10:17. Eli Callan continued his improvement in the 300 hurdles, crossing the line in a solid 45.36 and freshman Cory McCaffrey turned in a respectable 24.42 in the 200 meters.