Outlaws track athletes enjoy benefit of good valley weather

A dazzling spring day in Stayton helped bring out yet another round of strong performances for the Outlaws track teams on Tuesday, April 24.

Sisters’ girls won all the running events through the 800 meters in the three-way meet against Stayton and North Marion and were second in the 1,500 and 3,000.

Jenny Boswell sat out the hurdles races, but showed her versatility in winning the 100 (13.27) and the 800 (2:34.6). Freshman Kirsti Burck won the 200 (28.47) for her first varsity victory and Mackenzie Williams dropped her season’s best time in the 400 down to 1:03.65.

Williams, Boswell, and Burck teamed with Tiffany Martin to win the 1,600- meter relay as well in the team’s best time of the year at 4:18.15. Kelsey Neilson and Cali Ulmer both cleared 4-feet-10 inches to go 1-2 in the high jump; Aubrey Cretsinger had a huge personal best to win the triple jump in 31-feet-8-inches; and Cammy Jacobson (eight feet) and Kirsti Burck (7-feet-6-inches) to take the top two spots in the pole vault.

Ryanne Conrads picked up a pair of second places in the distance races, including a personal best of 5:20.64 in the 1,500. Erin Kanzig and Courtney Johnson also scored in both the 1,500 and the 3,000.

Tani Chick ran third in the 800 in her best time of the year at 2:43.3 and Tara Hermens led the throwers with third places in the discus (91-feet-5-inches) and javelin (87-feet-1-inch).

Cammy Jacobson picked up third as well in the shot put with a toss of 28 feet even.

The boys team picked up a lot of wins and second place finishes in the meet. Jeff Sampson won both the shot put (43-feet-2-inches) and the discus (122 feet) with personal bests.

Ben Mansker topped the pole vault field, clearing 11-feet-6-inches, just ahead of teammates Dom DeLeone and Nick Head who tied for third at 10 feet. Ande Phillips (19 feet), Eli Callan (18-feet-3-inches) and Travis Myrick (18 feet) swept the top three spots in the long jump and Nick Purvis got the blue ribbon in the triple jump by over a foot with a leap of 37-feet-6.5-inches.

Stefan Redfield came back from a tough 1,500, where he was second in 4:28, to win the 800 meters in dramatic fashion over Stayton’s Kris Luna in a personal best time of 2:04.13. Andrew Legg was third in 2:10.83.

The 400 relay comprised of Travis Myrick, Cory McCafferey, Nick Purvis, and Kelly Crowther won in 44.8 to start the meet, and Crowther came through later with Andy Stahn, Slater Smith, and Eli Callan to win the 1,600 relay (3:43) to conclude the meet. Stahn scored a pair of third places in the 200 (24.52) and the 400 (56.56), as did Eli Callan in the two hurdles races, as he came up against the top two hurdlers in the Capital Conference, Jake Noriega of Stayton and Kyle King of North Marion.

On Saturday, April 29, a handful of Sisters boys got to test their mettle against some of Oregon’s best 3A and 2A athletes at Saturday’s Meet of Champions held at Willamette University in Salem.

The 400-meter relay team of McCaffery, Purvis, Crowther and Myrick may have surprised even themselves with a second-place finish in 44.44 behind 2A Regis that has two sub-11 second hundred meter runners. McCaffery later finished sixth in the open 100 (11.34) and thirteenth in the 400 (53.05) behind Crowther who was 11th in 52.97. Stefan Redfield finished eighth in the 800 (2:04.23) and Benton Urquhart, a freshman, finished 10th in the 3,000, lowering his time by thirteen seconds to 9:33.0.

“It was a good experience for them to go to a highly competitive meet,” said sprint coach Sally Taylor-Pillar. “We will definitely be looking to qualify and bring more kids next year.”