Outlaws tracksters ready for District

The Outlaws faced what amounted to a preview of the state meet in their last competition before District at the Wally Ciochetti Twilight Invitational held at Cottage Grove High School Friday, May 9.

Sisters clashed with powerhouse athletes from Henley, North Bend, Phoenix and Marist, along with eight other 4A teams in a meet that included many athletes who will face off again at the state meet.

"The field of athletes was incredible," said head coach Bob Johnson. "Many of the boys and girls competing at this meet will be state champions two weeks from now."

The Outlaws relay teams, ranked among the best in 4A for both boys and girls, got a good look at their competition right from the opening event. The boys 400-meter relay team of Max Gruettner, Hayden Stein, Andy Stahn and Cory McCaffrey has the fourth-best 4A time this season, but had to substitute Levi Goins in McCaffrey's place due to a slight injury that kept McCaffrey from the meet.

Even so, the team went head-to-head with the top-ranked squad from North Valley, which took top honors by about a second over the Outlaws, who finished fourth in 45.40.

"We certainly look forward to having Cory back, but it was great to see the boys do so well, even without him," he said.

The girls team of Courtney Satko, Cindy Steele, Brandi Palmer and McKenzie Williams ranked sixth among 4A teams, met four of the five teams with faster times and held their own, finishing fourth in 51.35. Hidden Valley won in 50.9 seconds.

"We've worked on hand-offs and these girls are really putting it together," said Johnson.

Benton Urquhart was the top Outlaws finisher in a loaded 1,500-meter field, placing sixth in 4:19.32. Two events later, Max Gruettner finished second in the 400 meters in 51.97, behind Elliot Jantzer of Phoenix, who now owns the second best 4A time in the 400 (49.91) to go along with his 4A bests in the 800 (1:54.5), the 1,500 (4:00) and the 3,000 (8:37.6). Williams continued her strong senior campaign, placing fourth in the 400 at 1:01.35.

The boys 800 meters featured three finishers under two minutes, which pulled Jared Henderson (2:02.8), Drew Harrison (2:03.75) and Andrew Legg (2:05.58) to lifetime bests. The same was true for freshman Hayley Palmer who dropped her best to 2:33.67.

Henley's Taylor Wallace zipped to a state best of 2:12.26 in the race.

In the boys 3,000 meters, sophomore Parker Bennett improved by nearly 10 full seconds to place seventh in 9:19.06, the second-best time ever by a Sisters athlete. Courtney Satko placed third in the 200 (27.39) and teamed with Williams, Brandi Palmer and Jessica Head to establish a season best in the 1,600-meter relay of 4:09.47 to place second behind the speedy Henley Hornet team that finished in 4:00.76.

Lani Ulmer picked up a third place in the pole vault, tying her best at nine feet even, and Kelsey Neilson finished fourth in the triple jump at 33-feet-1-inch, which was only 1.5 inches out of second place. The two-day district meet is scheduled for Thursday, May 15 and Saturday May 17 at Marist High School in Eugene.

The top two finishers in each event, along with any athletes meeting qualifying marks, will move on to the OSAA State Championships the following week at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus, also in Eugene.

"We plan to be our best at district and walk away proud of our performances," said Johnson.