Track teams continue winning ways

The Outlaws track teams continued their winning ways with two meet victories apiece, including a soaking four-way meet at Marist on Thursday and the Elmira Relays on Saturday.

In Thursday's contest against 1A McKenzie, along with Sky-Em foes Marist and Elmira, it was the Outlaws' depth that provided the victory. Team scores weren't sent out, in part due to the terrible weather, according to Johnson.

Lee Elder dominated the sprints, winning the 400 (53.6) and the 200 (24.4) and anchoring the winning 4x400 meter relay team that included Levi Rowe, Jared Henderson, and Jeff Wilder. The team was timed in 3:36.1.

Wilder and Rowe had big days as well. Wilder won the 300 intermediate hurdles in 44.4 and placed a close second in the 110 high hurdles (17.5). Rowe won the long jump by three inches (19 feet 7 inches) and placed second in the triple jump (38 feet 7 inches).

Parker Bennett ran a lifetime best of 9:23 in the 3,000, lapping the field in the process, and his distance teammates scored a lot of points in the 1,500 and the 800 as well. Benton Urquhart ran a fine time in the 1,500 meters (4:19.1) in finishing second. He was followed by Mike Calavan (4:26) and Taylor Steele (4:38).

In the 800 meters, Jared Henderson ran a season best for second place (2:03.0), with Urquhart (2:07.5), and Mike Calavan (2:07.9) right behind in third and fourth.

"The distance team is the heart of the boys team," said Johnson. "We can count on those boys week in and week out to score a lot of points for the team."

The girls experienced equal success, with five individual winners, including Kara Herr in the 300 hurdles (50.0) and Courtney Johnson in the 3,000 (12:52).

Field winners included Sammy Kaiser in the discus (82 feet 9 inches), Justine Head in the javelin (99 feet 10 inches), Sara Small in the pole vault (9 feet) and Aubrey Cretsinger in the triple jump (33 feet 1.5 inches).

"It rained cats and dogs the entire meet, but the kids kept their focus and competed hard," said coach Bob Johnson.

At Saturday's eight-team Elmira Relays, the Outlaws again showed their depth, which was vital considering the format of the meet in which nearly every event was contested in relay fashion.

The boys team won a number of events including the shuttle hurdles with the foursome of Nick Head, Chad Cummings, Jeff Wilder, and Jordan Rudinsky. The 4x200 team of Patrick Young, Hayden Stein, Lee Elder and Wilder also won, as did the 4x1,600 meter team of Benton Urquhart, Parker Bennett, Mike Calavan and Taylor Steele.

The sprint medley team of Elder, Young, Stein and Jeremiah Stahn took home a blue ribbon along with the distance medley team of Dylan McKenzie, Henderson, Bennett and Easton Curtis.

The 4x400-meter relay team of Henderson, Rowe, Wilder and Elder battled Cascade's squad all the way to the finish, but finished second. The two teams hold the top two times among 4A teams as a result.

"Our 3:32.7 is actually faster at this point in the season than last year's team that won the state title, so we're making progress," said Johnson.

Jared Nelson won the pole vault, clearing 13 feet, and Tyler Miller improved dramatically in the javelin to place fifth with a toss of 137 feet 4 inches.

"The boys had a lot of good efforts, but I'm not sure anyone pushed as hard as Jared Henderson, who ran a 2:06 800, came back with a 2:03 800 in his next race, and then held on for a 51.8 leg in the 400," said Johnson.

On the girls side Emi Conrads (11:45) and Courtney Johnson (12:12) took second and fourth respectively in the open 3,000 meters to open the meet.

Winning relay teams included the 4x400 team of Karah Herr, Courtney Satko, Hayley Palmer and Chelsea Reifschneider, which ranks second among 4A schools, the sprint medley team of Annie Mutchler, Cindy Steele, Sara Small and Herr, and the distance medley team of Satko, Conrads, Kjersti Burck and Nathalie Tresseras.

The shuttle hurdles team of Herr, Shennan Chick, Zoe McAllister and Reifschneider also claimed victory.

Aubrey Cretsinger set a personal best of 15 feet 1 inch on her way to winning the long jump, and Sara Small cleared 8 feet 6 inches to win the pole vault.

Justine Head continued her consistent throwing in the javelin, finishing second with a mark of 116 feet 8 inches.

"I appreciated how kids like Lindsay Berger and Kjersti Burck stepped in to help round out some of our relays so that we could score points, which ended up making the difference in us winning the meet," said Johnson.

The Outlaws host a Sky-Em meet Thursday, April 16, against La Pine and Elmira beginning at 4 p.m. On Saturday, April 18, a few team members will compete in the Meet of Champions at Willamette University in Salem.