Meet of Champions provides record-breaking performances

Nathalie Tresseras will return to France in June, but her name will remain behind on the Sisters High School track and field record board after her stunning victory in the 1,500 meters at Saturday's Meet of Champions, held in Salem.

Tresseras, who started her running career just this year with the cross country team, clocked 4:53.09, which eclipsed the previous record, set by Resa Hodson, of 4:57.  Her mark is the second best among 4A runners behind reigning state champion Taylor Wallace of Henley, who has run 4:41.1, which is the fastest among all Oregon high school runners.

Tresseras wasn't the only record breaker for the Outlaws. Courteney Satko smashed Monique Yost's 800-meter record of 2:22 with her second-place finish in 2:18.87, just behind LaSalle's Laura Schmitt who won the race by a tenth of a second.

In addition, Justine Head broke her own school record in the javelin with a toss of 118 feet 11 inches.

The Meet of Champions includes top athletes from the 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A schools who meet qualifying standards in order to participate in the meet. The high level of competition contributed to the outstanding marks made by Sisters athletes in the meet.

Benton Urquhart won the 1,500 in his best time ever of 4:11.97, and Parker Bennett lowered his all-time best to 9:07.79 in taking second place in the 3,000. Sophomore Taylor Steele lopped over 20 seconds off his best time to place seventh in the race in 9:32.41 and that came after a personal record earlier in the day of 4:24.3 in the 1,500.

Two other middle-distance runners set personal records for the Outlaws in the 800. Hayley Palmer lowered her top time to 2:28.31, while Jared Henderson inched closer breaking the 2-minute barrier with a time of 2:00.3 to finish sixth.

"Once again the distance runners provided a bulk of our scoring and I'll tell you what, Taylor Steele is really becoming a force to be reckoned with, even as a sophomore," said Coach Bob Johnson.

Lee Elder faced a very fast field in the 400 and came up with fifth place in 52.4.

Karah Herr and Chelsea Reifschneider made the Outlaws proud in the 300-meter hurdles as the pair finished fourth and sixth respectively with times of 49.22 and 49.51.

The two joined Satko and Palmer to win the 4x400-meter relay in 4:09.78.

Levi Rowe scored in both the long jump (19 feet 10 inches) and the triple jump (40 feet 4 inches), while Jared Nelson placed second by clearing 13 feet six inches in the pole vault.

Perhaps the most exhilarating race of the day was the very last one, the boys' 4x400-meter relay, which featured six of the top 4A teams in the state, including the Sisters squad of Jeff Wilder, Urquhart, Henderson and Elder.

After trading leads with Cascade throughout the race, Lee Elder got the baton for the anchor about three meters behind the Cougar's Joey Gilliland. Elder caught Gilliland and the two ran together to the final corner with Gilliland once again taking a slight lead. With heroic effort, Elder closed the gap and the two crossed the tape simultaneously. It took the officials a few minutes to determine that the Cougars won by one one-thousandth of a second. Both teams were given the time of 3:28.86.

"Coaches told me after the race that the entire meet was worth it just from seeing the boys' relay," said Johnson.

Two days earlier the boys' and girls' teams remained unbeaten against Sky-Em teams by beating La Pine, Pleasant Hill and Marist at home.

The boys tallied 98 points to easily outdistance Marist (47), Pleasant Hill (42) and La Pine (34), while the girls racked up 114 points to demolish Marist (59), La Pine (35) and Pleasant Hill (13).

"We're doing all the right things right now and will continue to sharpen up as we approach District in mid-May," said Johnson. "The girls only won the district meet one time and the boys have never done it, so we're going to keep working to see if we can change that this year," he added.

The tracksters travel to La Pine to face the Hawks and the Elmira Falcons on Thursday, April 23.