Outlaws school track record falls

Parker Bennett slipped below the four-minute barrier for 1,500 meters at the Jesuit Twilight Relays Friday, May 7, continuing his string of record-breaking performances and leaving his coaches to wonder just how fast he will run this year.

Bennett placed second among an assemblage of many of the finest high school middle-distance runners in Oregon and Washington in a time of 3:59.16. The champion, Daniel Winn of 6A Cleveland, clocked 3:58.78.

"Parker ran a well-paced race and then showed just how gutsy he is on the final lap, chasing down nearly everyone," said coach Dennis Dempsey.

Head coach Bob Johnson said it was one of the most thrilling races he's ever seen one of his team's athletes involved in. "Parker just came flying down the final stretch, and I think if he had 10 more yards he would have won it."

Bennett's mark was over eight full seconds better than his own school record of 4:07.48. Bennett's teammate, Taylor Steele, lowered his personal best to 4:04.69 in the same race and remains among Bennett's chief challengers for the state title race later this month. Steele placed 11th.

Bennett now leads all 4A runners in both the 1,500- and 3,000-meter distances, but is gaining more company as the season progresses. A pair of Siuslaw runners, along with Henley's Jed Tolbert, continue to improve as well, which should make for an exciting couple of races at the OSAA State Championships, at Hayward Field on Memorial Day weekend.

Of course, Bennett, Steele and the rest of the Outlaws track team have some more work to do between now and then.

On May 6, the Outlaws wrapped up the league season in a four-way meet at La Pine.

The girls piled up 157 points to easily outdistance La Pine (81), Pleasant Hill (43), and Marist (18), while the short-handed boys came up short to finish second (88) behind La Pine (114) and in front of Pleasant Hill (82) and Marist (55).

In general, marks from the meet were not season bests for most athletes due to cold, windy conditions, but some notable performances for the Outlaws included another sub-51-second 400-meter relay by the girls and the third time that Sara Small has cleared at least 11 feet 4 inches in the pole vault.

"Consistency is a very good thing to have as a pole vaulter, and Sara is showing that she is comfortable over the 11-foot mark," said coach Jim Anderson. "There is more to come for Sara."

Courteney Satko outdueled La Pine's top middle-distance runner, Laura Jackson, to win the 800 meters in 2:27.1, while Annie Mutchler posted a fine mark of 16 feet 9 inches in the long jump.

Freshman Alicia Haken won the 100 hurdles in a personal best of 17.14, and claimed the triple jump as well with a leap of 31 feet 8 inches.

Among the boys, Tim Hernandez came within three inches of the 40-foot mark in the triple jump to win (39 feet 9 inches), and Chad Cummings won the 110 hurdles in 16.78 seconds. Drew Harrison cruised to an easy win in the 800 meters as the only other Outlaw winner of the day in 2:08.45.

The varsity team will travel to one final meet this week, the Wally Ciochetti Invitational at Cottage Grove,

Friday, May 14 before the state-qualifying district meet set for May 20 and 22, also at the Cottage Grove track.

"The Ciochetti meet is loaded with talent, so we should see bests in a lot of events, especially in the middle- and long-distance race," said coach Johnson. "It will be a great preparation for the district and state meets."