Outlaws track athletes head to state competition

The Outlaws track teams gave their best at the Sky-Em District Championships, earning some squad members a trip to next week's OSAA state championships at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus.

The top two finishers in each event qualify for state.

The girls team came up just short in a very tight three-team race for the district meet title, finishing six points behind Marist (155) and three points ahead of Cottage Grove (146).

"We racked up a lot of points by doing the best we could do," said Bob Johnson.

Elmira finished fourth (75), followed by La Pine (67), Junction City (44), and Pleasant Hill (23).

Annie Mutchler led the Outlaws, winning the long jump (16 feet 8 inches) and the triple jump (36 feet 7 inches), which earned her the Outstanding Female Field Athlete of the Meet award.

Mutchler also pulled the Outlaws into first place in the 400-meter relay with a very strong effort on the third leg to qualify for state in that event as well, along with teammates Courteney Satko, Cindy Steele, and Jodie Reoch.

Reoch came through later in the meet with a win in the 200 meters (27.03) and will be joined at the state meet by junior Hayley Palmer, who put on a ferocious effort in the final 50 meters to move from fourth to second in 27.36 seconds.

Other district champions for Sisters included Sara Small in the pole vault (11 feet 2 inches) and Kara Herr in the 300 intermediate hurdles (47.77). Herr's time was her best by over a full second and came after running a very strong second place in the 400 meters.

Satko finished as the runner-up in the 800 meters (2:22.53) behind the current 4A state leader Allie Sibole of Marist (2:16.98) to qualify in that event.

Herr, Satko, Palmer and Reoch also qualified in the 1,600-meter relay as runners-up to Marist 4:07 to 4:11 and will be looking to make noise in that event at the state meet.

On the boys side, Parker Bennett and Taylor Steele exchanged places between the 3,000 and the 1,500 as both qualified in both events. Bennett won Thursday's 3,000 in 9:04 to Steele's 9:15, but Steele turned the tables in Saturday's 1,500, winning in 4:10 to Bennett's 4:13. The pair expects to be in the midst of terrific competition in both events at the state meet.

"These two have run great all season and can compete with anyone who will be at the state meet," said coach Bob Johnson. "It's good that they have one another as teammates in both events."

Bennett placed fourth in the 1,500 last year at state and has the top time among 4A runners (3:59) going into this year's meet. He is the state leader in the 3,000 as well at 8:49.

Jeff Wilder continued his late-season surge to win the 400 meters (51.59) and place second in the 300 hurdles (41.92), both of which are lifetime bests.

The 1,600-meter relay team of Wilder, David Cowan, Drew Harrison and Taylor Steele (3:30.82) clinched a berth to state in second place, just behind Cottage Grove. The team will likely use Easton Curtis in place of Steele at the state meet.

"Steele has his hands full in the 1,500 and 3,000, and Easton has shown he is ready to go after being injured for the last few weeks," said Johnson.

Curtis, in his first

competition in more than six weeks, placed fourth in the 400 in 52.95 seconds, just behind Cowan, who was timed in 52.84, so the Outlaws ought to be in the hunt in the 1,600 relay at state, according to Johnson.

Harrison had one of the heartbreaks of the day, finishing a very close third place in the 800 despite a personal best effort of 2:01.34, which was the fastest non-qualifying time among all 4A

runners.

"He gave it everything he had," said Johnson.

As a team, the boys finished third with 121 points, behind Marist (160) and Cottage Grove 145.5.

"We were simply outnumbered in team size," said Johnson. "We had 18 boys entered compared to 40 from Marist, so I am very proud of how well the guys competed in multiple events."

The OSAA Championships for 4A, 5A, and 6A classifications runs Friday and Saturday, May 28 -29.