Outlaws fare well at home meet

Snow squalls and brisk wind - sure signs of Central Oregon spring - did not deter track and field athletes from 12 schools who took part in the annual Sisters Rotary Invitational held Saturday, April 2.

Summit High School crushed the rest of the squads in both the boys and girls team competition, but the host Outlaws had their share of strong performances.

The girls team produced two winners on the day, both in the field. Zoe Falk, a freshman, took top honors in the long jump, winning by two inches with a mark of 15 feet 4 inches, while junior Sara Small won the pole vault by a full foot at 10 feet 6 inches.

Other scorers in the jumping events included freshman Nathalie Ambrose who took third in the long jump (15 feet 1/2 inch), while another freshman, Olivia Chandler, cleared eight feet to finish third in the pole vault. Sophomore Alicia Haken took fourth behind a trio of Summit jumpers in the triple jump at 32 feet 3 inches and was one of six high jumpers to clear five feet, where she placed sixth based on number of misses.

The Outlaws girls failed to score a single point in the throwing events, but picked up plenty in the running events, starting with a fourth-place finish in the 400-meter relay by the team of Hayley Palmer, Jodie Reoch, Bailey Bremer, and Ambrose (52.4).

Falk came through with a third-place finish in the next event, the 1,500-meter run, with a time of 5:27.7, followed by teammate Katie Stewart, who placed eighth in 5:43. Ambrose's fifth-place finish in the 100 meters (12.9) came a few minutes later and Palmer placed sixth in the 400 meters (1:08.3). Reifschneider scored in both hurdles races, placing fifth in the 100 hurdles (17.7) and eighth in the 300 hurdles (52.0).

Falk came back for some more running in the 800, where she placed fourth (2:42.9), while Katie Stewart finished her day with a strong seventh-place finish in the 3,000 (12:29.3).

The girls concluded the meet as runners up in the 4x400-meter relay with the team of Palmer, Reifschneider, Ambrose and Falk in 4:19.3.

Coach Nik Goertzen was glad for his team to get back into competition at the end of the two-week spring break and appreciated his team's effort.

"We will continue to improve now that we are back in action," he said. "We had a core of girls, particularly those freshmen, who scored a lot of points for us."

Summit amassed 212 points to easily outdistance second-placed West Linn with 101 points. Redmond finished third with 96.5 and Sister finished a solid fourth with 85 points among the 12 teams.

The Outlaws boys did not come up with any first-place finishers, but, like the girls, showed a lot of competitiveness, according to Goertzen, as they scored in 16 of the 17 events.

Top finishers for Sisters included Easton Curtis, who placed second in the 400 (52.8), and ran on the third-place 400-meter relay team along with Jared Nelson, Tim Hernandez and David Cowan, and the second-place 4x400-meter relay team of Taylor Steele, Landon Prescott, and Cowan.

Cowan also ran in the 200 where he placed fifth (23.6), while Nelson placed fifth in the pole vault (12 feet 6 inches).

Hernandez provided a fistful of points in the triple jump (39 feet 6 inches) and the long jump (19 feet 2.5 inches) where he placed third and fifth respectively. Fellow senior Chad Cumming scored in three events, including the 110 hurdles where he finished third in 16.6. He placed fifth in the 300 intermediate hurdles (45.5) and sixth in the high jump (5 feet 8 inches).

Taylor Steele scored in the middle distances, placing third in the 800 (2:05.4) and fourth in the 1,500 (4:30.0). Freshman Brandon Pollard scored in the 1,500, placing sixth (4:41) and then came back with a very strong 3,000 to finish fourth in 10:20.9.

John Green did his job in the throws, picking up sixth place in the shot put (41 feet 10.75 inches) and fourth in the discus (113 feet, eight inches), while Devon Prescott placed fourth in the javelin with a toss of 145 feet 1 inch.

Summit won the meet with 170 points, followed by Redmond (104), Crook County (99.5), and Sisters (92.5) among the 12 teams.

"I want to thank all the Rotary members and other volunteers for pulling off a good quality meet on a blustery day," said Goertzen. "The workers at a track meet make all the difference."

The Outlaws have a three-way meet at Sweet Home on Thursday, April 7 followed by the Elmira Relays on Saturday, April 9.