Outlaws track team piling up good marks

Head track coach Nik Goertzen described the head-to-head league battle with perennial power Sweet Home as a "gut check" and by the way that the Outlaws dominated the Huskies in the four-way home meet Tuesday, April 12, everything "checked out" very well.

By the conclusion of the meet, the Outlaws had racked up 115.5 points leaving Sweet Home (63), La Pine (48), and Junction City (45.5) to battle for second place. The girls' score was a little closer, but Sisters prevailed with 112 points, while Sweet Home finished second (85), Junction City third (29) and La Pine fourth (25).

"Sweet Home is the two-time defending boys team state champion and the girls' team placed just ahead of Sisters at State last year in fourth, so we wanted to show we were ready for them, and I think we did," said Goertzen. "We really wanted to come out ready for this meet and the kids did that. Our depth made the difference with a lot of points getting picked up with third and fourth place finishes."

Top performers on the boys' side included David Cowan, who won the 100 (11.5), finished second in the 200 (23.8), second in the 400 (53.1), and ran the third leg of the winning 1,600-meter relay team. Easton Curtis also had a landmark day, winning the 400 in 51.7 and following up with a second place in the 800 meters (2:04.8) as well as anchoring the 1,600-meter relay.

The distance crew did its share of scoring as Taylor Steele won the 1,500 (4:22) and ran third in the 800 (2:06.9), while Brandon Pollard won the 3,000 (10:22) after finishing second to Steele in the 1,500 (4:32.2). Mason Calmettes placed third in the 1,500 (4:36) and pushed Pollard in the 3,000 where he finished second in 10:26.

Tim Hernandez provided a scoring punch in the jumps, winning both the triple jump (40 feet 3 inches) and the long jump (19 feet 2 inches). John Green narrowly lost the shot put, tossing the steel ball 42 feet 4 inches, just 5 inches behind the winner from Sweet Home. He also placed third in the discus with an effort of 117 feet 9 inches.

The Outlaw girls came through with a number of winners, including Natalie Ambrose in the 400 (1:02.9), Zoe Falk in the 800 (2:31.4), Alicia Haken in the 100 hurdles (16.8), Chelsea Reifschneider in the 300 hurdles (49.3) and Hannah Harrer in the shot put (28 feet 11 inches).

On Saturday some select athletes traveled to Willamette University for the annual Meet of Champions which features top competitors from 4A, 3A, 2A, and 1A, and two Outlaw girls came away as champions. Sara Small, the 4A leader in the pole vault, cleared 11 feet to win by nearly a two-foot margin over second place, and freshman Zoe Falk battled from behind to capture the 800 meters in 2:27.12.

Falk had a busy day, placing sixth in the long jump (16 feet 2 inches) and running on both the 400-meter and 1,600-meter relays that placed third (52.0) and second respectively (4:12.39), which were both season bests for the team. Fellow frosh Natalie Ambrose took second in the 200 (27.24) and third in the long jump (16 feet 4.75 inches) and ran on both relays. Three Outlaws placed in the top seven in the 100 hurdles as Alicia Haken took fourth (17.42), Zoe McAllister fifth (17.61), and Chelsea Reifschneider seventh (17.65).

Haken brought home a third-place medal in the high jump, clearing five feet even.

The boys team produced no overall winners, but showed some great growth with a number of season bests including a whopping 4-second improvement by junior Easton Curtis who nearly broke the two-minute barrier in the 800 meters in finishing third in 2:00.02 seconds. Taylor Steele placed second in a hard-fought race against defending 800 state champion Jeff Schreiner-McGraw in the 1,500, running his season best of 4:07.52.

Equally impressive was freshman Brandon Pollard's 12-second personal best in the same race, where he finished in a fine time of 4:20.09. Chad Cummings got a preview of the state meet in placing fourth in the 110 hurdles, finishing in a personal best of 16.09 seconds.

John Green cracked the top eight in the shot put, placing seventh with a toss of 41 feet 10 inches, and Andrew Snyder matched his season best in the pole vault to place sixth in 12 feet 6 inches.

"We are getting our identity in the state right now and will continue to push toward our high goals," said Goertzen.

The Outlaws continue their busy schedule with a league meet Thursday, April 21 at La Pine and the Summit Invitation on Saturday,

April 23.