Track teams entering home stretch

As the Outlaws track team heads into the championship month of May, key indicators point to a great four weeks to come.

The Outlaws continued their lead in both the boys and girls standings among Sky-Em teams in the dual meet competition after another solid performance versus La Pine and Elmira. Saturday, both teams fared well at the Summit Invitational as well, with third-place team finishes behind host Summit and 6A Redmond among 15 schools represented.

According to head coach Nik Goertzen, a number of Outlaws now rank among the state 4A leaders with others knocking on the door of being state qualifiers.

Sara Small has the top clearance among 4A pole vaulters with a mark of 11 feet. Small won in both meets this week, including at the Summit Invitational where she went up against some of her best competition of the year.

Freshman Nathalie Ambrose cracked the one-minute barrier for the first time this season in the open 400, notching a win in 59.89 which vaulted her into the top spot among 4A girls. Her classmate Zoe Falk moved into eighth place among the 4A ranks with her 2:25.33 effort at Summit, which garnered her a second-place finish. Most impressive about her fast 800 time was that it came two hours after running her fastest 1,500 of the year in 5:11.

Hayley Palmer, a state qualifier in the 200 last year, lowered her season best to 27.75, and looks to be back in the under-27-seconds soon.

Chelsea Reifschneider got back into the range of the best times of her career finishing second in the 300 hurdles in 48.21, which is the third best mark in 4A. She has her work cut out for her as the two ahead of her have dipped under 46 seconds.

The 400-meter relay team of Ambrose, Palmer, Reifschneider and Reoch moved up to eighth among 4A teams with a time of 51.51 and then Falk joined Palmer, Ambrose, and Reifschneider to give Summit a run for the money in the 1,600 relay as the foursome ran a season best of 4:09.62, third among 4A girls.

Other notable performances during the week included season bests by Katie Stewart in the 3,000 and the 1,500, and Lauryn Chauncey and Bailey Bremer both surpassing 30 feet in the triple jump,

The boys team is making noise as well, with a pair of middle distance runners leading the way. Easton Curtis moved into the top five among 800 meter runners with a best of 2:00.02 two weeks ago and ran strong at Summit on Saturday in winning the race in 2:01.25. Curtis also holds the eighth best 400-meter time at 51.84.

Taylor Steele is rounding into form and holds the second best 1,500 time of the season among 4A runners, just a second out of the top spot. He won the Summit 1,500 in 4:07.91 and has his aim on bettering his all-time best of 4:04.69 in the upcoming weeks. Steele's 2:01.89 800-meter time also places him in the top ten and his coaches expect that his 3,000-meter time will drop dramatically before the district meet.

Jared Nelson's stock rose in the pole vault at Summit as he cleared 13 feet for the first time outdoors this year. Teammate Andrew Snyder has cleared 12 feet 6 inches twice this year and is a threat to make the state meet as well as he continues to progress.

John Green earned his coach's praise in the throwing events.

"John was outstanding with personal all-time PRs in the shot-put and discus," Goertzen said. "He really gave it his all....and focused on his throws."

The Outlaws host Cottage Grove and Elmira on Thursday and travel to Gladstone for the Dick Baker Invitational on Saturday. Both meets will give the Outlaws great opportunity to test themselves against top 4A schools.