Outlaws show championship form

After completing the final regular league meet of the season at La Pine on Wednesday, the Outlaws track and field teams sent a contingent of stars to the Meet of Champions held Saturday at Willamette University in Salem.

The Meet of Champions is a longtime tradition for schools from the 4A classification and smaller, in which athletes must qualify to compete, giving the meet an atmosphere similar to a district or state meet. The meet, which is non-scored, featured over 50 teams from the 1A, 2A, 3A, and 4A ranks.

Dan Peterson, co-director of the meet, told coaches at the outset of the competition that the fields in every single event looked as strong or stronger than previous years, and the results at the end of the day lent credence to his claim.

Sisters' 400-meter relay team of Sara Small, Molly Boyle, Chelsea Reifschneider and Natalie Ambrose got the running events started with a fifth-place finish with a time of 51.95 despite some "not so smooth" hand-offs, according to Coach Carlos Garcia.

Small kept her undefeated streak alive in claiming the pole vault, clearing 11 feet 6 inches.

The second running event of the day, the 1,500 meters, produced some of the best times ever by Outlaw runners.

Zoe Falk flirted with the school record in placing third to last year's 4A state champion, lowering her best time to 4:52.99, which is just over a second away from the all-time best in the event for an Outlaw. Frances Payne moved into the fifth best time ever with her sixth-place finish in 5:06.4, while freshman Aria Blumm took 13th in 5:19.04.

Falk's effort came just minutes after completing the long jump, in which she placed fifth with a leap of 16 feet one-half inch. Two hours later, she smoked the rest of the field in the 800 meters, finishing in 2:22.46. In the final event of the day, she anchored the winning 1,600-meter relay team that included Chelsea Reifschneider, Lotte Hansen, and Natalie Ambrose.

"Zoe is quite a competitor," said Head Coach Charlie Kanzig. "She ran courageously in the 1,500 to win that thing and came back with two more incredible performances afterwards."

Ambrose and Reifschneider showed that they are forces to be reckoned with in their specialties as well. Ambrose pushed Katie Dunn of Cottage Grove to the wire in the 400 with her best time of the year of 59.81, while Reifschneider turned in a career best in the 100 hurdles, where she finished third with a time of 16.34. She concluded her day with another third-place finish, this time in the 300 hurdles, in 48.54 seconds.

Ambrose's time is third best among 4A runners. She placed fourth in the event at the state meet last year.

Alisha Haken competed in the high jump (4 feet 10 inches), the triple jump (30 feet 2 inches), and the 100 hurdles (17.59), while Boyle ran the 100 (13.74) and the 200 (28.44) as well.

Among the boys' team, Brandon Pollard moved up to fifth on the all-time Outlaw list by clocking 4:11.1 to finish fourth. He returned in the 800 meters, where he finished in 2:08.85, behind Easton Curtis (2:01.93) and Landon Prescott (2:04.59).

Freshman Keegan Bloss took eighth place in the pole vault (11 feet 6 inches), while Jacob Richerson leapt 37 feet 11.75 inches in the triple jump.

"It was good to let some of our top competitors experience such a high-quality meet," said Kanzig. "It helps us know what kids can do and allows them to get a better feeling for the routine and intensity of a big meet."

The Outlaws face a lighter week than usual with a non-scoring meet at Sweet Home, which is the site of the Sky-Em District Meet, Wednesday, May 2.

"This next week-and-a-half gives us some high-quality training time as we bear down on the district and state meets later in May," said Kanzig.