Outlaws' Pollard among state leaders

The track season is still in its early stages, but junior Brandon Pollard has found himself in elite company among 4A runners, with some very fine early season marks to his credit.

While the rest of his team enjoyed a week free from formal track practice, Pollard elected to travel to Canby High School on Thursday, March 28, for an all-comer's meet. After placing seventh in last year's state meet in the 1,500, he has an eye on being in contention with the best runners in the state this season. His early season marks have put him right where he hoped to be.

Pollard started conservatively in the 1,500 meters, which included runners from all high school divisions. As the race progressed, he moved up and took command over the final lap of the race, blitzting the final 300 meters in 45 seconds to win in 4:10.9. The mark ties him with Brett Willyard, of Seaside, for first place among all 4A runners. Willyard was last year's state champion in the 3,000 meters and the 1,500 meters and also ran the fastest time of the 2012 season for 800 meters.

Pollard came back for a double in the 800 meters and ran near his lifetime best, finishing fourth in 2:02.6, which ranks him second among 4A runners, just one second behind Siuslaw's Hayden Schaffner, last year's 800-meter state champion.

He was overjoyed about his strong performance, according to one of his coaches, Kris Kristovich.

Unfortunately, Pollard injured his foot during a recovery run when he got home to Sisters and is in a walking cast for the next 2 to 4 weeks. He faced a similar injury last year - just weeks before the district meet - and was able to recover well enough to run in the state meet.

Kristovich said, "I was devastated when he first told me of his injury, but I know he'll do everything he needs to do to come back strong."

The rest of the Outlaws team returns to action on Thursday, April 4 for the first Sky-Em League meet of the season at Junction City to take on the Tigers and Cottage Grove.