Relay meet exposes some new talent

The Sisters Outlaws track and field team trekked over the mountain to the Elmira Relays Saturday, April 20, where they discovered some new talents on the team under sunny skies at the Falcons' brand-new track.

The Elmira Relays is one of the longest-standing relay meet traditions in Oregon. All running events are conducted in relay fashion, with exception to the 3,000 meters, providing a team-building opportunity at a time of the season that everyone can use a boost, according to Head Coach Josh Nordell.

"Anytime you can team up with your buddies against other schools, it brings out the best in the athletes and that's exactly what the Outlaws did," he said.

The girls placed third and the boys fifth among 10 teams, six of which are 4A schools like Sisters. Elmira's girls and boys claimed the team titles.

The meet includes the regular 4x100- and 4x400-meter relays, but also includes events such as the sprint medley, the distance medley, shuttle hurdles and more.

Due to schedule conflicts for some athletes, Nordell had to do a lot of shuffling to make up some of the teams, leaving the official results with a lot of errors due to meet-day substitutions and making it impossible to accurately report all team members.

To fill in all the slots, some athletes had to step into events in which they don't normally compete. Such was the case with Maddi Boettner, who joined the high jump relay team, cleared 4 feet 6 inches, and helped her teammates Alisha Haken and Madeline Watts win the event.

Boettner also teamed up with her regular running friends Macadia Calavan, Aria Blumm, and Zoe Falk to win the distance medley (1,200, 400, 800, 1,600) and the 4x800-meter relay.

The girls picked up a second-place finish in the 4x200-meter relay, while Danielle Lovegren and Alisha Haken paired up for second in the 100 hurdles.

The boys team picked up a pair of second-place finishes in distance events. Izaak Kanzig, Jonathan Luz, Jadon Bachtold and Dyut Fetrow were runners-up in the distance medley and the 4x800-meter team of Kanzig, Fetrow, Bachtold and Gabe Rice.

"We needed a fun meet at this point in the season, and that's what we got," said Nordell. "We had a good time together, got a little sun, and even tossed in a somersault relay of our own for good measure."

Earlier in the week, on Thursday, April 18, the Outlaws competed in a three-way league meet at La Pine, that was largely used as a training day for most athletes. Yet, the Outlaw girls still dominated, winning the meet with 87 points, followed by Sweet Home (58) and La Pine (25).

The boys placed third with 42 points, behind La Pine (84), and Sweet Home (49).

Highlights from the league meet included a victory for freshmen Austin Sandsness in the 100-meter dash in 11.61 seconds and a first-time win for fellow ninth-grader Gabe Rice in the 800-meter run (2:23.59). Ian Baldessari won both hurdles races, achieving a career best in the 110s of 17.20 seconds. First-year jumper Jacob Glatz picked up a second-place in the high jump by clearing 5 feet 8 inches, and Jonathan Luz leapt 38 feet 2 inches to take second in the triple jump.

For the girls team, Katelyn Meeter uncorked a career-best in the javelin to win at 97 feet even, while her teammates won every individual running event at the meet other than the 100, 300 hurdles and the 3,000 meters.

Zoe Falk (200 and 800), Macadia Calavan (400), Aria Blumm (1,500) and Alisha Haken (100 hurdles) all broke the tape for the Outlaws. Haken also won the high jump (5 feet) and the triple jump (32 feet 2 inches), while Michaela Miller won the long jump (15 feet 4 inches) and Olivia Chandler won the pole vault (8 feet 9 inches).

The Outlaws get to stay close to home this week to compete in the Summit Invitational Saturday, April 27, where they will face some of the best competition of the season including the host Storm, Ashland, Redmond, Mountain View, Ridgeview and Hood River Valley as well as some 3A and 2A schools.

Field events start at 10 a.m. and running events commence at 11 a.m. In addition to the traditional high school events, the meet includes a 2,000-meter steeplechase for girls and 3,000-meter steeplechase for boys at Summit's state-of-the-art facility.