Lady Outlaws win District track title

The "sisters from Sisters" track and field team proved that a few dedicated and talented athletes can achieve great things. The small but mighty girls team won the Sky-Em League championship held at Junction City High School and qualified 12 girls in events for this week's state meet.

In total, the Outlaws won 10 of the 17 events, amassing 169.5 points to run away with the team title. Junction City placed second with 113.5 points, followed by Cottage Grove (113), Sutherlin (100), Sweet Home (85.5), and Elmira (64.5).

Everything clicked on day one of the two-day meet for the girls as the Outlaws produced three district champions and a total of four state qualifiers, according to Head Coach Jeff Larson.

Julianne Meeter threw a lifetime best in the javelin of 114 feet 4 inches, an improvement of nearly five full feet. The sophomore easily outdistanced the rest of the field, winning by well over 10 feet.

Tessa O'Hern and Erynn Ricker both cleared 9 feet 8 inches in the pole vault to qualify for state, and Natalie Marshall provided the cherry on top by finishing third, giving the Outlaws 24 points in the event.

The Outlaws picked up 13 more points in the 3,000 meters as Aria Blumm successfully defended her title and dipped under the 11-minute mark for the first time this year despite running unchallenged. She finished in 10:59.77, 35 seconds ahead of second place. Megan Calarco finished sixth with her best time ever in 12:12.88. Serena Salisbury narrowly missed joining the point party, finishing ninth in 12:50.05.

Cottage Grove outscored the Outlaws 26-0 in the shot put and discus, putting big pressure on Sisters to score some big points on the second day of competition to stay ahead of the Lions and Junction City.

As it turned out, the team outcome was never really in doubt.

Points began to pile up for Sisters with the start of running events on day two. The foursome of Michaela Miller, Macadia Calavan, Mandi Calavan and Erynn Ricker passed the stick around the oval in 50.44 for the first win of the day. Aria Blumm cruised to her best time of the season (4:57.50) in the next event, the 1,500, for the second win, and Erynn Ricker smoked the competition in the third event, winning the 100 meters in 13.13.

Macadia Calavan picked up important points in the 400, finishing third (1:03.78), and then it was time for some hurdling, where Miller stormed to a clear victory in 16.06. Sabrina Reifschneider placed third with a lifetime best of 16.95.

Ricker picked up yet another "gold" in the 200 (26.78), while her freshmen teammate Mandi Calavan got edged for second by just .06 seconds in finishing third in 27.40.

The 300-meter hurdles turned out to be a 1-2 Outlaw show as Miller and Reifschneider handled the field with times of 47.84 and 49.02 respectively.

The Outlaws' crew of Mandi Calavan, Macadia Calavan, Aria Blumm, and Dallas Knoop capped the day in the 4x400-meter relay with a hard-fought win over Sutherlin in 4:15.08. Sutherlin finished in 4:15.25.

In the field, Michaela Miller led the long jump competition before falling into second place by half an inch, finishing with a mark of 15 feet 8.5 inches.

Other scorers for the Outlaws included Maddi Boettner who placed third in the high jump (4 feet 8 inches); Megan Calarco, eighth in the 1500 (5:37.1); Dallas Knoop, fourth in the 400 (1:05.23); and Mandi Calavan, fourth in the 100 (13.54).

The boys team produced some state qualifiers as well, led by junior Jadon Bachtold. On day one, Bachtold moved up to fourth on the all-time school list for 3,000 meters with a gutsy performance in which he challenged Sweet Home's Jakob Hiett, the 2014 state champion in cross-country, all the way to the wire before finishing second and punching his ticket to the state meet in 9:09.54. Hiett won in 9:04.63.

On Saturday, Bachtold met Hiett again in the 1,500 meters, which turned into a three-way battle along with Gannon Jones of Elmira. Hiett prevailed in 4:10.42, Bachtold finished second (4:12.49) and Jones ended up third (4:15.57).

In the final event of the day, it was Bachtold again, joining teammates Andreas Pederson, Keegan Greaney, and Sam Garbrecht in a thrilling win in the 4x400-meter relay. The quartet ran 3:29.68 to edge Junction City and Cottage Grove, which both finished less than a second behind.

It was the first time Garbrecht has taken part in the relay this season and his addition could pay huge dividends as the Outlaws now own the fourth-best time among 4A teams this year.

"What a way to end the meet," said Larson.

Elmira annihilated the rest of the league with 208 points. Sisters finished fifth among the six teams with 53 points.

Going into the meet, Larson had high expectations for his athletes, and everyone competed at or above the level he hoped for.

"I can't say enough positive about my coaching staff," said Larson. "Wes Cook, Jim Anderson, Eden Miller, and Carlos Garcia all had the kids ready to compete at a high level, and the kids came through in a big way."

The Outlaws are poised to bring home some medals from the state meet, but it's tough to predict how the team will fare overall.

"The state meet always produces plenty of surprises," said Larson.

The 4A, 5A, and 6A OSAA Track and Field Championships take place May 22-23 at historic Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene. Ticket and schedule information is available at http://www.osaa.org.