Oregon High School State Meet

Hayward Field, Eugene, Or.

Sat. 5/24/08

On an almost ideal day for running, where it was neither too cool for the sprinters nor too hot for the distance runners, Oregon track fans witnessed some stellar performances. Kellie Schueler of the 5A Summit girls team had a dominating day as she won the 100 (12.01), the 200 (24.54) and the 400 (55.04) and capped the day by anchoring the victorious 4 by 400 relay. Her teammate Alyssa O’Connor was also impressive as she won the 1500 and then contributed on the 3rd leg of the 4 by 400 relay.

For O’Connor, who had suffered her second major injury in two successive cross country seasons–both requiring surgery, the possibility of a day like hers had seemed too remote only three months ago but there she was on Saturday matching strides with Crook County’s Michelly Foley. The match-up was made even more compelling, because Foley had won the 3k on Thursday and then O’Connor had taken the 800 title on Friday. On Saturday, both stalwarts left no doubts about their intention of winning for at the 200 meter mark, it was O’Connor shadowed by Foley at the front. They remained as such, when they reached the 400 meter mark in 1:16.9. Aria Hemphill of Ashland and Emily Olsen of Crater followed closely behind and Amelia Yeager of Crescent Valley led the chase pack. The pair hit the 800 in 2:37.3 and from there drew away from Hemphill who had attempted to stay with them. The 1200 meter mark was reached in 3:50.9 with O’Connor still a step ahead of Foley. Foley appeared to make a las t move in the final stretch but the Summit star used her 800 meter speed to seal the victory in 4:42.90 with Foley 2nd in 4:43.72. Emily Olsen closed on the tired Hemphill to claim third.

Earlier in the day, Taylor Wallace renewed her duel with Mikayla Bradbury of Molalla. On Thursday, Bradbury had stayed in contention until mid-race when Wallace drew away but on Saturday she faced an opponent, who appeared much more relaxed as fluid. As before, Wallace moved to the front in the initial stage of the race and then led at the 400 (1:10.2). Bradbury was just behind in 2nd followed by Maria Ramirez of La Pine and Meghan Whelan of Marist. As noted Wallace’s form was far more fluid and she looked relaxed as she drew away from potential challengers on the far turn. A 71.2 second lap gave her an 800 meter mark of 2:25.1 and she was gliding to victory. At the 1200, Wallace had opened up a large lead and had a split of 3:39.9. She continued on to win in 4:33.79 which was easily the best time of the day. Bradbury finished 2nd with a fine time of 4:47.26 and Maria Ramirez took 3rd ahead of Siuslaw’s Raelyn Robinson.

The girls 6A 1500 saw Khalia Tidwell of Gresham take the lead and hold it through a 400 of 1:15.5. Alexandra Jones of St. Mary’s moved into 2nd about that time. Betsy Kolberg of Lincoln then assumed the lead and led at 800, which was reached in 2:34.9 followed by Jones & Adrienne McGuirk of Jesuit. Kohlberg then made a bold move 200 meters later and opened up a gap of a good 15 meters. Jones, who is relatively new to the sport of racing but seems to have made rapid improvement with each successive month since cross country, confidently held back at first. McGuirk remained with Jones as they both began to reel in the leader. By the time they reached the 1200 once again, it was a tight race between the new leaders as they had rolled by the valiant Kolberg who now struggling. Kris Thomasberg of Redmond assumed 3rd position and followed by Jesuit’s Anna Marie Maag. Up front, McGuirk tried to stay with the leader, but Jones pulled away to claim a one second victory in a time of 4:42.32. Anna Marie Maag of Jesuit finished 3rd behind McGuirk and Amber Rozcicha of Newberg was 4th just a bit in front of Thomasberg. Koberg and Tidwell placed 9th and 10th.

Elliot Jantzer of Phoenix followed up his dominating 3k victory on Thursday with a title in the 1500 with a time of 3:58.53. Travis Stevens of Siuslaw and Matt Hollander of Marist took 2nd and 3rd. Jantzer later was impressive when he came back to place 3rd in the 400 with a fine time of 49.79. Danny Staats claimed the 400 title in 4A with a 49.01 and Casey Smith of McLoughlin was 2nd in 49.77. Laura Schmidt of LaSalle claimed the girls 4A championship with a time of 57.39.

The 5A 1500 saw Matt Miner of Ashland and Jared Bassett of Marshfield renew their stirring duel in Thrusday’s 3k. Basset had claimed the lead at the 400 (61.9) with Miner in tow and Hermiston’s Jordan Ringe close behind. A 2nd 400 of 64.6 (2:06.6 - 800 M) saw the pair open a large lead over their pursuers. Bassett remained in the lead at 1200 (3:10.4) but on the far turn, Minor surged into the lead. He had opened up a gap by the time that he had reached the straight but Bassett had something left and as they raced towards the finish, he slowly edged closer. With 50 meters remaining, Bassett loomed just off of Miner’s shoulder and it seemed inevitable that he would pass, yet Miner somehow held on for the victory. At the finish, they were barely separated and finished but .11 seconds apart but Minor got the hard-earned victory. Still it was a great race! Wes Cheney of Bend place 3rd narrowly missing breaking the 4 minute barrier with 4:00.00. Churchill’s Shan e O’Connell won the 5A 400 with a time of 49.21 edging Chris Stubbs of Willamette. Mark Brooks of Klamath Union won both the 100 (11.00) and the 200 (22.07) titles.

The race for the guy’s 1500 championship saw Nathan Mathabane of Lincoln match strides with Taylor Morgan of Central Catholic and Bryce Burgess of Franklin. Those three ran in that order when they reached the 400 in 63.4. A lap of 64.3 saw Mathabane leading Morgan in a time of 2:07.7. Burgess, the 3k winner, trailed about 5 meters back. With Burgess straining to keep pace it was now down to Mathabane & Morgan, who raced through the 1200 in 3:09.4 (61.8) Morgan kept up the pressure on the leader but once in the straight Mathabane inexorably pulled away to win in a time of 3:53.28 , which was but 1.46 seconds ahead of his rival. Burgess placed 3rd and Walter Augustyniak of South Eugene was 4th.

Jordan Polk of Lincoln won the 100 & placed 2nd behind Nycole Griffin of Benson in the 200. Central Catholic’s Nathan Lightner ran 49.05 (fastest time of the day) to claim the 400 ahead of Jordan Bishop of West Salem. Jack Hippler of Oregon City won the 6A pole vault with 15' 3" defeating Canby’s Thomas Juhala & his team mates Jared (brother 15' 0") & Todd Laughlin (14' 6") were 4th & 5th.

It was a great meet with no problems but Kellie Schuler of Summit noted the one issue of concern, when she stated that her team felt that they should be allowed to face all of the best teams in the state, as they felt they could defeat them. It's hard to disagree especially when a small state like Oregon has far fewer people than states like Ohio or Michigan to name a few, yet has more divisions. For me this state had too many divisions when it had three. The question is: why does such a small state have to water down the competiton when the goal should be to have a real champion? Wouldn't it have been better to see Eliott Jantzer square off against Matt Miner & Jared Bassett along with Bryce Burgess, Nathan Mathabane, Taylor Morgan, Elijah Greer & Brian Manning? Football concerns should not dictate the world of track & cross country.