Oregon State Meet - November 4
Under rainy conditions, Oregon high school athletes raced at Lane Community college on Saturday. Here are some of the highlights from the Oregon State Meet.
Boys 1A/2A
The first race of the day was the boys 1A/2A. Grady Greenwood of Heppner finished second behind his teammate Trevor Nichols at last year's Oregon State Meet and hoped to keep the Heppner champion streak alive. Greenwood came by the mile mark with a five second lead and never relinquished the lead to win the 1A/2A boys race in a time of 16:12.9. Eli Williams of Union finished second in 16:22.6. Union boys edged defending champion Knappa 44 to 47 to take the 1A/2A title.
Boys 3A
A large pack of runners came by the mile mark and by the two-mile mark, there were still six athletes together. Trevor Stewart of Vale and Jett Leavitt of Enterprise came on to the Lane Community College track together for an exciting finish with Stewart winning in a time of 16:18.9. Valley Catholic, last year's 3A runner-up, won the 3A championship with 63 points over Oregon Episcopal and Enterprise who scored 117 points.
Boys 4A
Carter Bengtson of Cottage Grove was on a mission from the start, opening a fifteen second lead at mile one. Bengtson won by 41-seconds in a time of 15:49.6. Finn Collison of Newport finished second and led his team to a championship with 49 points and Crook County finishing second with 87 points.
Boys 1A/2A/3A/4A photo gallery is HERE
Girls 1A/2A/3A
Last year sophomores Daisy Lalonde of East Linn Christian, Lauren Tittel of Oregon Episcopal and Jaya Simmons of Valley Catholic battled in the 1A/2A/3A race. They returned as juniors and were again competing in the top three until a strong last mile by Simmons of Valley Catholic to take the title in a time of 18:20.9. Oregon Episcopal showed its incredible depth as number one runner Tittel struggled in the second half of the race. OES won the title with 66 points and Siuslaw finished second with 95 points.
Girls 4A
Last year La Grande finished second, third and fourth in the girl's 4A State Meet and with all three returning, they finished 1-2-3 this year. Cecilia Villagomez of La Grandewon the 4A title in a time of 18:57.1, teammates Brooke Perry finished second in 19:14.6 and Emily Tubbs finished third in 19:29.5. It was Philomath, with Adele Beckstead leading the way, that edges La Grande for the 4A team win with a score of 66 points to La Grande's 71 points.
Girls 1A/2A/3A/4A photo gallery is HERE
Girls 5A
Despite the rainy day and water logged course, Crescent Valley's Emily Wisniewski managed to break the Lane Community College course record in a time of 17:05.8. The former time of 17:26 was held by Sunset's Ember Stratton and Grant's Ella Donaghu who both later finished third at NXN. MacKenzie Bigej of Canby finished second in a time of 18:08.5. The other story in the 5A race was whether Summit girls would extend their state meet championship streak to 15. Crater girls made the meet interesting at the half way point, but Summit ultimately finished strong with a 66 to 68 victory over Crater.
Girls 5A photo gallery is HERE
Boys 5A
Crater's Tyrone Gorze won the last two 5A boy's championship and with his graduation, it opened the door for a new champion. Tayvon Kitchen of Summit led a group of boys in the one-mile mark and then took control of the race by the two-mile mark. Kitchen won the 5A race in a time of 15:26.2 with teammate Josiah Tostenson finished second in 15:32.2 and help lead Crater to a team championship with 37 points over Summit's 64 points.
Boys 5A photo gallery is HERE
Girls 6A
Jesuit girls won the 6A team championship last fall and this fall Lincoln has been a contender to Jesuit. Chloe Huyler of Lakeridge took the race out with an eight second lead at the mile mark. At the two-mile mark, Emma Bennet of Jesuit took the lead and extended the lead by almost thirteen seconds. Bennett won the 6A 800 and 1500-meter races at the Oregon Track State Meet last fall. Bennett continued to widen the lead and won in 18:00.2 with freshman Ellery Lincoln of Lincoln finishing second in 18:17.0. The team race was very close with Jesuit successfully defending their title with 32 points and Lincoln finishing second with 46 points.
Girls 6A photo gallery is HERE
Boys 6A
The 6A boys finished up the Oregon State Meet and the race received a rain reprieve. A group of boys came by the one mile mark and then just Jack Meier of West Salem, Caden Swanson of Jesuit and Asher Danielson of Ida B Wells were left in the lead pack at the two mile mark. Meier ran an amazing last mile to open up the lead on the track and won by almost 17-seconds over Danielson. Meier won the race in 15:23.7 and Danielson was second in 15:40.0. Jesuit boys won the 6A championship last fall and was in an intense battle with Franklin. Franklin pulled out the victory with 43 points and Jesuit scored 85 points for second.
Boys 6A photo gallery is HERE
Headed to Sacramento for the NCAA West Regional and then to Boise for NW NXR next weekend. Look for photo galleries for both meets!