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Wednesday, May 15, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Outlaws tracksters qualify for State
By Charlie Kanzig
Correspondent
Sisters High School will
be well represented at this
week9s OSAA 4A Track and
Field Championships after
some clutch performances at
the Oregon West Conference
District Meet held May 9 and
11 at Reed Stadium.
Athletes qualify for state
by placing in the top two,
meeting a qualifying stan-
dard, or being selected as a
wildcard. The OSAA added
the wildcard qualification
in all events this season so
that one additional athlete in
each event who owns the best
third-place mark among the
six 4A District is added to the
meet.
In all, eight boys quali-
fied in a total of 10 different
events along with five indi-
vidual girls in a total of six
events earning the honor to
compete for glory at Mount
Hood Community College
May 17 and 18. The meet is
being held at Mt. Hood for
2019 while Hayward Field
in Eugene is being rebuilt.
The 3A Championships will
be held simultaneously at
Mt. Hood, while the 1A and
2A meet will take place at
Western Oregon University.
The 5A and 6A meet will take
place the following week,
also at Mt. Hood Community
College.
Day One of District
included plenty of drama and
last-minute heroics, some
resulting in tremendous joy
and others in the agony of
defeat.
In the boys pole vault
three athletes, including
Garrett Kersavage of Sisters,
cleared the bar at 13 feet, a
personal best for Kersavage.
The other two vaulters, both
from Philomath, had season
bests coming into the meet at
13 feet 6 inches. When the bar
moved up to that height, none
of the three found success
and Kersavage was crowned
champion based on fewer
misses.
In the girls high jump,
freshman Hollie Lewis found
herself in a battle for the
second qualifying spot after
clearing 5 feet. Cascade9s star
freshman Emma Gates, the
state leader, seemed a lock
to take the top spot, which
she ultimately did in a meet
record of 5 feet 7 inches.
Neither Lewis nor Ariana
Manning of Philomath could
make 5 feet 2 inches, leaving
Lewis in second place based
on misses and punching her
ticket to state. Fellow frosh
Lexie Miller finished fourth in
the event at 4 feet 10 inches.
Qualifiers in the boys
long jump came down to the
wire. Heading into the final
round Hayden Sharp and Ben
Johnson owned the top two
spots at 20 feet 8 inches and
20 feet 5.5 inches respectively
until Tristan Calkins of Sweet
Home passed them by on his
final jump with a mark of 21
feet 1 inch, knocking Johnson
to third and out of the state
qualifying.
Kate Bowen qualified in
the first running event of the
competition by placing sec-
ond in the girls 3,000 meters
in a time of 11:30.23, earn-
ing a return to the state meet
where she finished third last
year. Hannah Hernandez of
Philomath led from start to
finish, clocking 10:57.01.
Moments later, sophomore
John Peckham ran a strategi-
cally perfect race on his way
to second place in a personal
best of 9:08.15. The win-
ner and 4A state leader, Leo
Johns of Newport, had a hard
time shaking Peckham and
finished in 9:04. 31.
<John knew he had to
make a strong move with
three-and-a-half laps to go,
and when he did the rest of the
field could not match him,=
said Assistant Coach Josh
Nordell. <Leo seemed sur-
prised as well, as he continu-
ally looked over his shoulder
to see who was on his heels.=
Hudson Jones got to rub
shoulders with the state9s best
shot putter, which may have
helped propel him to his per-
sonal best of 41 feet 4 inches,
good enough for fifth place.
Will Thorsett, ranked
fifth coming into the meet,
finished a strong third in
9:28.67, giving the Outlaws
valuable team points, while
Josh Liddell also picked up
points with a sixth-place fin-
ish of 10:15.55. On Sunday,
Thorsett learned he had offi-
cially qualified for the state
meet as a wildcard entrant.
<He earned it,= said
Nordell.
Like the boys long jump,
the girls competition came
down to the final jumps.
Samantha Silva of Sisters,
who placed ninth at last year9s
state meet, took command
of the event with a personal
best of 16 feet 7.5 inches, but
the pre-meet favorite, Melia
Morton of Philomath, who
struggled in the preliminary
round, prevailed on her final
jump, outdistancing Silva by
just one inch. Hollie Lewis
picked up some points for the
team, finishing fifth at 14 feet
10 inches.
Great performances by
the Outlaws continued on
Saturday right from the get-
go. In the first event of the
afternoon, Shelby Larson
overcame an injury suffered
during warm-ups to win the
event with a clearance of 9
feet.
<It was touch and go for
Shelby, who was in a lot of
pain after landing badly in a
warm-up attempt,= said Head
Coach Jeff Larson, Shelby9s
dad. <She regrouped and got
the job done.=
PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK
Kate Bowen qualified by placing second in the girls 3,000 meters in a time
of 11:30.23.
provided a slew of quali-
fiers as well. The 4x100-
meter relay team of Johnson,
Hayden Sharp, Korbin Sharp
and Anderson won the event
in 43.68. Johnson followed up
with a personal best of 11.26
in the hundred that turned
His [Skylar Larson]
focus and confidence
under those conditions
was nothing short
of fantastic.
— Dennis Dempsey
Her brother Skyler also
showed courage in his best
event, the high jump. After he
and two other jumpers cleared
six feet, Larson passed at 6
feet 1 inch and watched as the
other two competitors cleared
the height. This meant that he
would finish third and miss
qualifying for state unless
he cleared the next height at
6 feet 2 inches, something
he had never done before.
Neither of the other two
jumpers cleared the bar, but
Larson pulled through in the
clutch to win the event.
<His focus and confidence
under those conditions was
nothing short of fantastic,=
said assistant coach Dennis
Dempsey.
Garret Kersavage placed
second in the triple jump with
a mark of 40 feet 11 inches to
give Sisters state qualifiers in
every single jumping event.
The running events
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from heartbreak on Saturday
to joy on Sunday. What origi-
nally looked like his .01 sec-
ond miss of placing second
and not qualifying turned into
learning on Sunday he had
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